Prayer Rally for Trayvon Martin
From left, Onika Wallace of Acworth, Kim Cantey Davis of Kennesaw, and Eula Salter of Marietta join hands in prayer in Glover Park on Sunday.
Photo by Jon-Michael Sullivan
Photo by Jon-Michael Sullivan
It’s been more than a month since 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., but large rallies over the weekend through the town of Sanford and Miami show the case currently being investigated by state and federal authorities continues to stir emotions.
In Marietta, 17 local ministers and community leaders prayed in support of the family of Trayvon Martin and called for justice in the case. But they also called for unity within black and white communities, better relationships with police, and made pleas for community-wide support of youth, particularly young black males.
“We know that injustice and hatred, and all those things have no color,” said Minister James Ray of Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church.
“We can’t change anything but God can. So we’re not here to protest. We’re not here to be outraged. But we’re here to believe that God can and will make a difference.”
One by one, the speakers addressed the crowd that grew as the hour-long event carried on.
The Rev. Pierce Slade of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church in Marietta said the rally was not against any particular person, but was instead, against the spirit operating in injustice.
“God bless this family that has endured this injustice,” he said to a chorus of “amen” from the crowd. “Bless the family of the man that’s involved in this. God, we’re asking in your son Jesus’ name, that you will break his heart and deliver him from the bondage of sin and doubt.”
Marietta Councilman Anthony Coleman was also a speaker, calling for continued prayer.
The prayer rally was organized by Pleasant Grove’s women’s ministry. Cythina Watkins, director of the ministry, said she was pleased with the turnout. Local activist Missy Cook assisted in the planning.
“With everything that I saw going on around us in regard to Trayvon Martin and the situation in Florida, the one thing I didn’t see was people coming together to pray,” she said.
In attendance was Marietta Police Chief Dan Flynn, who said he was there for the same reason as everyone else because he felt an “injustice” had been done.
“For one thing, I think there needs to be a very thorough investigation — and comprehensive — and at the end of it I think a determination needs to be made as to whether or not Zimmerman killed (Martin) in violation of the law or not,” said Flynn, who previously served in the Miami-Dade Police Department.
Flynn said cases in which self-defense is claimed and evidence is minimal, are very difficult for police to investigate.
“In a case where a person is claiming self-defense on the scene and there’s some physical evidence that may or may not support that, I wouldn’t rush to judgment in a case like that. Personally, if it happened here, I would ask everyone for patience — let us complete our investigation. And I would let a grand jury of citizens make the ultimate determination if there are compelling community questions about it.”
According to Cobb NAACP President Deane Bonner, similar cases involving the so-called Stand Your Ground law has occurred locally.
In her remarks on Sunday, Bonner referenced the 2006 conviction of John McNeil of Kennesaw, currently serving a life sentence for shooting Brian Epp, a homebuilder whom McNeil claimed threatened him on his property. She also called for justice in last Tuesday’s fatal shooting of Campbell High School senior, Tendai Nhekairo. Nhekairo was shot while naked and reportedly carrying knives, according to Cobb police.
“You need to go to the polls on July 31, 2012, and make a difference here in Cobb County,” Bonner told the crowd. “It will give us an opportunity to have representation of people who look like us and may look at our sons and daughters, and see that they are worthy.”
Tangela Brooks of Austell said she can relate to what the family of Trayvon Martin is going through.
On May 18, 2011, her 22-year-old son, Jonathan Brooks, was shot to death inside a computer repair store on Veterans Memorial Highway at Floyd Road in Mableton, following what Cobb police believed was a verbal dispute. A suspect was later arrested.
“Trayvon’s mother — I can imagine what she’s going through,” said Brooks. “I pray for her more than anything because I know a mother’s love for her child. I don’t care how many rallies we have, trust me, when she’s by herself she misses her baby.”
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People have a prayer vigil for a young man that was shot and the comments section devolves into this complete drivel?
Two words: white. trash.
The "real" men in the black community need to take control of the situation and set things on the right track.
Everyone in the community is suffering, because of of the actions of young black men who admire and copy the gangsta' lifestyle.
We were and are very nice and educated people who love and are involved in the arts and education. We were and still are having a hard time trying to find a safe area to settle in before she goes to college that we can afford. This is my daughter: a 3.18 GPA person who graduated from high school one year earlier than everyone else out of one of the BEST high schools in Washington DC, she made history for that, a person who has never been in trouble with the law, she does not date , as never been suspended from school, studies Chinese and other languages, she is a great artist, good with computers, a great historian, excellent in all of her studies, she loves to read and she never curses. This is who Marietta GA profiled. All of this just because we are black and looked so poor!!!
What I don't understand is why those races (usually black) who seem to have more of these problems don't address them within their own "community" rather than forever "whining" to others.
Why don't you work within your own "community" to raise awareness as to why such profiling exists? Encourage young blacks to dress to give the right impression...rather than trying to look like hoodlums. In addition, it wouldn't hurt young blacks to speak English...paying extra attention to not sound as if they were "lead dead"?
You may not want to believe all of this, but people will judge you (especially in public) as to how you behave and sound. Chances are, if you act, dress and sound like a thug, you are just that and will be treated accordingly.
Also, it's despicable how the evidence in this case has been leaked, altered, edited and otherwise exploited daily chipping away at any chance of a fair trial and true justice.
Fact: Evidence was not protected properly the night of the incident
Fact: The case gained the potential of being elevated to a hate crime when a racial slur was detected on the 911 taped call from Zimmerman
Fact: Trayvon's phone records do not appear to have been investigated by police to help fill in the blanks or identify him to notify his family
Fact: a 17 yr old is dead and his parents deserve to know why
“You need to go to the polls on July 31, 2012, and make a difference here in Cobb County,” Bonner told the crowd. “It will give us an opportunity to have representation of people who look like us..."
She admitted that the most important qualification to her, and the organization (NAACP)/community she represents, is NOT a person's political beliefs, education, or work history. No, it's the color of their skin.
Instead of rallying for national stories, maybe people should spend more time and effort raising their own kids locally teaching them to love one another instead of inciting race wars.
This paper panders to the lowest common denominator.
Unfortunately, that reflects on all black men.
Particularly the young black men who think dressing up to look like thugs and gangstas' is cool, hip or whatever the latest hip hop slang might be.
They are posers. They want to look like thugs, but when they are treated like thugs they cry racism or prejudice or profiling.
Until that changes the black community is going to have to live with the very predictable consequences.
If the law abiding black males out there in the "hood" had any pride or cahunas they would man up and take care of business instead of putting up with the thugs that have taken over their streets.
Anyone remember Tawana Brawley? Already NBC has admitted to doctoring the 911 calls.
Anything to get some ratings... and whip the Democrat voter base to the polls in November.
Granted, not nearly as many people would be out in the streets protesting and holding marches and rallies if it weren't for the relentless media coverage and social media, there would likely still be black people in Florida holding marches and rallies.
If it weren't for the endless media coverage and social media it would likely be a local story in Florida.
But the fact that this is an election year in which a black Democrat President is up for re-election has given certain left-leaning news outlets (NBC, MSNBC & CNN) even more incentive to give around-the-clock coverage in an effort to rally the Democrats' base of voters (of which black voters are a key part of) so that they will turnout to vote to re-elect Obama in November along with the swing groups of women and hispanics.
This is a tragic story anyway that is it sliced and diced, but make no mistake, the endless coverage of this story is politically-motivated by a mainstream media trying to tilt the election towards the Democrats in November.
That is actually the law in the State of Illinois, but despite the fact it is effectively completely illegal to own a gun in the City of Chicago (as guns have been outlawed within the city limits of Chicago) crime has not decreased any as shootings and gun homicides continue to occur at a shockingly high rate, especially on weekends.
Law-abiding citizens who legally own firearms should not have their God-given right to carry firearms taken away because one person with a permit possibly shoots someone illegally or others without permits shoot and kill others illegally.
Taking guns away from law-abiding citizens will not prevent gun crimes from happening, in fact taking gun rights away from law-abiding citizens may make crime much worse as criminals will always find ways to obtain guns.
Obviously you are a predatory criminal who wants easy pickins'.
You certainly can't be a clear thinking American who wants to retain the consitutional right to protect himself and his loved ones from physical harm.
As ModernPatriot said:
Outlaw guns and only outlaws will have guns.
Not very smart.
This murderer was obviously operating under a sense of entitlement. I guess since he was volunteering for the Neighborhood watch, he subconsiously gave himself a pass on the grounds of 'being a good citizen' to trample on the rights of others.
There are alot of people in the world with this type of poor judgement. And most people think they are 'gooder' than they really are. Plenty of reason to not allow so many guns on the street.
BTW, how do you feel about all those young black males who were killed last week by other young black males?
Who is the real enemy of the black community? ANSWER: the young black male.
Do be sure to cover those marches next week after the black community rises to bring attention to all the young black men shot to death this week by other young back men.
That's a racist comment if I ever heard one but I figure blacks who say something this asinine feel entitled or just plain stupid. If based on race and percentage of population (which is only about 13 percent nationally) with that kind of idotic reasoning Blacks should be excluded at every level. What if using that reasoning it was the policy of the NBA that only 13 percent of Blacks could make up the leagues? Or jobs in general? See how utterly stupid that sounds? Cobb NAACP President Deane Bonner, maybe you should be excluded form opening your mouth and proving yourself a fool.....