Orlando Sentinel -- Nearly 450,000 people have signed a petition created by the NAACP after a jury found George Zimmerman not-guilty in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin Saturday, calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a civil rights investigation.
"A jury has acquitted George Zimmerman, but we are not done demanding justice for Trayvon Martin. Sign our petition to the Department of Justice today," read a note accompanying the petition on MoveOn.org, which partnered with the NAACP and urged people to sign on its site as well.
By mid-afternoon Sunday, the petition had garnered more than 275,000 signatures on the NAACP site, and the petition by MoveOn.org drew almost 175,000.
The petition, created by NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous, and addressed to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, calls for the DOJ to file "civil rights charges against Mr. Zimmerman for this egregious violation."
On Sunday afternoon, a DOJ spokesperson released statement, which read, in part:
"As the Department first acknowledged last year, we have an open investigation into the death of Trayvon Martin...Experienced federal prosecutors will determine whether the evidence reveals a prosecutable violation of any of the limited federal criminal civil rights statutes within our jurisdiction, and whether federal prosecution is appropriate in accordance with the Department's policy governing successive federal prosecution following a state trial."
Blog author's comments - I would not be surprised if the AG Eric Holder and the DOJ file a civil suit against George Zimmerman. Holder and Obama are hearing a lot of noise not only from the NAACP but also the liberals and race hustlers who do not want this case to end the way it has. They were sure that Zimmerman would have at least been found guilty of manslaughter. They did not get what they wanted and will not rest until they have exhausted all that they can do and will continue to stir the pot of racism. The NAACP wants a sacrifice to their right of entitlement and that is George Zimmerman.
The case should have never come to trial and Zimmerman should have never been charged with 2nd degree murder. I really don't believe Trayvon Martin meant that much for many of the people screaming for ‘justice.’ They are attempting to use his death as an example of what they will always see as wide spread racism towards black people of this country.
Shouldn't some of the most vocal critics be more concerned about the many young black men who are being shot almost every day in most major cities in the country? Not one of these so-called legal experts has expressed any outrage over the 72 people shot and 12 killed in Chicago over the 4th of July weekend. Why is that I ask...it may be because none of the shootings in Chicago involved a "white" person pulling the trigger.
