GIFFORD — A few hundred people lined the north side of 45th Street in front of the Historic Macedonia Church with signs bearing messages of “No Justice – No Peace,” “Gun vs Candy,” and “Justice for Trayvon.” They stood shoulder to shoulder chanting “We want justice” and “Stop the hate! Stop the murder!”
Passing motorists slowed down to take in the sight and read the signs. Many honked their horns in support, waved and gave thumbs’ up signs.
The three-hour rally in Gifford came after several moms in the community decided they had to do something to bring awareness to the case of the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., by volunteer neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman.
“I feel the pain the mother feels,” said organizer Connie Peterson, a mother of three boys ages 5, 10 and 21. “We want justice to be served. We want Zimmerman prosecuted.”
Along with trying to bring more pressure to the Sanford Police Department and officials there, Peterson said the rally is also meant to educate those who have yet to hear about or understand the Martin case.
Local NAACP chapter president Tony Brown said that the rally isn’t about race but about justice for all, regardless of their color.
“Basically every mother with a son – as one mother told me – every time she thinks about this (the Martin shooting), she gets cold chills and the hair raises on her arm because this could happen to any child,” Brown said.
He said he hopes that the rally does indeed raise awareness that “no longer are we going to be complacent and apathetic when things like this happen. We need to get more involved – white, black, purple, green – we don’t have to let this be a race card. Let it be what it is – an injustice.”
In February, Trayvon Martin was walking to his father’s fiancée’s home from a convenience store where he had purchased a tea and Skittles. On his walk through the neighborhood, volunteer neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman called 911 about a suspicious black male.
In the minutes after that call, Zimmerman and Martin apparently got into a confrontation during which Zimmerman fatally shot Martin. Zimmerman claimed Martin was the aggressor and he shot Martin in self-defense.
A flurry of other 911 calls from residents, as well as witness statements to investigators, appear to contradict Zimmerman’s self-defense claims. Zimmerman has not been arrested or charged for shooting Martin.
Geri and Dick Mills drove to Gifford from Stuart to take part in the community’s rally – a compromise Dick Mills said because Sanford was too far a drive for them to make.
“I hate injustice and this is the most unjust thing I’ve heard in my life,” Geri Mills said.
She said that not only was Martin’s death unjust, so too has been the handling of the investigation and the release of Zimmerman.
“It’s just horrific,” she said.
Gifford resident Rhonda Speed said that, for her, the rally is about more than the Sanford teenager.
“I’m not looking just for justice for Trayvon,” she said, “but justice for all.”
She questioned the application of the state’s Stand Your Ground Law in this case.
“We can’t take the law into our own hands,” Speed said, adding that Martin’s death was from vigilantism.
“I’m not looking at this as a race issue,” she added. “I’m here to show support. We’re fed up with the violence and it’s got to stop.”
The NAACP of Indian River County is planning to participate in a rally Saturday March 31in Sanford and will be taking a bus to make the trip. Seating is limited to 45, though other vehicles are welcome to join the caravan, according to Brown. Anyone interested in attending the rally can contact the NAACP by filling out the “Contact Us” form on the chapter’s website, www.IndianRiverNAACP.org.