The murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin captured the media's attention and the interest of Elon University's crime studies club. Club co-presidents, sophomores Eden Etzel and Nia Duke, organized the March for Justice, originally scheduled for Wednesday April 4, to raise awareness of the incident.
"Overall fairness of legal proceedings," Duke said. "That is what justice is. We don't live in a perfect world, but my goal is to make this world more fair."
The members of the crime studies club aims to illuminate fallacies in the criminal justice system and educate peers about past crimes and current conflicts. This case specifically attracted the club's attention because of discussions regarding police negligence and police apathy, Duke said.
"I think it is just one example of one town, but it is like that everywhere," Etzel said.
She predicted that had the races been reversed, the aggressor would have been arrested immediately. Negligence in police behavior reduces minority groups' confidence in law enforcement agencies, according to the crime studies minor.
While other events on campus have discussed the commonalities between Martin's death and the nature of other recent conflicts, those conversations centered around the evil intent embedded in the crime rather than the pursuit for justice in the aftermath, according to Duke.
With respect to the justice system, the two co-presidents acknowledge that the relationship between George Zimmerman and Martin reveals greater national concerns.
"It links to so many cases in racial discrimination, and we're using the case and Trayvon Martin as the face of a bigger movement because there are so many other cases that don't even get reported," Duke said.
Duke said she believes media coverage of previous cases involving Black individuals perpetrating crime in suburban neighborhoods perpetuates racial profiling and provided Zimmerman with an already crafted perception of the 17-year-old pedestrian.
"Our media plants messages in our head that says these are the types of people that plan these offenses that led Zimmerman to commit this offense," she said.
Furthermore, Etzel said she wanted to direct thought to the language of laws that enable aggressors to use the legal system as a defense. The Stand your Ground law permits a person to legally use force, including deadly force, as self-defense when there is a reasonable belief or threat of imminent bodily harm.
Although the facts are obscure, the club co-presidents said they are inclined to favor Martin based on police recordings and reports from eyewitnesses.
"What we heard on the police records is that the police instructed Zimmerman against following him, and he was actually pursuing him," Duke said. "He pursued him after the police officers told him not to, so that moved my understanding that Martin was walking around with a packet of skittles, and he was not a threat to the community."
Nevertheless, while promoting the event, Duke and Etzel said they realized the majority of students were unfamiliar with the controversy surrounding Martin's death.
"You can't accuse someone of being apathetic if they don't know the issue, so we can educate them to encourage them to fight for justice," Duke said.
The March for Justice will occur 5:30 p.m. April 11 at Young Commons.