Nadra Mabrouk/ Asst. News Director
On April 18, students, University faculty and staff and the community gathered in the Mary Ann Wolfe Theater for “Standing on the Side of Love and Justice: For Trayvon Martin.”
”Why do we as a society have to wait until somebody dies to decide there needs to be justice done?” said Desmond Meade, president of Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and second year graduate law student.
The discussion forum was organized by Llnnea Pearson’s World Religion class in honor of the 17 year old teenager to support Jahavaris Fulton, a University student and Martin’s brother and to comprise a petition to repeal the Stand Your Ground law.
On Feb. 26, Martin while walking in the street, unarmed, holding skittles and a bottle of iced tea took a shortcut home through a neighborhood. George Zimmerman, the watchman for the neighborhood began following him acting upon suspicion. After a confrontation, Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest and killed him, claiming he was acting upon self-defense.
The Stand Your Ground law states that a person may use force in self defense when they feel threatened without retreating first. A petition was set up for everyone to sign after the discussion forum for those who attended.
“I definitely think he should’ve been convicted from the beginning,” said Rolando Ramirez freshman psychology major. “There shouldn’t have been any doubts.”
“We will still have Trayvon Martin issues if we do not confront the issues that led to it,” Meade said. “How have we allowed our society to get to the point where hate is justified just because of the way a person looks, how they talk or economic status.”
According to Meade, some focus may be misplaced and not on the heart of the issue.
“Too much attention has been placed on the racial differences. It caused a divide between the races.”
According to Pearson, Fulton had been absent from class for a while and they did not assume anything since he has a different last name. Upon his return to class, he explained everything and the class decided they wanted to do something to help.
“This is everybody’s son and it’s scary,” said Natasha Torres junior international relations major. “Nobody wants this to happen to them.”
Gwen Margolis, Florida state senator, district I claimed this is not Stand Your Ground if you have to run after the person to shoot him, speaking of Zimmerman. According to Margolis, interpretations of the Stand Your Ground law are flawed.
She urges students to vote for someone who will represent them best and have their best interests at heart.
Lama Karma Chotso invited students to breathe with her in silence during a Buddhist blessing and prayer and chant “om.”
“It’s gonna be a cycle we go through regarding profiling. This is a good opportunity to talk about the justice system,” Meade said. “We need to come together and unite.”
According to Meade, a lot of time was spent speaking of what was wrong instead of how to fix it.
“If we focus so much on the verdict and think it’s the end all, then we are misguided.”
Sybrina Fulton, mother of Martin, addressed the students before leaving.
“I’m no different than any other mother. It hurts a great deal. My heart is heavy,” said Fulton. “As a people we are not that different. We have to love each other.”
University President Mark B. Rosenberg, greeted Martin’s mother and brother and addressed the initiative with profound condolences.
“We are hopeful that out of this tragedy we can learn lessons,” Rosenberg said.
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