A mural showing a man shooting another man resembling Trayvon Martin in a hoodie was unveiled Friday at the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee, a local CBS affiliate reported Friday.
Miami artist Huong, from Vietnam, released the 100-foot mural she’s calling “We All Are Trayvon Martin.” The painting has those words written in several languages, as well as images of civil rights leaders like the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with blood flowing from his head.
The man pointing the gun looks similar to George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch leader who was acquitted in the shooting death of Martin, and he’s shooting a person wearing a hoodie, much like the one Martin was wearing the night of his death. According to the report, there is a mirror in the mural where the teenager’s face would be so visitors can see themselves in his image.
Huong said her mural is part of the Peace Mural Foundation, a nonprofit aimed to promote awareness of human suffering through art.
“The Trayvon Martin trial captured the country like no other had since O.J. Simpson,” she wrote in a description of the mural on her website. “It was more than just a heinous crime, it was social injustice. No one ever imagined that on that dark, rainy night, the life of a young man would be stripped from him in cold blood. Carrying nothing but a bag of Skittles he had just bought from a convenience store, the only crime he committed that night was walking into the path of George Zimmerman.”
Huong has joined the Dream Defenders, who are leading the fight against “stand your ground” self-defense laws. The group plans on taking the artwork on a nationwide tour, although the exact locations are not yet known, the station said.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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