Lynn community discussion to focus on Martin verdict

LYNN – Anyone interested in discussing the outcome of the Trayvon Martin case can attend a community discussion Monday at 7 p.m. in the Community Brotherhood Club on Coburn Street.National Association for the Advancement of Colored People local chapter past president Darrell Murkison said he decided to host the meeting following conversations with people in the wake of the July 13 not guilty finding by a Florida jury in the murder trial of Florida resident George Zimmerman.Zimmerman, now 29, was charged with murder in April 2012 following 17-year-old Martin’s shooting death two months earlier. Community Minority Cultural Center Director Steven Godfrey and Saving Our Souls Foundation Inc. Director Pamela Burton plan to attend the discussion.”The community has reached out to us as leaders to express their opinions about what happened. They will get the satisfaction of sharing their views,” said Burton.The Center offers classes and hosts programs, including family counseling, health, computer training and English as a second language programs. Saving Our Souls is dedicated to violence prevention, said Burton.Godfrey and Burton hope local attorneys and police officers attend the meeting to offer views and perspective in addition to opinions voiced by other people attending the meeting.Godfrey suggested the Martin verdict must be viewed from a legal and moral perspective with an analysis of the jury’s verdict and a discussion about why Zimmerman “was not held accountable for his actions.””You truly have to look at this and ask, what does this mean and how did it lead to this verdict? Then you have to ask, what is happening in America today, especially in regard to our youth?” Godfrey said.He hopes young Lynn residents attend the meeting and leave the discussion with the understanding that changing laws in the United States means “you must organize, strategize and you have to be at the table.”Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].