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Trayvon Martin: Latino Silence over Zimmerman Draws Fire
latino.foxnews.com ^ | 30 March, 2012 | Soni Sangha
Posted on April 1, 2012 8:35:45 PM EDT by marktwain
The shooting death of unarmed African-American teenager Trayvon Martin by a Latino man in Florida has provoked a national discussion about racism, ethnicity, and racial profiling in America—with the media referring to the shooter, George Zimmerman, as a "white Latino," a term that has been greeted with derision by some.
Now critics are questioning why prominent Latino rights groups have remained on the sidelines of the discussion of race and the case.
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh tore into the National Council of La Raza on Tuesday, criticizing the group’s president, Janet Murguia, for omitting Zimmerman’s ethnicity from her commentary on the incident.
Confusion Over Zimmerman's Race Highlights Changing Discourse of Race & Latinos
A caller had prompted the conversation wondering why the community hasn’t stood behind Zimmerman “seeing as how he is the victim, how he was assaulted.”
But advocates within the Latino community say these remarks are divisive and take away from the real issue.
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A “killzimmerman” twitter account was set up. It was formed in response to a tweet questioning the call for violence thusly: “We should just all get up and #killzimmerman ourselves; f--- the system. #AintNoJustice.”
Marytza Sanz, who runs a non-profit organization in the Orlando area and works with La Raza, reached out to the Martin family immediately. When she did, she had no idea Zimmerman was a Latino. She reached out to assist on her group’s behalf because their child could just as easily have been Latino or any other race.
“It happens Zimmerman was a Latino, but that is not the issue here,” said Sanz. “This is a guy that did something wrong and we have to prosecute him and we have to do something as a country. We cannot accept this.”
(Excerpt) Read more at latino.foxnews.com ...