Ok, so I'm not sure how many of you had heard about the case of 17 year old Trayvon Martin, who was gunned down by a self-appointed 'neighborhood watch leader', in his father's neighborhood, recently. This took place in the town right 'next door' to the town I grew up in, and in fact, the girl Mary Cutcher than has been on the news talking about it was a friend of mine in High School. If you're not familiar with the incident, it went something like this:

Last month, a 17-year-old, black male was walking back to his father's neighborhood, at 7:30pm, after having gone to the store to get candy and a drink. When he got back to the neighborhood, the 'neighborhood watch leader' called the police and told them that there was a 'suspicious black male' walking around the neighborhood. He uttered a few words over the phone which give the impression of having been racial slurs (but we can't get a clear tape to prove or disprove that). He began to follow the young man (against the direction of the police dispatcher) and ended up getting into an altercation with the boy, which resulted in the boy being shot to death during a scuffle between the two. The shooter, George Zimmerman, is claiming self-defense. Records of the boy's last phone call to his girlfriend state that Trayvon (concerned for his own well-being, as it seems to me) was telling his girlfriend that he was being followed by a strange man, and attempted to walk away quickly, before he was chased down by the man and the altercation started.

Justice Dept. launches probe into shooting death of Trayvon Martin

There were witnesses to this shooting, which have come forward to testify that the unarmed boy did nothing wrong, and that the self-defense explanation of the shooter does not hold up at all. And yet, the Sanford Police Department has refused to arrest, or even investigate the actions of George Zimmerman, clearing him (without trial) of any wrong-doing, and defending him tooth and nail as having done no wrong, himself, in having tracked down, confronted and shot this 17 year old boy who did absolutely nothing wrong or illegal.

Right now, Trayvon's family is having one hell of a battle, simply trying to get a serious inquiry into the actions of Zimmerman - one that would (and should) result in the arrest of Zimmerman, if for no other reason than to subject him to a fair trial. If you would, please sign the following petition (which has apparently become the fastest growing petition in Internet history) so that any and all voices in opposition of this blatant lapse in justice can be heard in some way:

https://www.change.org/petitions/pro...trayvon-martin

As of now, the Sanford Police Department (the same one that I'd posted about, a short while back, when an officer made a false report about a black man 'dragging him through the parking lot by his car' - which never happened, according to the surveillance tape) has completely refused to follow up on this story, effectively clearing Zimmerman of any allegations, and coming forth to defend his integrity as 'a college graduate', in an attempt to push this situation into obscurity as quickly as possible. (It looks like they are just starting to reveal that the SPD Cheif has had a 'no confidence' vote against him - whatever that means, so hopefully this will go right to the source...)

In my opinion, Zimmerman should be behind bars. At the very least, he should be tried in court. Not sure how everyone else here sees it, but I figured I'd spread the story. If nothing else, please sign the petition so, at the least, we can be sure that George Zimmerman has his day in court.