Last night, during an impromptu assembly at #OccupyUnionSquare, members of Occupy Wall Street reached unanimous consensus to support and be in solidarity with a march planned for 6pm tonight from Union Square in protest of the recent death of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old who was murdered by a vigilante in Florida, ostensibly because he was a young black man wearing a hooded sweatshirt. Jay Bookman from The Atlanta-Journal Constitution observed:
The story has so many tragic elements. Trayvon, who was walking back to his father’s home in the neighborhood after buying Skittles from the local 7-Eleven, had been guilty of being black and 17, “profiled” first by Zimmerman and again, while dead, by the police.
Last night, Liza Sabater presented the solidarity proposal to an assembly in #OccupyUnionSquare:
Cont’d: …body. @blogdiva: I’m here to present an emergency proposal that has to do w/ a statement of solidarity with the family of…
— LibertySq GA (@LibertySqGA) March 21, 2012
Cont’d: …Treyvan Martin, a child who was “murdered by a vigilante in his town in Florida who has not been charged with anything.”
— LibertySq GA (@LibertySqGA) March 21, 2012
Cont’d: “Treyvan was murdered for wearing a hoodie and being black.” tomorrow a “million hoodie march” will go from here to the #UN. #nycga
— LibertySq GA (@LibertySqGA) March 21, 2012
Cont’d: “This is not a march organized by #OWS, but I propose we show solidarity” and make a statement we oppose racism, genocide…
— LibertySq GA (@LibertySqGA) March 21, 2012
The reaction was unanimous:
Liza thanks us for our Uptwinkles (unanimous) on her proposal, will tweet out that we’re in solidarity. #NYCGA #OWS
— LibertySq GA (@LibertySqGA) March 21, 2012
More background:
The evening of February 26, 17 year-old Trayvon Martin was walking back to his father’s home in the gated community of Sanford, Florida, returning from a snack run to the nearby 7-11, when he began to feel that he was being followed. Indeed, Neighborhood Watch leader George Zimmerman, 28, had spotted Trayvon, and, leery of the black boy in the hooded sweatshirt, began tailing Martin in his car, and called 911 to report suspicious behavior. The police department told him they would investigate, and asked him to stop following the boy. Zimmerman continued to follow Trayvon nonetheless. Eventually, an altercation ensued, and within minutes, the teen lay shot dead by Zimmerman. Claiming to have acted in self-defense (despite the fact that Trayvon had little more than a bag of Skittles and an iced tea in his pocket, in contrast to the 9-mm Zimmerman was carrying), Zimmerman was not, and, 3 weeks later, has yet to be, apprehended by law enforcement.
For coverage, please see the CoverItLive session below (for tweets) and the livestreams to the right.
