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A bill pending in a key legislative committee would provide legal protections for innocent targets of criminals, allowing them the use of deadly force, especially firearms, to defend themselves.

While supported by dozens of gun owners and representatives of firearms rights groups during a recent marathon public hearing, the Connecticut version of a so-called stand-your-ground law is unlikely to clear the Judiciary Committee.

The legislation, proposed by Republicans including state Rep. Craig Fishbein of Wallingford, a top GOP member of the committee, would force state prosecutors to presume that the threat a suspect or suspects presented in someones home, work place or motor vehicle was so dire that deadly force was necessary.

It shifts the burden, Fishbein said after the 16-hour hearing on a variety of gun-safety bills. It merely creates a presumption that the action was justified. Of course, the presumption could be overturned, based on particular facts. Currently, one has to prove that their action is reasonable. This bill would put the burden on prosecutors that the presumption of the person was not reasonable.

Floridas stand-your-ground law received national attention in 2012 when George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17 year-old. Zimmerman was acquitted of murder.

Harwood W. Loomis of Woodbridge told the committee that as a disabled veteran and senior citizen, he believes crime has decreased overall in recent years but the nature of criminal activity seems to be more-violent.

There is a general lack of respect and value for human life on the part of criminals, Loomis said. Physically, I am no match for even one younger, stronger assailantand it appears that today, criminals dont work alone. Tthey travel and operate in packs. There should never be any doubt that if I am trapped in my car by an assailant or a group of assailants that I have a God-given right to defend myself.

Lauren E. LePage, state director of the National Rifle Association in Connecticut, said the presumptive defense, combined with another proposal to eliminate the requirement for people in churches and other places of worship retreat before using deadly force, would make it easier for criminal targets to defend themselves.

Expecting the police to prevent all crime is neither practically nor legally justified, LePage said in prepared testimony. Courts have consistently ruled that law enforcement officers have no enforceable obligation to protect individuals.

But it is unlikely to emerge beyond the legislative committee level.

Weve had this bill in the committee off and on forever, said state Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who opposes it.

First of all, you dont need it. Second, there are racial implications weve seen played out across the country in states including Georgia and Florida. I have no reason to believe people cant protect themselves, Winfield said in an interview Friday. I dont know why some people think well be safer than what we can do already. I dont want people feeling they should have to be a hero. Thinking you have a license to be a hero gets people hurt.

In unsigned testimony from the state Division of Criminal Justice, where Richard Colangelo with retire from the post of chief states attorney on March 31 and John Russotto will take over on an interim basis, prosecutors warned of the potential dangers of the proposal.

Such a change in the law is unnecessary because it will have no effect, the prosecutors wrote, stressing that under current law, if someone claims self-defense, it is up to the state to show it wasnt.

Because the state must meet this high burden of disproving a claim of self-defense in every case in which it is asserted, and because such a high degree of proof always will be sufficient to rebut the proposed presumption of reasonableness set forth in the bill, the presumption will, for all intents and purposes, be a hollow gesture that has no meaningful effect, prosecutors wrote. Intended or not, as written, this portion of the bill will effectively permit one person, absent any perceived threat of personal or third party harm, to kill another person merely because the person employing deadly physical force reasonably believes that the other person is attempting, or has succeeded, with force, to enter their unoccupied motor vehicle.

The division warned that gunfire used to supposedly prevent a motor vehicle theft creates more hazards. Ask yourself: Is your neighbors motor vehicle worth an errant bullet through your childs bedroom window or wall at 3 a.m.? the prosecutors wrote. Moreover, human life, even one engaging in criminal activity, is more valuable than a motor vehicle.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT

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CT version of Stand your ground faces opposition in key committee - CT Insider

Kyle Rittenhouse has shared a meme which uses the moment he started crying during his murder trial to poke fun at rising gas prices.

Rittenhouse, who was cleared of two counts of murder following the highly divisive trial in November 2021, shared the clip on his Twitter account on Thursday, where it has since been reshared more than 4,300 times.

The edited video shows Rittenhouse filling up a car at a gas station while in tears.

The clip superimposes Rittenhouse's body from when he was hyperventilating while describing to the jury the circumstances that led up to him shooting Joseph Rosenbaum during the Black Lives Matter protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020.

"No, it's not Lemon Heads.. it's the burning hole in my pocket thanks to a Joe Biden presidency," Rittenhouse tweeted while sharing the clip.

Rittenhouse then credits the creation of the "funny video" to Twitter user @derfanzor.

The "Lemon Heads" remark is a reference to criticism he received from NBA star LeBron James during the trial as the basketball legend appeared to suggest the 19-year-old was not remorseful for his actions.

As footage of Rittenhouse crying in the court went viral on social media in November 2021, James tweeted: "What tears????? I didn't see one. Man knock it off! That boy ate some lemon heads before walking into court."

The meme shared by Rittenhouse has since been viewed more than 600,000 times.

The clip was also posted onto Twitter by Ron Filipkowski, the Republican attorney who resigned from a Florida state commission in protest at a police raid at the home of data scientist Rebekah Jones in December 2020, where it has been viewed further 660,000 times.

A number of people took to Twitter to criticize Rittenhouse for using the moment he cried during his trial while telling the jury why he shot someone to make a joke.

USA Today columnist Rex Huppke described the 19-year-old as an "absolute sociopath." Blogger and author Kimberley Johnson said Rittenhouse was a "product of the American justice system."

Actor John Fugelsang wrote: "Remember when George Zimmerman tried to cash in on his murder of an unarmed American?"

Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges against him after arguing that he was acting in self defense when he shot and killed Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded 27-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz during the disorder in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Following his acquittal, Rittenhouse has appeared on a number of right-wing news channels and podcasts, met former president Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort, and walked on stage to his own theme tune at the Turning Point USA conference in Phoenix in December 2021.

Rittenhouse also set up a donation fund, the "Media Accountability Project," to raise money in order to sue people for defamation over their comments about him before and after the trial.

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Kyle Rittenhouse Gas Meme of Him Crying at the Pump Viewed Over 1M Times - Newsweek

Treasure Coast Newspapers

I appreciated Dominic Calabro's guest column Citizens must have easy access to public notices on Feb. 17. I belong to many environmental organizations and as conservation chair of one and government affairs representative of another I need to be able to access information about plans and meetings of the city of Port St. Lucie, St. Lucie County, South Florida Water Management District, the Department of Environmental Protection and other agencies plans that might affect the environment, our drinking water, waterways, the air we breathe. Also, changes that will affect wildlife, businesses, tourism and even our economy due to their policies that affect our surroundings.

There is not enough time each day to go on each of these and other organizations' websites, but I can find out their plans by checking your newspaper's public notices. If this stops, we all may suffer from not knowing what special interests may have gotten our public officials to do without our being able to have input. Please contact your state representative and ask them to continue to provide these important notices in the newspaper.

Diane Goldberg, Port St. Lucie

The West Corridor of Vero Beach is not being served fairly by the Indian River County Commission. Dozens of separate communities were approved and developed without any overall plan that includes mixed zoning, retail and business properties, as well as homes. Then these communities were left with limited county services such as parks, recreation programs and office buildings. The goal should be to provide citizens with these amenities without having to drive downtown.

To my knowledge there are no parks or recreation programs west of 58th Avenue. Additionally, infrastructure is non-existent or in poor repair. Examples include the horrible and dangerous condition of the 12th Avenue roadway; lack of adequate lighting on 74th Avenue south of SR 60, particularly at the bridge crossing at 14th Lane; the dangerous intersection at 74th Avenue and 16th Street, and the general lack of sidewalks and bike lanes throughout the West Corridor.

So, whats the solution? Tens of thousands of citizens are living in the West Corridor. We need to make our voices heard by getting involved in the commissions work. Additionally, lets support the movement to single-member districts rejected recently by the commission so we will know whom to hold accountable. Our commission argued that this would lead to provincialism. Perhaps that would be a good result given that our current elected-at-large commissioners are not serving the entire county equally.

Betty Hearn Morrow, Vero Beach

I appreciated Cray Littles Jan. 5letter, in which, in the context of a discussion about democracy, he wrote: Admitting our failures is painful, and Human behavior is addicted to pain avoidance. It is true that acknowledging anything less than genius of our sacrosanct Founding Fathers isnt always easy. Is it possible that the conditions surrounding the establishing of our election processes were unique, and that the authors were not thinking 200 years into the future?

True confession No.1: I probably wasnt paying as much attention as I should have been during high school civics class. And true confession No. 2: At the 2000 George Bush/Al Gore recount, my heart was too heavy with losing to notice that, recount or not, there were still more votes for Al Gore on a national level than ever would have made a recount necessary.

I hereby penitently admit, it took me years to notice that the election did not always go to the candidate achieving the most votes nationally. Time may or may not heal all wounds, but it does have a way of bringing illumination. I now understand that the Electoral College, so ominously and suddenly a player on election night, has never once in its long archaic history actually overturned an election.

I have to say: It is ironic that the racial inequalities meant to be addressed by the tradition of winner-take-all states are now heightened by it. Every Vote Counts! minorities are urged. And, Voting Matters! From sea to shining sea, however, two recent elections have proven that not every vote may count. Democracy is a matter of luck. Officially, it is little more than a mirage.

Until Electoral College reform is confronted, a country governed by its people is an option higher than the moon.

Chris Lowery, Palm City

The Feb. 21 article about "Stand Your Ground" laws is very misleading. Most importantly, the SYG law did not even apply in the George Zimmerman prosecution. The SYG law applies if you exercise your right of self-defense in public and it gives the prosecution a heavier burden of proving that you could have avoided the use of deadly force.

In the Trayvon Martin case, at the time Zimmerman drew his gun, Martin had him pinned to the ground and was banging Zimmerman's head on the sidewalk, placing him in fear for his life. That's what the jury heard and why there was an acquittal. There was no issue of whether Zimmerman could have withdrawn and avoided the use of force. The fact that Zimmerman approached Martin before the two became engaged in a struggle is not relevant. The only thing that is relevant is the situation at the time Zimmerman drew his weapon.

Tom Morris, Jensen Beach

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Letters to the Editor: Feb. 26, 2022 - TCPalm

Todd R. McAdam/Cortland Standard SUNY Cortland alumnus Aaron Bowen, left, and his sister, junior Jailah Bowen, pose for a video, pose for a digital video Thursday at an event to mark Black History Month. Black history, educators say, should be incorporated into everyday history lessons -- part of American history. And other Black studies should be pursued, too, including economics, theology, humanities and political science. Photo: Cortland Standard.

Mar 01, 2022

By VALERIE PUMA

Cortland Standard

The students in party dresses and semi-formal attire traded hugs, mugged for a video camera and prepared for a party. The group was Know Your Roots, and the event was for Black History Month but the celebration was for the future, not the past.

It starts here, said junior Jailah Bowen of Virginia, standing with her brother, Aaron Bowen, an alumnus who returned to SUNY Cortland for the event. It makes us stronger as a community. Theres knowledge behind this.

Nevermind Black History Month, established in 1976 to honor the contributions and sacrifices of Black people in making America, educators say. Nevermind little tidbits and educational units on the Underground Railroad, of Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver and the assorted Black people who made U.S. history.

Black history should be taught year-round, they say. And not just as an isolated, segregated, topic, but integrated into the whole of American history. Beyond that, Professor Seth Asumah said, the studies should include political science, humanities, theology, economics even biology.

We have to think of all those aspects, Asumah said just before he joined the celebration.

In colleges in the greater Cortland area, educators are being trained to do just that.

Inclusive education

Asumah was born in Ghana and came to the United States to pursue his college education in the late 1970s. After earning two bachelor's degrees, a masters degree in public administration and a doctorate in government, Asumah became a professor at SUNY Cortland in 1989.

Now, as a distinguished teaching professor and chairman of the Africana studies department at SUNY Cortland, Asumah teaches political courses, many of which have a focus on multiculturalism, social change and the relationship between race and politics.

To do that, he and other professors teach using primary sources first-person or contemporary sources, like journals or newspaper clips showing history that might not be listed in a state- or school district-set curriculum.

We have to teach the experience of all people this is what we call inclusive education, Asumah said. To be able to acknowledge the history of not just race, but class, gender, people with disabilities and people from different regions and places. This is what makes America what it is.

Teaching teachers

Anna Burns Thomas, a professor of the foundations and social advocacy department at SUNY Cortland, said the profession of teaching remains predominantly white. To change that, Cortlands Urban Recruitment of Educators scholarship program is designed for students of color who are interested in becoming teachers.

There have been efforts over the past 25 years to try and increase the racial and gender and ethnic diversity of the teaching force, said Burns Thomas, the programs coordinator.

Working with these future teachers, Burns Thomas said she has realized how reading materials have become less Eurocentric over the years, and a wider variety of books for all ages showcases Black history.

Teachers can introduce their classrooms to not just the story of slavery and struggle, but the story of Black joy or Black excellence, Burns Thomas said. Thats one of the big focuses Ive seen shift over time when you think of Black history, there are many different Black experiences.

Seth Thompson, chief diversity officer for Tompkins Cortland Community College and a member of the Cortland Common Council, said its important for Black history and American history to be integrated as a shared story.

And not just about slavery, but our full story about how people of color and people who identify as white have worked to make this country what it is, Thompson said. There is a void within the curriculum.

Integrating history

Although some school districts do a fine job integrating truth into the curriculum, many textbooks leave out important parts of the histories of people of color, Thompson said.

Asumah recommends teaching Black history that took place in other areas, such as Mexico and Puerto Rico, as well as Black history dating before United States independence in 1776.

Burns Thomas suggests including Black history outside of the main inventors and big names that most curriculums already include.

Thompson wants students to learn more from primary sources, such as literature of the time, court documents and even current social media platforms to provide a perspective of Black history and culture.

Black history, Latinx history, native history our histories arent singular, Thompson said. For so long, textbooks in this country have been reproduced and updated minimally from a perspective of a time that had a very narrow lens of what history was and not what history is.

Being a teacher means learning more about history, the world and experiences beyond their own, Burns Thomas said.

Our future teachers know so much more than I did at their age, and I feel like social media is very educational to people who didnt grow up in a diverse environment learning about Black history, she said.

Young students who come into my classes are living history history is with us all the time, Asumah said. When I am teaching about the Black Lives Matter movement, I take them back to the liberation struggles of the 1960s, where we struggled for freedom, justice, equality and talked about the dispersion of power.

Not only in the past

The Black Lives Matter political and social movement aims to highlight racism, discrimination and inequality that Black people experience.

The movement began in July 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Black teen Trayvon Martin. In the years following, the movement became nationally recognized for street demonstrations and protests against police brutality and violence against people of color.

We are fighting for their lives and the fight started way back in the Civil Rights Movement and even before that, Asumah said. This is a continuation of a foundation that was built to challenge America to do the right thing. For justice.

Celebrating Black history

Tompson said Black History Month carves out a time for recognition and reflection, but people should appreciate Black people and their history year-round.

Its one of those bittersweet opportunities for people that identify as African American because we are mutual partners with the building of America, Tompson said. The integration of history needs to start sooner than later within our textbooks.

When educational materials do not include different groups histories and experiences, it manifests a limited appreciation for those groups today, Thompson said.

To Asumah, Black History Month is an opportunity to acknowledge how unique Americas history is, and to celebrate African-Americans strength.

We are celebrating Black resiliency. Black accomplishments are also American accomplishments without Black history, America is not complete, Asumah said. You cannot take Black excellence or Black achievements out of the American society.

The future generation

Thompson said he believes the next generation has the tools to lead this country, starting in the classroom. Teachers can transform and redevelop lesson plans, possibly entire curriculums, to educate students about topics like Black history.

We are blessed at this point in time and in our lives to have access to an unimaginable number of reliable primary sources, Thompson said.

These first-person or contemporary accounts of history help students to dissect and analyze that piece of history, Thompson said. This could be a national newspapers account of events that took place in New York a century ago, or the original lyrics of the Star-Spangled Banner.

You have to meet students, and people, where they are. The key point is to learn, and to not be afraid of what youll find out, Thompson said. What you find out will help center you and guide you, and those are the things that guide our actions.

Its all about spreading awareness, Aaron Bowen said before joining his sister and friends for the party. Were better for knowing.

But it goes beyond history, Asumah said. Black studies include perspectives in a number of fields: political science, economics, performing arts, theology, history, humanities. Even biology should be studied, considered and taught from a Black perspective.

People dont get the story well, he said. We have to think of all these aspects. Its about bringing back Black excellence.

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'This is what makes America what it is': educators taught to include Black history through the year - North Country Public Radio

AP Feb 24, 2022 9 hours ago

In this March 22, 2012 file photo, protestors, Lakesha Hall, of Sanford, center, and her son, Calvin Simms, right, participate in a rally for Trayvon Martin, the black teenager who was fatally shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Fla. The killing of Trayvon Martin at the hands of a stranger still reverberates 10 years later -- in protest, in partisanship, in racial reckoning and reactionary response, in social justice and social media. (AP Photo/Julie Fletcher, File)

FILE - Tracy Martin, left, father of Trayvon Martin, Jahvaris Fulton, second from left back, brother of Trayvon Martin, attorney Daryl Parks, center, Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin and attorney Benjamin Crump, right, arrive at the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center to attend a bond hearing for George Zimmerman, on June 29, 2012, in Sanford, Fla. The killing of Trayvon Martin at the hands of a stranger still reverberates 10 years later -- in protest, in partisanship, in racial reckoning and reactionary response, in social justice and social media. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

FILE - Miami Heat forward LeBron James wears a message honoring Trayvon Martin on his shoe before their NBA basketball game against the Detroit Pistons, on March 23, 2012, in Auburn Hills, Mich. The killing of Trayvon Martin at the hands of a stranger still reverberates 10 years later -- in protest, in partisanship, in racial reckoning and reactionary response, in social justice and social media. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson, File)

FILE - A protester picks up signs during a demonstration in reaction to the acquittal of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Beverly Hills, Calif on July 17, 2013. The Black Lives Matter movement emerged amid anger over the acquittal of Zimmerman, the Florida man who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012 after Zimmerman assumed the black teen was a potential burglar. The killing of Trayvon Martin at the hands of a stranger still reverberates 10 years later -- in protest, in partisanship, in racial reckoning and reactionary response, in social justice and social media. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

FILE - Demonstrators pray during the Million Hoodie March in Union Square, March 21, 2012 in New York. The killing of Trayvon Martin at the hands of a stranger still reverberates 10 years later -- in protest, in partisanship, in racial reckoning and reactionary response, in social justice and social media. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

NEW YORK (AP) Trayvon Martins final night began with a convenience store run, a quick trip for candy and something to drink. It ended in a confrontation with a neighborhood watch volunteer, a shot fired, the 17-year-old dead on the street.

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It might have been expected to end there -- the violent deaths of Black teenagers have rarely drawn even fleeting attention.

But the killing of this baby-faced, hoodie-wearing, unarmed youth at the hands of a stranger still reverberates 10 years later -- in protest, in partisanship, in racial reckoning and reactionary response, in social justice and social media.

It was the thing that broke everybody, all at the same time, said Nailah Summers-Polite, co-director of Dream Defenders, an organization founded in Florida during the protests following Martins death.

Were the Trayvon Martin generation, we are the people who were moved into action because of it.

It happened on Feb. 26, 2012. Martin was visiting his father in a gated community in Sanford, Florida, a suburb of Orlando. Walking on the way back from the store, he was eyed by George Zimmerman, then 28, a member of the communitys neighborhood watch.

The initial police report said Zimmerman called authorities to report a suspicious person, a guy who, he said, looks like he's up to no good. When Zimmerman said he was following the man, a dispatcher said, We dont need you to do that. But armed with a gun, Zimmerman got out of his car.

In the confrontation that followed, Zimmerman would tell authorities, Martin attacked him, forcing him to use his gun to save himself. Zimmerman was allowed to go free.

From the start, Martins parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, were outraged. They questioned Zimmermans account. Had their son had been profiled as suspicious merely because he was Black? Zimmermans family was adamant that their son and brother, who identified as Hispanic, was not racist.

As media attention picked up in early March, others joined in, first locally and then far beyond.

For many Black people, the idea that Trayvon had been profiled because of his race hit a nerve, echoing their own experiences in all walks of life. In his death they saw their own vulnerabilities.

It felt like, `Oh, wow, I cant walk down the street, even in the realm of my everyday life, normal happenings, that could have easily been me, said Jonel Edwards, another co-director of Dream Defenders.

It was especially jarring in 2012, when the occupant of the White House was Barack Obama, the countrys first Black president. His election had some insisting that America had turned a real corner in its troubled racial story; even many skeptics thought there had been progress.

And yet, Martin was dead. The United States had elected a Black president and had a Black attorney general, and they are still killing us and not even arresting the killer ... we all saw our kids were still vulnerable, said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who early on met with Martins family and their attorney Ben Crump as they worked to draw more attention to his death.

For years, police killings of Black people -- like Amadou Diallo in 1999, Sean Bell in 2006 and Ramarley Graham, just weeks before Martins death -- had caused outrage. But Zimmerman was not law enforcement, said Jenner Furst, co-director of the documentary, Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story.

This person did not have a badge, he said. This person had not been trained how to operate a firearm in the case of an emergency and not been trained in conflict management, had no skills for determining who is and who isnt the risk.

Said Sharpton: I think the fact that it wasnt a real police officer made it even more egregious that authorities didnt take action. Here is a wanna-be security guard ... Theres no reason for reluctance here.

As word spread of Martins death, many looking to speak out turned to the digital space. Social media had already shown its potential as a platform for protest, and now the trend went into hyperdrive.

Kevin Cunningham, then a 31-year-old graduate of Howard Universitys law school who was working as a social media consultant for a Muslim organization, had been intrigued by the power of social media since he saw the role it played in the 2011 Egyptian revolution. He posted a petition on Change.org calling for Zimmermans prosecution, and it soon had about 10,000 signatures.

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That number increased exponentially when he turned the petition over to Martins parents, who made a personal plea for support for Zimmermans prosecution. Celebrities on social media encouraged people to sign. In the end, more than 2.2 million people signed on to the petition.

It was the right place and time as far as that adoption of social media and just sort of the right egregious case that was able to touch peoples hearts, Cunningham said.

While Zimmerman set up a site to seek donations to help his defense, his online detractors were many. Social media brought together multitudes for protests like the Million Hoodie March, as well as countless celebrities and everyday folk who posted images of themselves wearing hoodies with the hashtag, I am Trayvon Martin.

Among them: LeBron James, then playing with the Miami Heat, who posted an image of him and his teammates wearing hoodies, their heads bowed.

Obama himself was drawn into the furor, framing it in terms no other president could.

I can only imagine what these parents are going through. And when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids, Obama said.

If I had a son, hed look like Trayvon.

Six weeks after the shooting, Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder; he would be acquitted the next year. But the ferment unleashed by Trayvon Martins death did not stop.

The verdict inspired a Facebook post written by Alicia Garza, a hashtag created by Patrisse Cullors and a social media strategy spearheaded by Ayo Tometi -- and the result was Black Lives Matter, a movement to combat racism and racial violence against Black communities.

And many of the same demonstrators incensed by Martins killing took to the streets to protest the death of Michael Brown, 18 and unarmed, killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014, just weeks after Eric Garner, also unarmed, was killed by police in New York City.

The moment of Trayvon Martin really opened our eyes, said Edwards, of Dream Defenders, adding there was much more of a general consciousness that had started in 2012 that then erupted in 2014.

Then the 2020 death of George Floyd, killed by Minneapolis police, brought out a wide range of people around the country and the world.

When the George Floyd tragedy happened, we all saw what played out with Trayvon, film director Furst said. And so many people said, never again, this cannot happen that way again.

But that public anger also inspired a reaction. There have been those who took exception to Obamas words of affinity to Martin, and saw the protests as anti-police chaos and disorder.

Others acknowledge that Martins death and its aftermath changed the country, but question whether the change was even remotely sufficient.

Sharpton, while disappointed that there has not been more federal legislation put into place, said a cultural change has happened.

He pointed to the case of Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old Black man chased and killed in 2020 by three white men who saw him running in their Georgia neighborhood. The shooter in that case also claimed self-defense, but an almost entirely white jury found them all guilty.

I think Trayvon shifted the culture where people started looking at things a little differently and nothing to me personifies that more than Arbery, Sharpton said. These two young men, I think, are the two pillars where we are on race.

___

Hajela is a member of the APs team covering race and ethnicity. Shes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dhajela.

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Trayvon Martin, 10 years later: Teen's death changes ...