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Tens Of Thousands Expected Today At Florida Rally For Trayvon Martin

An undated family photo of Trayvon Martin.
Change.org
An undated family photo of Trayvon Martin.

A rally in Sanford, Fla., today "to demand justice in the Trayvon Martin shooting death," is expected to draw "tens of thousands of people," Orlando's WFTV says.

The rally — one month after the black teen's death — is due to begin at 4 p.m. ET and end with those thousands gathered outside the city's civic center as the Sanford City Commission meets to hear from the 17-year-old Martin's parents.

Also expected to be at that town hall meeting: Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton, The Orlando Sentinel says.

As we've been reporting:

Martin, who was unarmed, was shot and killed on Feb. 26 by 28-year-old George Zimmerman in what the older man claims was a case of self defense. Martin's family and supporters — and now a growing number of people across the nation — say it was a case of racial profiling and that Zimmerman only assumed Martin was "suspicious" and followed him through the neighborhood because the teenager was black.

Today, the Sentinel adds, a "friend and legal advisor each appeared on national television news shows" to defend Zimmerman. "Joe Oliver told Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos that Zimmerman is not a racist. ... Zimmerman's legal advisor, Craig Sonner, told [Today Show co-host Ann] Curry that the 28-year-old Neighborhood Watch captain suffered a broken nose and injury on the back of his head during the altercation with 17-year-old Trayvon. Sonner said when all the evidence is public, it will show Zimmerman acted in self defense."

Zimmerman has not been charged with a crime. He has not commented publicly on the case.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott
Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.