NAACP Petitions DOJ to Charge Killer Zimmerman with Federal Charges!

The NAACP, the National Action Network and several other Civil Rights organizations are petitioning the DOJ to file Civil Rights Murder Charges against Trayvon Martin's Killer, George Zimmerman. Reverend Sharpton has also said Federal Hate Crime charges are being considered. Additionally, the Martin Family is considering filing a Civil Law Suit.
Buzzfeed.com reports: The NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, saw a massive, instant response to a petition Saturday night urging the Department of Justice to open a civil rights case against George Zimmerman, who was cleared of all criminal charges in the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
The petition gained more than 115,000 signatures in about three hours, NAACP spokesman Eric Wingerter told BuzzFeed.
The appeal asks Attorney General Eric Holder to “address the travesties of the tragic death of Trayvon Martin by acting today” and press civil rights charges against Zimmerman, who shot an unarmed Martin last February in what he said was an act of self-defense.
“The Department of Justice has closely monitored the State of Florida’s prosecution of the case against George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin murder since it began,” the petition reads.
“The most fundamental of civil rights — the right to life — was violated the night George Zimmerman stalked and then took the life of Trayvon Martin,” the appeal goes on. “We ask that the Department of Justice file civil rights charges against Mr. Zimmerman for this egregious violation.”
The NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, posted the petition around 10:30 p.m., just a half an hour after the Florida jury reached its not-guilty verdict in the Zimmerman trial. Within the first hour of its publication online, the petition garnered 57,600 signatures, according to Wingerter.
In his own statement earlier Saturday evening, NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said the group was “outraged and heartbroken over today’s verdict.”
“We will pursue civil rights charges with the Department of Justice, we will continue to fight for the removal of Stand Your Ground laws in every state, and we will not rest until racial profiling in all its forms is outlawed,” Jealous said.

NAACP speakers say communities should stand up to bullying, discrimination

CG online reports: NAACP speakers say communities should stand up to bullying, discrimination CHILLICOTHE --The Rev. Michael Alston called upon local residents to help carry forward Martin Luther King Jr.'s message that all men are created equal. Alston called out to those who wonder what happened to King's dream, and instead asked "What happened to us?" at the NAACP Freedom Fund banquet Saturday night. Alston, who serves as the pastor of Chillicothe's First Baptist Church, was asked to serve as the keynote speaker for the NAACP annual banquet. This year's theme was "One Nation, One Dream."

Alston went on to say a dream is impregnable, imperishable and indestructible. In short, you cannot destroy King's dream, but fail to continue to strive to make it reality. "Many things are tragically worse tonight than when King walked in our midst," he told those at the dinner. He called out the Nation's immigration policies, saying the U.S. holds different standards for Mexicans and Haitians than they did for Soviets and Jewish immigrants. He called on people to be mindful of discrimination in their communities and to stand up against it.

Master of ceremonies, the Rev. Robert Hitchens, said the current push to end bullying in schools could be applied to adults everywhere who participate in discrimination. "It's not just our young people who bully," Hitchens said. "We have groups that bully each other, races that bully each other and churches that bully other churches. We need to stand up as a nation and say, we are not that way."

Mayor Joe Sulzer also remarked on the prejudice in America many black Americans face each day. "I certainly think we as a nation have come a long way," Sulzer said. "But there's still injustices to be addressed."