On February 26th, everyone in the state of Florida was doing everything that they normally did. This also goes for Trayvon Martin, a young 17-year old boy. Trayvon was into sports. His favorites were basketball and football. But that day, Martin would be forever blockaded from playing sports again. Who was the one who stopped this boy’s life, you ask? George Zimmerman. This is how the event played out. Trayvon had just gone to the convenience store and was now coming back to his father’s fiancee’s house. He had his hood up and his hands in his pockets. Zimmerman was following Martin while talking to police dispatcher after calling 911. Soon after, a fight broke out between them. A gunshot sounded and an innocent 17-year old boy was murdered. And George Zimmerman wasn’t even charged.

When you think of Florida you think of  a happy, sunny place with Cinderella’s Castle rising up into the sky. Well as you can see from the details of Trayvon Martin’s death, it’s not.. Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which allows citizens to shoot and kill anyone anywhere if they feel threatened. In other words, if someone was walking on the street and they look “threatening”, anyone would have the right to walk up to that person and shoot them. After the murder of Martin, the “stand your ground” laws are sparking commotion and unrest, as they should. The number of homicides in Florida has gone from 12 to 33 a year, which is nearly triple. This isn’t another terrorist attack or a war; these unjustifiable killings are going on in our own country. The United States of America must rise up against these “self-defense” laws and obliterate them, so that those guilty of murder, such as George Zimmerman, may be corrected. And so that Trayvon Martin, and other innocent victims, may rest in peace.

~Nazar Chowdhury