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Televangelist vows to ‘shut down Florida’ over slaying of teen

By Frances Robles, McClatchy Newspapers –

SANFORD, Fla. — Televangelist preacher Jamal Bryant vowed to “shut down Florida” at a rally on Wednesday to demand justice for slain Miami-Dade teen Trayvon Martin.

“This is a wake-up call for the state of Florida!” Bryant said. “We are going to shut Florida down until justice weighs down!”

The Baltimore preacher and leader of the Empowerment Movement spoke at a rally at the Allen Chapel in Sanford in response to the Feb. 26 killing of the Michael Krop Senior High School student.

Black leaders are vowing to bring at least 1,000 protesters from around the country to a March 26 City Council meeting if charges are not filed in the case.

Trayvon was visiting his father and his father’s girlfriend in a gated community when the homeowner’s association neighborhood watch volunteer spotted him and thought he looked suspicious. The two tussled and guard George Zimmerman opened fire, killing the unarmed boy.

Zimmerman claimed self defense and has not been arrested. The case was referred this week to the State Attorney’s Office in Sanford for review. Police Chief Bill Lee said there was no probable cause for an arrest.

Because the boy is black and Zimmerman, widely believed to be white, the teen’s family and many activists believe Trayvon was racially profiled. However, Zimmerman is Latino.

“Arresting him would have been the easy thing to do,” Lee said in an interview. “Doing the easy thing, we would not have all this national pressure on us. We are doing the hard thing.”

“You’ve arrested a lot of black men without probable cause,” Bryant quipped.

Standing at the podium of a packed church, Bryant asked protesters to take out a pen and paper. Then he announced the telephone number for the Brevard and Seminole County State Attorney’s Office, and asked everyone to blast the prosecutor’s office with phone calls demanding criminal charges in the case.

“The concern shown through email and other correspondence is expected and appreciated, but please understand that charging decisions will be based on the law and the evidence and that we will invest our time in the investigation and not replying to individual emails,” State Attorney Norm Wolfinger said in a statement released a day prior.

“Trayvon Martin and his family, interested persons, and the public-at-large are entitled to no less than a thorough, deliberate and just review of the information provided, along with any other evidence that may or may not be developed in the course of the review process. We intend to honor that commitment.”

The church rally was attended by the city’s mayor, who promised a thorough review — even if he had to pay for it himself. Seminole County NAACP President Turner Clayton asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate.

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