Should The Trayvon Martin Case End With The Verdict?
DETROIT (WWJ) - In the wake of the not guilty judgement in the killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, some feel federal charges should be filed against George Zimmerman.
President of the Detroit chapter of the National Action Network, the Reverend Charles Williams II is calling for just that.
"People are sincerely confused about, how is it that someone can get out of their car ill-advised of the 911 operator, hunt someone down, get in a tussle and fight with them and then decide to shoot them and walk away free," said Williams live on WWJ.
Rev. Williams
Williams says there's passion on the issue and he says they are organizing to take busloads of people to Washington, D. C. next month to seek justice for Trayvon.
"There's a , sincere concern that , that an African American may struggle with getting justice in the south . I mean , we had to raise the level of consciousness and attention on this issue to get an investigation by the state which turned into a prosecution," added Williams.
Others believe that the Zimmerman case should end with the verdict. That's the opinion of the president of Rick's Firearms Academy in Detroit, Rick Ector.
Ector says the prosecution had the burden of proof and the jury followed the instructions not bowing to outside pressure in the Zimmerman case.
"Want to admonish people that when we had the O.J. Simpson case everyone respected the verdict of that case, many people felt Simpson was guilty but he was exonerated by that jury - America accepted it - America moved on - and I think that we should have the same sentiment today.
He says we should not have to go back to a system in which people who have a valid, reasonable, and honest belief that they're facing an imminent threat that they have to prove sufficiently to the state that they did a good enough job to try to get away as opposed to immediately defending themselves, their families and their homes.
Ector says he hopes it doesn't become a witch hunt in the Zimmerman case because some people didn't get the verdict they wanted.
NAN: Non-Violent Reaction To Verdict A Key To Moving Forward
