The NAACP called for an emergency meeting Sunday at their 104th National Convention in Orlando, Fla., only hours after jurors handed George Zimmerman a non-guilty verdict in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
National Youth and College Director Sammie Dow led the meeting to discuss difference ways to effective get justice for Trayvon and violence going on throughout the nation. A rally Sunday outside Houston’s justice court was just one of many marches and rallies organized from the meeting.
It didn’t take long for NAACP National President Ben Jealous to take to social media and email to discuss his discontent of the verdict. Jealous left the emergency meeting shortly after it commenced to discuss the verdict on CNN.
“I know I am not alone in my outrage, anger, and heartbreak over this decision. When a teenager’s life is taken in cold blood, and there is no accountability for the man who killed him, nothing seems right in the world, but we cannot let these emotions alone rule.”
According to a press release from the NAACP, Jealous also said:
In these most challenging of times, we are called to act. There is work left to be done to achieve justice for Trayvon. The Department of Justice can still address the violation of Trayvon’s most fundamental civil right — the right to life, and we are urging them to do so.
Jealous encouraged everyone to sign the NAACP petition to the Department of Justice to file civil rights charges against Zimmerman. Within minutes, seven thousand signatures was on the petition but the digital petition became unavailable due to an overwhelm response in such a short time.
This is the first in a series of dispatches by Majic 102.1 intern Ash-lo Turner, who is embedded at the NAACP National Convention in Orlando, Fla., this week. She will bring the latest from the Sunshine State and all the happenings at this week’s event as it happens. Majic 102.1 Online Editor Brandon De Hoyos contributed to this report.
