A month after George Zimmerman shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida, 150 protesters gathered at the University of Connecticut calling for Zimmerman’s arrest.
Protesters carried signs juxtaposing a picture of Martin with a young Barack Obama, with a list of demands, including reversing the erosion of racial equality.
The atmosphere of the event was saturated with the sting of collective mourning. Speakers balanced calls for justice to be meted out by a judge and jury with cries of anguish.
News reports say that on Feb. 26, Zimmerman, the captain of a neighborhood watch group, encountered Martin as the teenager he was walking back from a 7-Eleven through a gated community in Sanford, Fla. after visiting his father’s girlfriend. An altercation ensued and Zimmerman reportedly shot the unarmed teen. No arrest has been made, ostensibly because of the language in Florida’s “stand your ground” law.
But here in Connecticut the law is different, and state officials say Zimmerman likely would have been arrested. Federal authorities are now investigating the killing.
Meanwhile, Zimmerman claims that Martin was the aggressor.
Dr. Lee Aggison, Jr., a professor-in-residence at the department of Molecular and Cell Biology, encouraged the UConn crowd not to let their anger over the shooting devolve into violence and hatred.