Dwyane Wade and LeBron James have become the latest celebrities to speak out in support of Trayvon Martin, as the two Miami Heat stars each posted photos on their Facebook and Twitter accounts in support of the slain Florida teenager.
Martin, a black 17-year-old from Miami, was visiting his father and stepmother in Sanford, Fla., an Orlando suburb, on Feb. 26 when he was shot and killed in his father’s gated community by a neighborhood watch leader. George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Hispanic, has said he shot Martin in self-defense. Zimmerman has not been charged, but state and federal investigations are continuing.
At the time of the shooting, Martin was reportedly wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, and in the weeks since, people have begun wearing hoodies as an unspoken show of support for Martin.
Wade posted a photo of himself in a hooded sweatshirt to his Facebook and Twitter accounts Friday as a symbol of support for Martin. Wade also posted a note: “#hoodies #stereotype #trayvonmartin.”
"It's a picture that I've taken before. I thought it was great opportunity to use it," Wade told the Sun Sentinel of South Florida. "I've never used it before, really. So that was a great opportunity to use it. Just to get the people to understand what we're in support of."
James later posted a photo of 13 members of the Heat team wearing hoodies and added this message: “We Are Trayvon Martin. Hoodies. Stereotyped. We Want Justice.”
"It's support of the tragic thing that has taken place,” said Wade, whose Heat are in Detroit for a meeting with the Pistons on Friday night. “No matter what color, race, we're all fathers. When you think about what that family's going through, it hits you hard and it hurts your heart to think about it. Just anything you can do, obviously we can't bring him back, but anything you can do to get behind and support is what we're doing."
The details of the confrontation between Martin and Zimmerman are still unclear, but Martin’s parents allege their son was a victim of racial profiling. In 911 tapes released by Sanford Police, Zimmerman described Martin as “a real suspicious guy” who “looks like he’s up to no good." Zimmerman also told the dispatcher that, “These a--holes, they always get away.”
Despite being instructed by a the dispatcher to stand down and stay away from Martin, who was reportedly returning home from buying snacks before the NBA All-Star Game, Zimmerman allegedly pursued the teenager and shot and killed him during an ensuing altercation.
Zimmerman has since claimed that he shot Martin in self-defense under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, which allows a person to use deadly force if the person “reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another.”
The shooting and the handling of the case by Sanford police have garnered national attention, and demands for Zimmerman’s arrest have grown. A petition on the website Change.org demanding prosecution of Zimmerman had more than 1.5 million signatures as of Friday afternoon.
In addition to Wade and James, many other celebrities, including Spike Lee, Wyclef Jean, Mia Farrow, Michael Moore and John Legend, have spoken out in support of Martin. On Friday, President Barack Obama addressed the issue for the first time, calling Martin’s death a “tragedy.”
"My main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin,” Obama said. “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon. I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and we’re going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.”
