Congregants wear hoodies during a morning sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Sunday. Churchgoers were invited to wear hoodies to services to show support for justice in the case of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager who was wearing a hoodie on the night he was killed by a Neighborhood Watch captain in Florida.Some Chattanooga community leaders are joining a national outcry against racism and violence that many believe left a Florida teen dead and his killer uncharged.
The Rev. Leroy Griffith of Renaissance Presbyterian Church said Sunday's services celebrated the feast of the Annunciation. He emphasized God's decision to send Jesus to a humble family and mused, "God chooses the poor and oppressed to bear witness to God. Maybe the slaughter of this young man will encourage people to seek out justice."
"It's a tragic event. There's no way you can have a whole system that allows it," added the Rev. Paul McDaniel of Second Missionary Baptist.
It's been a month since 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot by Neighborhood Watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who is white and Hispanic, while walking home from a store through a gated community.
Zimmerman, 28, has not been arrested. He said he used deadly force to defend himself under Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law.
But protesters note that Martin was unarmed and unthreatening, carrying a bag of Skittles and talking on the phone to his girlfriend. They wonder if the event would have played out differently if the men's races were reversed.
Over the weekend, ministers, particularly in the African-American community, have urged congregations to demand punishment in Martin's death, some drawing parallels between the teen and Emmett Till, a man lynched in 1955 under Jim Crow laws.
Some in their congregations wear hoodies like the one Martin wore that made him look intimidating enough to shoot. Griffith and H. H. Wright have both noticed the protest fashion statement.
But Wright, who has served at Wesley Chapel Christian Community Church for nearly 60 years, maintains that income, not race, is the greatest divider in the country.
"There isn't white and black in this country; it's haves and don't-haves," he said.
He also believes the "Stand Your Ground" law allows those in power to pick and choose who is punished under the law and has eroded the rights of the poor.
"These politicians aren't helping at all. The less affluent are getting taken back further from where we were," he said. "The conservatives want to put the less affluent back in their place."
However, McDaniel thinks race may have been the deciding factor in the shooting.
"You have to face the reality that there are people who respond to racial stereotypes," he said, "You have to caution young black men, even in dealing with the police."
Members of UTC's Progressive Student Alliance are holding a rally tonight at Miller Park to raise awareness of the Martin shooting and "demand the examination of the racist laws and state apparatus in Sanford Police Department and the state of Florida, the United States and right here in our own community and state," according to the event's Facebook page.
"Everyone I have talked to has not only felt sorrow, but also expressed anger because of their perception that there is a miscarriage of justice in the state of Florida," Griffith noted.
Many at the rally are expected to wear hoodies. Wright said he doesn't own one himself, but is working on improvising one to show solidarity. It's important to him to spread Martin's story in the area.
"The same thing can happen and will happen in Chattanooga," he said.