Trayvon Martin: Licensed to be killed?

Trayvon Martin an unarmed student going to the shops to buy his brother some sweets, was gunned down and killed by a trigger happy vigilante George Zimmerman who has not even been arrested for his murder.

Under Florida State law an individual can be gunned down and killed if a person feels that their life is in imminent danger. The fact that ‘imminent danger’ covers someone’s unfounded suspicion, means that young Black men such as Trayvon Martin can be shot dead for being Black.

More than half a million Americans have signed a petition demanding that Zimmerman be arrested and charged with the unlawful murder of this young man.

Reverend Al Sharpton is to travel down to Florida today for a rally calling for justice. He said:

"If you have a young man dead, if you have no evidence at all that this young man did anything wrong, then what are they waiting on to make an arrest?”

Furthermore, he said,

"This seems pretty strange, if not suspicious to me."

He noted that, even though Florida law allows for the use of deadly force if a person thinks their life is in danger, it did not make sense that Zimmerman, who was older, stronger and carrying a weapon, would feel so scared.

He added,

“If he was following Trayvon, how could he feel under threat?"

Simon Woolley