Vigils are planned Wednesday across the nation to remember slain teen Trayvon Martin on the two-year anniversary of his death — a fatal shooting that became a flashpoint against racial profiling and stand-your-ground laws.
Rallies in major cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta, will honor Martin. Participants are being asked to wear hooded sweatshirts and hold signs that read, “No More” — a response to black and Latino youth violence, organizers say.
Neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman was acquitted last July in the shooting death of Martin on Feb. 26, 2012. Zimmerman claimed he shot the 17-year-old in self-defense after he came across Martin in his Sanford, Fla., gated community.
Martin, who was unarmed and wearing a hoodie, had just come from a convenience store and was on his way home when the incident occurred.
Students at Florida’s Bethune Cookman University, a historically black college, plan to walk the campus wearing hoodies and light candles in a memorial Wednesday night, reported NBC affiliate WESH. They’ll also collect signatures for a petition asking state legislators to abolish Stand Your Ground, a law in Florida that gives individuals the right to use deadly force when they believe their lives are in immediate danger.