This post was written by Hatchet reporter Tiana Pigford.
More than 100 marchers rallied across the District dressed in hoodies Saturday to protest the killing of Trayvon Martin.
Gathering at Meridian Hill Park near 15th and W streets, marchers traveled to Freedom Plaza to demonstrate against the Feb. 26 shooting of black 17-year-old Martin by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, said he shot Martin out of self defense and was not arrested by police due to Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
“If anyone was defending himself, it was Trayvon,” National Association for the Advancement of Colored People youth council adviser Denise Keels, 45, said. “[Zimmerman] knew nothing about Trayvon, except that he was wearing a sweatshirt and had Skittles and tea.”
Marchers carried Skittles and iced tea to represent Martin, who was walking to his father’s fiance’s home from a convenience store on the night he was shot in Sanford, Fla.
Million Hoodies marches have sprung up across the country to spotlight Martin’s killing. A march in New York drew thousands to Union Station March 21.
“I have sons. I don’t want them to have to be afraid to walk down the street, because of racial profiling,” 49-year-old Bertina Suber, participated in the D.C. march, said.
