Local Students Show Support For Trayvon Martin With "Hoodie Day"
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The shooting death of a Florida teenager has made national headlines, and now students in Pittsburgh are showing their support today for Trayvon Martin.
Students at seven schools in the Pittsburgh Public School District honored Martin's memory Friday with a "Hoodie Day."
The schools include Brashear, CAPA, Carrick, Colfax, King, Milliones and Stevens.
The students at those schools were given permission to wear hoodies to school today. Typically, hoodies are a violation of dress code, but school officials agreed to make a one-day exception.
Meanwhile, this morning's march at the Thaddeus Stevens School in Elliot involved 300 kids, and while the march was dedicated to Martin's memory, the speakers focused on other important issues including personal responsibility.
The students started arriving at Thaddeus Stevens School around 7 a.m. While they were all were different colors and sizes, all were wearing hoodies.
At 8:15 a.m., the kindergarten through eighth grade students walked out in unison, hoodies donned all for the memory of Trayvon Martin.
His shooting death sparking controversy and anger, but the march focused on more positive issues.
"We remember that somebody named Dr. Martin Luther King said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," said Pastor Stephanie Gottschalk, of the Emanuel United Methodist Church.
The students stopped at Pastor Gottschalk's church for short rally.
"When I look at my friends - they don't even need to be my friends, they could be a random group of people I never met - I don't see black or white, Puerto Rican or Mexican, Christian or Jewish, I just see humans. What our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ made us all to be," said James Moody Anderson, a student.
"Before you judge another, judge yourself," added Zharia Mourning, another student. "Let's all take responsibility for what we have done. I am Trayvon Martin. We are Trayvon Martin. We all are Trayvon Martin."
RELATED LINKS:
Local Teens, Young Adults Hold Rally In Wake Of Trayvon Martin's Death (3/25/12)
CMU Protestors Remember Trayvon Martin, Rally Against Gun Violence (3/26/12)
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