Less than 48 hours after the controversial George Zimmerman verdict , the N.Y. Daily News ran a powerful front page about the victim, Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman was found not guilty on Saturday in the killing of Martin, a decision by a Florida jury that set off a wave of protests around the country. The Daily News explicitly linked Martin, the slain teen, to martyrs of the civil rights movement ( Emmett Till ), and black victims of hate crimes (James Byrd, Jr.): For the last 17 months, the case has been a lightning rod for gun debates, legal disputes, and perhaps most notably, racial tension across the U.S. Clearly, the Daily News is prepared to stoke those flames. The newspaper’s cover plays on Martin’s hoodie, which became a symbol of his (alleged) racial profiling in the aftermath of his February 2012 slaying. Zimmerman claimed, conversely, that he did not profile Martin – his brother Robert Zimmerman Jr. said race was not a factor in the case – that night. Instead, he cited media bias against the accused, who claimed self-defense, and urged that people respect the jury’s verdict before rushing to judgment. What do you think: Did the jury get it right?
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Trayvon Martin Linked to Hate Crime Victims in Controversial N.Y. Daily News Cover
