Sanford, Florida (CNN) — Worshippers in cities nationwide were wearing hoodies to church services Sunday to honor Trayvon Martin, a Florida teenager shot to death last month by a neighborhood watch volunteer.
Martin, 17, was wearing a hoodie when he was killed February 26 as he walked back to his father’s fiancee’s house in Sanford, Florida, after a trip to a convenience store. Police say he was unarmed, carrying a bag of Skittles candy and an iced tea; he was shot by George Zimmerman, who claims he was acting in self defense, according to authorities.
Zimmerman has not been charged in the case.
Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and Middle Collegiate Church in New York are among the churches planning to honor the teen Sunday.
“I will also preach in a hoodie. We are doing this not for show, but to send a message that all humanity is sacred. And by saying all, we are including African-American boys and girls, and men and women who reserve the right to wear a hoodie in the rain and not be racially profiled and killed because bigots think that their appearance is suspicious, or threatening,” the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock said in a statement posted on Ebenezer’s website.
A “Hundred Hoodie March” was planned Sunday in Rockford, Illinois, as was a “Million Hoodie March” in Rochester, New York.
In Sanford, a “prayer for peace” and a candlelight vigil will take place Sunday evening. Another candlelight vigil will take place at the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.
“The public has had enough of the police and prosecutors operating in secrecy when it comes to people of color, especially African-Americans,” said J. Willie David III, president of the Florida Civil Rights Association, the group planning the Sanford vigil.
The case has sparked a national debate over the Florida law and concerns about racial profiling. Martin was black and Zimmerman is white Hispanic.
The attorney for Martin’s family, meanwhile, said bringing a federal hate crime charge against Zimmerman will be “a challenge, to put it lightly.”
Daryl Parks told board members of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) on Saturday that prosecution on the state level stands a better chance.
“Most state laws tend to be better for the prosecution of state crimes. And that’s why we see the federal authorities expressing, although gently, in their statements that they can only do so much if there’s some type of race statements involved. The state officials don’t have that problem,” Parks said.
“I think the focus is not necessarily a federal arrest over a state arrest. We want an arrest, period. And I think that the state aspect of that is the one that’s most feasible, most attainable in this matter.”
Parks said there is evidence that the Twin Lakes homeowners’ association told residents who saw suspicious activity to call George Zimmerman if they could not contact the police, according to an NABJ statement.
The Martin family plans to pursue a civil case against the homeowners’ association, Parks said.
Demonstrations have taken place nationwide over Martin’s death.
“We as a nation have become much too violent,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Sunday. “…If it’s black on white, it’s jail time. If it’s white on black, it’s revolt time. If it’s black on black, or white on white, or brown on brown, it’s Miller time.”
After a rally in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Ron Campbell said in a CNN iReport that the case has not been handled properly.
“That is why we have so many protests,” he said. “It was a senseless situation.”
A handful of members from the New Black Panther Party rallied in Sanford on Saturday and offered a $10,000 reward for Zimmerman’s “capture.”
“It’s time for us, as black men, to take justice in our own hands. If you won’t give us justice, we will have to take justice,” said Florida organizer Mikhail Muhammad. “An eye for an eye. A life for a life.”