Narratives of the Trayvon Martin Shooting: The Media, The Community, and Race Relations

Alexander Lowie

University of Florida

Spring 2017

2 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING Abstract

This research project explores the difference in narratives created by local and national news sources about the shooting of Trayvon Martin and how these narratives affected the opinions of the public. Information was collected from interviews with people who lived in

Sanford, Florida during the media coverage of the shooting as well as newspaper articles that covered the story. This project gives insight into the varying ways that sensitive news is handled by different types of news sources. The structure of national news sources is also examined in order to explain why the media covered the Trayvon Martin shooting in the ways that they did.

The project examines how the community in Sanford dealt with the image cast on them after the shooting occurred. Themes discussed in this project include the media, race relations, the “stand your ground” law, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the remembrance of place in relation to sensitive topics.

Introduction

On an average trip back home to Sanford, I always find another excuse to go downtown, probably because I love it there so much. I usually start by parking next to my favorite restaurant, The Willow Tree, then I proceed to walk aimlessly in no particular direction just to soak in the surroundings. I always make it a point to stop by the used book store. The space was once my favorite antique shop and ice cream parlor. My mom would take me and my brother there every Wednesday after school to get ice cream, assuming we were well behaved (though even when we were not she still managed to spoil us). The old man behind the counter always found a way to make us laugh as he served us our ice cream. 3 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING After I visit the used book store, I visit the Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center, the place where I spent a majority of my childhood acting in community plays. It was also the place where my grandfather spent much of his childhood as well, watching movies and visiting the bakery that was once next door. The public is not allowed in the theater during the day but I am always anxious to go inside and look around, particularly at the cast photos hanging on the wall to see my former self dressed in costume with a big theatrical smile on my face.

I usually end my visit downtown at the Riverwalk on the St. John’s. It is a long, narrow stretch of asphalt built just off the seawall intended for joggers, bikers, dog-walkers, and the occasional young couple looking for a romantic place to spend time together. Perhaps my favorite thing to do at the Riverwalk is watch the people fishing. From sunrise to well after sunset, you find people laying back in their camping chairs with their feet up on their coolers and fishing poles in their hands. Usually the fishermen will talk to one another, making friends to pass the time. When they finally do pull something out of the water, a big crowd swarms them to see what it is.

Behind the Riverwalk is Fort Mellon Park. This little piece of land has had a long history but is now a center of recreation for the city. The open field at Fort Mellon is used for various community events including the citywide Easter egg hunt and Fourth of July celebration. When I was younger, I played flag football and baseball at the park for the city recreational leagues.

Between the park and downtown stands the Sanford Historical Museum and if I have time, I normally go into the museum to reread all the little historical facts that I have no doubt read a hundred times before.

I usually run into someone I know while walking downtown. It is a welcomed nuisance because it is always nice to see a familiar face and hear a little bit of gossip that I have missed. I 4 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING will admit that I spend too much time walking around 1st Street and not enough time on Sanford

Ave., the area that is currently the focus for both new business owners and the city. Though

Sanford Ave. used to be run down, it now has upscale restaurants, nice bars, and art studios.

I mention all of this because to me, this is Sanford, Florida. The historic downtown, the

Riverwalk, the park, and most importantly, the people that make it so lively. All of these things make Sanford a great place to live. It is not a perfect place, by any means. I first learned that in

Fourth Grade when my class had to write poems about our hometowns and one of my classmates wrote about how the gunshots at night made him scared to go to sleep. I never heard the gunshots but I heard him. I heard the other students read aloud so many different things about the city that

I had never even considered. I realized that there was such a diverse range of people and experiences that live there. The city is not perfect but no city in the world can ever be perfect.

In the months following the Trayvon Martin shooting, Sanford became the center of attention for the United States and I personally felt that it acquired a reputation vastly different from the one I was familiar with. Sanford was under a microscope for over a year and became the epicenter for the national dialogue of race relations. The shooting led to international

“Million Hoodie” marches and was arguably the cause for the formation of the Black Lives

Matter movement1. Though the shooting had a profound impact nationally, the people of Sanford are still putting back together the pieces of a city that faced much pressure from international fervor.

With my personal connection to Sanford, I believed it was important to research the shooting. I wanted to examine the shooting through the eyes of the media and the people that

1 Capehart, Johnathan. "From Trayvon Martin to 'black lives matter'" The Washington Post. February 27, 2015. Accessed March 24, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/02/27/from-trayvon- martin-to-black-lives-matter/?utm_term=.c9d31ef0f6b0. 5 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING lived in Sanford. I thought that the media had a drastic effect on not only the interpretation of the shooting but also the portrayal of Sanford. I believed it was necessary to research the way the media reported on the shooting and what impact it had on the narratives created by both the local and the national community. The legacy of the shooting continues to be an interesting study on current race relations, the “Stand Your Ground” law, and the legacy of the 1960s Civil Rights

Movement today.

While preparing for this research, I had a list of research questions. These would be the basis for my research and included questions such as:

1. Do national news publications create different narratives of events compared to the

local communities in which the events occur?

2. How local and national news sources are structured? Are there any differences in

their structure?

3. Where there major differences in the ways people received news during the coverage

of the shooting and today, especially in respect to local or national news?

4. Do they think that their choice in news had an effect on their perception of the

shooting?

5. What role do people believe the national news played in perceptions of the Trayvon

Martin shooting?

6. Did it seem like people thought the news positively or negatively affected public

opinion of the case and the reputation of Sanford?

7. What influence do past race relations nationally and in Sanford have on the

community today? 6 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING 8. What are the similarities between the current Black Lives Matter movement and the

Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s?

Examining these research questions is important because the current socio-political climate is greatly affected by race. Presently there are many issues involving the validity of the news, on both national and local levels, and it is important to examine the structure of the news to understand how it influences our perceptions of reality. I believe that by examining the single case study of Sanford, Florida, there is much to learn because of how important the Trayvon

Martin shooting was on shaping current racial issues. During the news coverage of the shooting of Trayvon Martin, the media drastically influenced public perception of the shooting and purposefully incited racial tensions which had a lasting impact on the community of Sanford. I will be examining this information but first must contextualize Sanford historically in order to understand how past race relations may have influenced modern race relations and the shooting of Trayvon Martin.

Background

Today, Sanford is home to about 58,000 people and is made up of 57.3% white people,

30.5% black people, and 20.2% of people who identify as Hispanic or Latino2. Places of interest in Sanford include the Central Florida Zoo, Fort Mellon Park, the Wayne Densch Performing

Arts Center, and the Seminole Towne Center Mall. Most people know Sanford for its historic district. The Seminole Towne Center is located in a popular commercial area containing many national restaurant chains and stores. It was in this area that the shooting occurred. Today there

2 United States of America. U.S. Department of Commerce. United States Census Bureau. Census.gov.2015. Accessed March 22, 2017. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/POP060210/1263650. 7 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING are two historically black parts of town that are still present, Goldsboro and Midway. Goldsboro is closer to this city center and the historic district near Lake Monroe while Midway is located near the Sanford International Airport. These two areas have the highest concentration of black citizens while other minority groups are dispersed throughout the city. This demographic distribution is the result of a long history in Sanford (Map Appendix A).

The earliest known record of European occupation in Sanford came during the Second

Seminole War in 1837. U.S. General Thomas Jesup and his men built Fort Mellon on the banks of Lake Monroe near what is today Sanford3. The fort was used as a supply depot and defendable compound for the guerilla type warfare that was present in the Second Seminole War. It was important to the U.S. troops because the Fort was located at a point on the St. John’s River that was deep enough to maneuver steamships and allow for the transportation of people and supplies from Jacksonville to places further south4. After the war the fort was abandoned once it had lost its usefulness to the U.S. Army.

In the 1860’s and 1870’s, Henry Deland, a northern businessman, invested in the land north of Lake Monroe. He eventually invited Henry Shelton Sanford, from Connecticut, to tour the area and make investments of his own5. He bought the land from Confederate General Joseph

Finegan6 and, like many northern businessmen, he thought he could use his land for agricultural practices. He needed workers but many of the white settlers in the area opposed the idea of black laborers and therefore H.S. Sanford recruited Swedish workers to work his fields7. Eventually he

3 Tebeau, Charlton W. and Ruby Leach Carson. Florida From Indian Trail to Space Age. Vol. 1. Delray Beach, FL: The Southern Publishing Company, 1965. p. 157. 4 Ibid, p. 157. 5 Ibid, p. 243-244. 6 Ibid, p. 258. 7 Ibid, p. 258. 8 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING did end up introducing black laborers to work with the Swedish laborers in the orange groves that were planted on the shore of Lake Monroe8.

Many of the black laborers in Sanford and elsewhere incorporated their own town next to

Sanford in 1911 that they named Goldsboro9. It was the second town in Florida to be incorporated by an all-black populace, the first being nearby Eatonville10. They had their own churches, schools, and businesses as well as their own city government. As Sanford grew it started to border Goldsboro and eventually Sanford forcefully stripped Goldsboro of their charter and made it a part of Sanford proper11. The people of Goldsboro have not lost their historical heritage and still manage to be a prominent black community today. Midway began as a community of black farmers and today remains an unincorporated community.

At the turn of the century, the city of Sanford quickly became a center for agriculture and trade. This was because of the depth of Lake Monroe and the development of the railroad through Central Florida, which opened up markets and allowed for the transfer of goods and people12. After the Great Freeze in the 1890’s, the residents turned to producing celery. At one point Sanford was producing one-third of the nation’s whole celery supply13 and the city was quickly and affectionately nicknamed “Celery City”. During World War II, Sanford’s naval air

8 Shofner, Jerrell H. "Reconstruction and Renewal, 1865-1877." Edited by Michael Gannon. In The New History of Florida, 249-65. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1996. p. 259. 9 "Pathways to History - Goldsboro and Historic Goldsboro Boulevard." City of Sanford: Pathways to History - Goldsboro and Historic Goldsboro Boulevard. 2017. Accessed March 28, 2017. http://www.sanfordfl.gov/index.aspx?page=484. 10 "History." Eatonville History. April 23, 2011. Accessed April 01, 2017. https://eatonvillefl.wordpress.com/history/. 11 “Pathways to History – Goldsboro and Historic Goldsboro Boulevard.” 12 Mohl, Raymond A., and Gary R. Mormino. "A Social History of Modern Florida." Edited by Michael Gannon. In The New History of Florida, 418-51. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1996. p. 429. 13 Rogers, William W. "The Great Depression." Edited by Michael Gannon. In The New History of Florida, 304-22. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1996. 9 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING station became a training center for fighter planes14. After the war, the naval air station became the Sanford International Airport and today allows for commercial and public use.

It is important to mention this information because it shows that historically, Sanford is like any other city in Florida. It has a history of northern investors developing the land. The first non-Native settlers came to the area to work in the fields of the developing agricultural industry and like much of Florida, it had a sizeable citrus market, which was deeply affected by the Great

Freeze. Sanford experienced all of the hardships of the 20th century including both of the World

Wars and the Civil Rights Movement. Today, it is not only the county seed of Seminole County but it is also a major suburb of Orlando, Florida. It is important to frame the city contextually in history to better understand the dynamics of the people living there today.

Research Literature

When looking at research literature. I found that it was important to look at the ways in which people have already written about the media. I wanted to understand the media from an anthropological perspective in order to aid in my understanding of the ethical considerations of the news and the operations of news in today’s digital society. Most of the books that I found written about the Trayvon Martin trial were written by people who had never been to Sanford and mainly focused on the dynamics of race nationally or specifics of the trial. Therefore, they did not have much to say about the effects of the shooting on Sanford and were not exactly pertinent to my research (such as Suspicion Nation; Trayvon Martin, Race, and American

Justice; and Deadly Injustice: Trayvon Martin, Race, and the Criminal Justice System).

14 Mormino, Gary R. "World War II." Edited by Michael Gannon. In The New History of Florida, 323-43. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1996. p. 326. 10 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING In the book The Anthropology of News & Journalism: Global Perspectives, Elizabeth

Bird discusses how Anthropologists need to begin to examine news and journalism from an anthropological perspective15 and I agree. I believe that since journalists are the ones who write about news, they should be held accountable for the way that they handle sensitive news stories such as those involving race relations. Therefore, when I reviewed literature for research it was important to look at the anthropology of the media. I felt that doing this was especially useful to help me determine how the media affected public perception of the shooting. If I can use this information to understand how the media works from an anthropological perspective, I will be able to determine what occurred during the coverage of the Trayvon Martin shooting and to what extent the media was involved in shaping narratives both locally and nationally.

Anthropologist Dominic Boyer wrote an article titled Digital Expertise in Online

Journalism (and Anthropology) which looks at the development of news throughout the progression of the digital age and how it has evolved into the modern day news media. It is important to discuss the changing dynamic of the news in order to understand how it influenced public perception of the Trayvon Martin shooting and other similar instances. Boyer says that across western journalistic generations it is agreed that “new digital information systems and platforms have profoundly reshaped the institutions and practices of newsmaking, whether for the good or for the ill” 16. The major change throughout the digital age is that the market is growing uncontrollably.

Newspaper and television used to be the standard methods by which news sources reach their viewers, however, many publications have now had to cut down their staff, specifically

15 Bird, S. Elizabeth. The Anthropology of News & Journalism: Global Perspectives. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2010. 16 Boyer, Dominic. "Digital Expertise in Online Journalism (and Anthropology)." Anthropological Quarterly 83, no. 1 (Winter 2010): 73-95. Accessed March 22, 2017. JSTOR. p. 79. 11 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING those working with the traditional methods. Boyer even explains how many journalists working in digital media have made specialized networks for themselves17. These networks are used to standardize digital news media. By using Boyer’s analysis of the change in the information systems, I have found that news sources themselves have looked to compensate for the changing social landscape due to the invention of the internet and are constantly trying to adjust to fit the changing needs of the public. Information is shared quickly and this affects the competition between different news sources.

Coming from an anthropological background, it was specifically important for me to understand how journalists deal with “the truth” and the people they interview for information.

This is mainly because it determines how journalists interact with the public and how they report on what is occurring in the various communities they cover in their news. In her work

Journalists and Their Sources, Isabel Awad says that in anthropology and other social sciences, the ethical quality of the researcher focuses on treating the subject as a citizen and therefore researchers must take strenuous steps before working with research subjects18.

Awad uses her paper to analyze the ethics of journalism from an anthropological point of view and discusses how in journalism the ethical quality is a matter of “getting it right”. She explains that this narrows the journalists’ definition of truth regarding fact to a point where objectivity is desired, but frequently not obtained19. Awad says that journalists will often manipulate the sources they are given in order to ensure “the public’s right to know”, although they usually lose their sense of objectivity. Using Awad’s work, I hope to prove that because the ethics of journalism have such a complicated relationship regarding the truth, it is very easy for

17 Boyer, Dominic. "Digital Expertise in Online Journalism (and Anthropology).” p. 80. 18 Awad, Isabel. “Journalists and their Sources.” Journalism Studies 7, no. 6 (2006): 922-39. Accessed March 22, 2017. doi:10.1080/14616700600980702, p. 935. 19 Awad, Isabel. “Journalists and their Sources.” p. 935. 12 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING journalists to manipulate evidence, whether it is for ad revenue via popularity or their own sense of ethical obligation to the truth. By using these principles in my research paper, I will show how the media had a negative impact on public perception of the shooting.

In this research project, I am going to go beyond examining the development of news media today and the ethics of journalism. I will use the Trayvon Martin shooting to examine differences in news reporting and discuss how these differences influence the public’s perception of important socio-political issues. By understanding the recent trends in journalism and the ethics behind the news media, I better understand the process by which journalists write and publish stories and therefore, when it comes to examining what narratives were written during the case and by whom, I have a better understanding of the motive and target audience of a specific news source. After reading the research literature, I expected to find that the media did have a significant impact on the way that people understood the case and that they reported on the shooting in excess, not to search for truth but only for personal gain. Using the different narratives of the public, I am going to examine why the shooting was as politicized and divisive as it was and how this affected the community of Sanford.

Methodology

My methodology for this project was not as particularly diverse as I would have liked but that is mainly because the shooting and news coverage already occurred and therefore, there was not much participant observation to be done in relation to the rallies or demonstrations held in

Sanford. Most of my information comes from newspapers or TV recordings as well as my own personal account and the accounts of others. The information acquired in the newspaper articles mainly came from online archives. These were quite insightful because I could track the exact 13 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING language used by various news sources when describing the shooting. One significant detail that

I found while examining this evidence is that local news sources, such as the Orlando Sentinel or the local TV news affiliates, reported on the shooting within days of its occurrence in February of 2012, however, national sources usually did not report on it until mid-March.

I used interviews as my main method of research. I felt that the interviews were extremely important because the narratives created by the subjects interviewed are what shape the ways that the issues surrounding the shooting are remembered and later interpreted. One thing I had to remember throughout the interview process is that the information I was being told by my subjects was a subjective version of their experiences during the coverage of the shooting and not an objective retelling of the events that occurred20. It was important for me to constantly consider this dynamic because so many people had such different interpretations of the effects of the media on Sanford and the way that the community changed. Just because two people might have had contradictory, answers to questions did not mean that either of them were wrong. It just meant that they experienced things separately and that could be attributed to several factors.

Since I am from Sanford and witnessed what I believe to be many negative effects on the community brought about by the way the case was publicized, I wanted to assess the narratives of other people that lived in Sanford during the months following the shooting. I sought to find out what impacts they might have felt the commentary of the media and various political or celebrity figures shooting had on the community. I wanted to compare these narratives to the narratives produced by the media. By doing so I hoped to determine whether or not there were

20 Agar, Michael H. The professional stranger: an informal introduction to ethnography. 2nd ed. Bingley, UK: Emerald, 2008, p. 237-240. Weiss, Robert Stuart. Learning from strangers: the art and method of qualitative interview studies. 1st ed. New York, NY: The Free Press, 1995, p.149-150. 14 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING differences between the ways that the people in Sanford felt the shooting affected the community and the ways that the news said that it did.

When picking subjects from Sanford, I was looking to gather a diverse group of opinions from people of all levels in the community in order to get a well-rounded sense of what occurred.

Due to this, I decided to pick people from different races, geographic area, age, and gender. I was able to interview six people from Sanford and every one of them is from a different place in the community (See Appendix C). I understood that I had a unique perspective during the shooting and tried to hold as much respect for all of my subject’s narratives as I had for my own, even if they held views that contradicted something that I believed.

The first person I interviewed was an elderly black woman that I have known personally for most of my life, Ms. Evelyn. I knew that Ms. Evelyn had lived in Sanford during the time of segregation and as a member of the black community, it was important for me to understand her experiences in Sanford at that time. Though her daughter, Daphne, originally did not want to take part in the interview, she eventually joined in on the discussion as we delved further and further into the interview. Daphne grew up in the 1980’s, and just like Ms. Evelyn, Daphne came from

Goldsboro. In order to interview Ms. Evelyn, I did what I normally did when visiting her, I gave her an hour’s notice that I was stopping by. Due to our personal relationship, I was comfortable stopping by and she was more than willing to talk with me.

At the beginning of my research I did not consider any of the differences between

Goldsboro and Midway that might be present. I barely knew about the history of both and mainly just understood that Goldsboro was closer to the historic district in Sanford and that Midway was closer to the airport. Luckily, I was able to interview someone born in Midway and who lived there his whole life, Elijah. Elijah is a black man that is about the same age as Daphne and grew 15 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING up in Sanford in the 1980’s as well. However, he had a very different relationship with Sanford than Daphne and their different experiences were because of the major differences between

Goldsboro and Midway. Goldsboro is historically more of an urban center closer to the white neighborhoods in town and Midway is historically more of rural area, farther away from any parts of town considered white. I knew Elijah personally, through his son, before the interview but had not spent a considerable amount of time with him. I secured my interview with Elijah through his son.

My next interview was with a black man that had worked in Sanford during the Trayvon

Martin shooting; however, he did not live there. His name is Charles and what was particularly of interest with Charles is that he worked as an administrator in the Seminole County Public

School system for one of the high schools in Sanford. I felt that his position as a school administrator gave him a unique insight on the effects of the shooting on the community. This is especially true considering that he has only really known Sanford from the past few years and does not have a long history with the community. Thus, he could compare his experiences in

Sanford with his experiences in the other places that he has lived throughout his life. I was able to schedule my interview with Charles by emailing him. I had known him, somewhat well, while

I attended high school and he was more than glad to speak with me.

The next interview I conducted in Sanford was with someone I have known for a considerable amount of time in my life, Amber. I am very close friends with her son and I have spent a lot of time around her because of my relationship with her son. Not only was she born and raised in Sanford during the 1980’s like Daphne and Elijah, but she also works for the

Seminole County Sheriff’s office and I felt that his gave her a unique perspective on the shooting that I would not find in any other interview. I believed that as a law enforcement officer, perhaps 16 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING she had learned about the shooting in different ways than other people in the community. Though she was nervous about the interview at first, she proved to be a valuable asset by providing the perspective of a law enforcement officer and tell me things about the case that I did not know beforehand. While I was visiting Amber’s son, I asked her personally if I could interview her.

My final interview conducted in Sanford was with someone I knew while in high school and I decided to interview him because he is half-Hispanic and half-white like George

Zimmerman. I believed that he would be able to use his experiences as someone of mixed ethnicity in the community to give insightful opinions about the shooting. His name is Noah and he was actually born in South America before moving to the United States when he was five years old. He still has cultural ties to his birth country but was adamant in explaining that as someone of mixed ethnicity, he does not always feel like people accept him from either ethnic community. He explained that he feels that so many other people describe who he is as defined by his ethnicity and that he sometimes has little say. I felt that this was important, especially when considering the race of George Zimmerman and the way that he was depicted in the media.

I set up my interview with Noah by simply asking him in person.

The only person I was able to interview that was not from Sanford is perhaps my most important subject when considering the impacts of the media on the shooting. His name is Cody and he worked for NBC during the shooting. He was a producer for various NBC programming such as the Today Show and CNBC and because of this, he was well in touch with not only the national news but also with the local news. He has had extensive experience as a producer for various news stations at different levels and because of this, he understands very well how TV news works. While interviewing Cody I could tell that he had much experience in journalism because of the confidence with which he spoke and the knowledge which he could provide to 17 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING support his opinions. I was able to use him to explain the way in which the media covered the shooting and how typical coverage of the shooting was compared to other national news stories.

Due to my professional relationship with Cody, I was able to schedule an in-person interview in which he was more than willing to participate.

These were the two main ways that I performed my research. Since the relationship between the media and the community is an essential theme in my research, I felt that examining the newspaper and news sources as well as the various narratives gave me a very interesting cross section between the narrative in the news and the narratives of my participants. Before the interviews, I made a point to tell my subjects that though the interviews center on the shooting, their personal opinions about what occurred on the night of February 26th, were not the major focus of the interview. I tried to eliminate the personal opinions of who was in the wrong and who was in the right because I wanted to focus on the impacts of the shooting and the actions of the media, not something already settled in a court of law.

Findings

Before I explain what I found in my interviews and research, I believe that it is important to give my narrative and my story. This way, I can compare the way that I felt about the shooting and the themes discussed in my research to what information I was getting from the research and my subjects. After all, I am from Sanford and I experienced the effects of the shooting in my own way. I honestly do believe that the shooting has had an impact on my life personally in that it forced me to look at racial issues in an upfront way that would not have occurred had the shooting taken place elsewhere. The experiences also impacted the way that I feel about the media and taught me to be critical of all that I see on television and in the papers. 18 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING My Narrative

To begin, the first time that I heard about the shooting was about a week or two after it happened but before it blew up nationally. I was in the car with my parents and my mother described this heinous act of a “white wannabe cop hunting down an unarmed and innocent black kid” for no other reason than the color of his skin. That was how she had heard about it in the news. I was horrified to hear that something like “The Most Dangerous Game” had taken place right in my own backyard. I honestly could not believe that what she described could happen anywhere in the United States, let alone my hometown. I got home, took the time to research things for myself, and quickly learned that the shooting did not necessarily happen exactly the way that she described it to me. I then decided to let more information about the case come out publicly before I formed any opinions.

By the time the case blew up nationally, the students in my high school, Seminole High

School, started to react in a various number of ways. As of the 2013-2014 school year, Seminole

High had about 3000 students, 56% of which were non-white and 45% of which were on the free or reduced lunch program21. Due to the diverse population of students both racially and socio- economically, there was a plethora of opinions. At first it seemed like students were either horrified about the shooting or adamantly supported the “stand your ground” law. Many of the students that were upset about the shooting wore shirts depicting Trayvon with sayings on them like “Justice for Trayvon” or “My hoodie does not make me a criminal”. In fact, our step team bought matching hoodies and the members wore them well until I graduated an entire two years after the shooting. For the first few months following the shooting, I constantly heard people talking about Martin and Zimmerman while walking through the halls. Eventually it seemed that

21 "Seminole High School: Student Body." U.S. News & World Report. 2017. Accessed March 22, 2017. https:// www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/florida/districts/seminole/seminole-high-school-5564/student-body. 19 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING many people felt that the shooting had become a nuisance and I often heard many jokes about different aspects related to the topic because of the amount of attention the town and the case had received.

Several of my personal friends had very passionate opinions about the shooting, almost to the point where if I did not agree with them 100% about every detail, they would yell at me in the lunchroom and question all of my opinions. After experiencing many interactions like this, I eventually got to the point where I wanted the trial and the coverage of the shooting to end. The shooting dominated almost every conversation I had with my friends and because people were so opinionated, I felt that I could not talk to anyone without striking some sort of nerve. Once I realized that, I decided just to keep to myself.

When the marches started in Sanford, I was in great disbelief that something that happened locally could grow to such proportions. Many of the first marches dealt with law enforcement and centered on marching to the police department. Soon enough they grew to such a large size that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson came to Sanford as well as the New Black Panthers22. The

New Black Panthers handed out “wanted dead or alive” posters in reference to Zimmerman and took part in many of the marches. One day I got a text from my dad saying, “google what Spike

Lee just did”. So instantly, I took my phone out and found that Spike Lee had tweeted out an address that allegedly belonged to George Zimmerman and that he was staying there with his parents23. The address was on my street. I immediately decided to walk around the block and find the house mentioned in the tweet. It was not hard to find because there were police vehicles outside. I heard later that the New Black Panthers had allegedly already started to watch the

22 "Rev. Al Sharpton: "Arrest Zimmerman now!" in Trayvon Martin's..." WFTV. March 22, 2012. Accessed March 22, 2017. http://www.wftv.com/news/sanford-readies-travon-martin-rally-council-votes-/287885536. 23 Curry, Colleen. "Spike Lee Sued Over George Zimmerman Tweet." ABC News. November 11, 2013. Accessed March 22, 2017. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/11/spike-lee-sued-over-george-zimmerman-tweet/. 20 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING house for Zimmerman and the police department quickly refuted Spike Lee’s claim that

Zimmerman was living there. Instead of Zimmerman or his parents, my childhood swimming teacher lived there with her husband, both of whom were in their seventies.

I did not attend any marches featured on the national news and I did not know many people who did. Kids at school told me they heard that many of the people that marched, especially in the bigger demonstrations, were not even from Sanford or Seminole County. I watched the marches on television and I honestly could not believe that I watched Al Sharpton and Jesse

Jackson on national television give speeches to a crowd standing on the very field that I played football on as a kid. The crowd was present when mayor Triplett, someone my parents helped campaign for, was questioned and he too was featured nationally trying to give some sort of explanation for the police action regarding the case.

On July 11th, 2013 some friends and I rode around to every 7/11 convenience store that we could and got free Slurpees because it was National Free Slurpee day. We went to the 7/11 that

Trayvon went to the night of the shooting. We did not make the connection while we were driving there since it was just on our list of stores to go to, however, when we arrived we were quickly reminded of its relation to the shooting. News vans and tourists swarmed the 7/11 looking to see the final place Trayvon went to before he died. I could tell that some of the people were tourists because they were getting out of their cars that had license plates from other counties and they were taking pictures with the storefront in the background. All of that certainly appalled me because I could not understand why people were treating a place significant in someone’s death as if it was a cheap highway landmark. A news station from Tampa approached my friends and me, asking us if we had any commentary on the case but we declined to speak. 21 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING The night that the verdict was read, I had plans to go hang out with friends but as soon as it was announced that the jury had come to a decision, my parents did not allow me to leave the house. Regardless of what the decision was, they were afraid that some sort of violence would erupt in town and they wanted me to be safe at home. They were not concerned about residents of Sanford rioting, instead they worried that people from out of town would use the opportunity to incite violence. Luckily, they were wrong but all I did that night was watch the jury read the verdict and then all of the news coverage about the trial. I was relieved that the trial was over and that the media frenzy would soon leave Sanford. Still, the loss of life and the fissure that the shooting had created in the national community saddened me.

By the end of the trial, I felt that the media coverage of the trial was inescapable. I felt that the media placed the community under such a microscope that it was impossible to get away from it for over a year. We lost our police chief24, local business was in decline25, and when the trial was over the news vans packed up their equipment and the people of Sanford were left to pick up the pieces of a community that felt broken. One day we were the center of international fervor and the next we were old news, there was a more interesting story somewhere else. Most importantly, I felt like the media misrepresented the city so much that there was no way to ever repair the image of Sanford.

Historic Race Relations in Sanford

I started my interviews by discussing the history of race relations in Sanford with my participants. I knew the “official story” of the city’s history as defined by the Sanford Museum

24 Comas, Martin E., Jeff Weiner, and Stephen Hudak. "Sanford commissioners reject chief of police resignation over Trayvon Martin case." Orlando Sentinel, April 23, 2012. Accessed March 28, 2017. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-04-23/news/os-george-zimmerman-chief-bill-lee-resigns- 20120423_1_commissioner-patty-mahany-shooting-controversy-sanford-police-department. 25 Jacobson, Susan. "Trayvon Martin: 'Sanford still deserves your business,' merchants say." OrlandoSentinel.com. April 04, 2012. Accessed March 25, 2017. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/trayvon-martin-george- zimmerman/os-trayvon-martin-sanford-business-20120330-story.html. 22 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING as well as historical markers that are present throughout the city; however, I was interested in what my participants could tell me. Since I felt that I had a diverse group of people and opinions,

I thought that I could use the different perspectives to frame an accurate story of what race relations were like in Sanford before the shooting.

My oldest participant, Ms. Evelyn, moved to Sanford from Georgia with her mother at the end of World War II when she was eight years old. She went to Goldsboro Elementary and

Crooms Academy for middle and high school. These were two of the segregated black schools in

Sanford, both located in Goldsboro. The community of Midway had Midway Elementary and

Crooms for middle and high School. Interestingly enough, I attended Goldsboro Elementary and every time that I mention that to Ms. Evelyn, she gets a very proud look on her face. When Ms.

Evelyn attended school, there was no bus system for the black students so they had to walk to school. They also did not have a cafeteria so they had to buy sandwiches from employees and eat them wherever they could during their lunch break. She said that she did not necessarily know that school could be any better so she usually did not have any complaints about her education or the way that she was treated.

When she was growing up she liked to frequent the Ritz Movie Theater in downtown with her friends. She would spend all of her money on the price of the ticket for the movies and then ice cream from the parlor across the street. At that time, in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, she and her friends had to sit in the balcony of the movie theater while the ground floor was reserved for the white patrons. When Ms. Evelyn told me about this, it made me think of my grandfather who had always told me about his experiences going to the Ritz and sitting on the ground floor.

When Ms. Evelyn would go into stores on 1st Street she could shop and buy clothes, however, she could not try them on. Ms. Evelyn even recalled segregated parades through downtown. 23 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING Overall, she did not feel that Sanford was too hard to grow up in. When discussing segregation in

Sanford she said “you knew where you were supposed to be… everyone knew what they could do and what they couldn’t”. The indifferent tone in her voice while saying this shocked me because it did not express pain, it just expressed that it was something that she was accustomed to and it honestly upset me that she ever had to get used to thinking that way.

When the Civil Rights Movement started in the 1960’s, Ms. Evelyn did say that things started to change; however, there were no major marches or conflicts. I was told that “Sanford wasn’t like other places where they were getting beaten with hoses. We just learned not to put ourselves in harm’s way”. This was in reference to the protests of bus systems and freedom marches that were prominent in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, none of which spread to Sanford. At this point in time, the black community had established itself in Sanford with many prosperous small businesses that neighbored white businesses and many people in the black community worked as farmers as well.

After the Civil Rights Movement ended, Sanford, like many places once segregated, started to become integrated. Ms. Evelyn’s daughter, Daphne said that “by the time I came around in the sixties and seventies, Sanford was fine because of what our parents had done… we didn’t have to worry when growing up… It was very family oriented… We were happy we grew up in the sixties and seventies in Sanford.” This positive recount of Sanford at this time period is very similar to Amber’s experience in Sanford. Though Amber felt that people were still getting used to integration, she thought that Sanford was a typical place in terms of race relations. She noted that “there was some racial tension here and there growing up” but then added “I don’t think there will ever be a time where racial stuff isn’t going on.” The two women both attended

Goldsboro Elementary and Seminole High and were happy that they grew up in the community. 24 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING Daphne and Amber’s experiences growing up in Sanford at this time period were drastically different than Elijah’s. He felt that there were many systemic issues that people faced in his community of Midway. He too attended Seminole High School but felt that the mainly white faculty treated the black and white students differently. He told me “you can’t help but notice things as you go through school and you deal with people.” He remembered holding a protest with his friends at the designated smoking area by the cafeteria because they felt the administration gave the black students less time to smoke than the white students. He also recalled teachers treating truancy differently for white and black students. He did say that at school he “got along with pretty much any color, anybody that would allow it.”

More important than the issues at school, Elijah felt that the local law enforcement community took advantage of the people in Midway, particularly when dealing with drug related crime. He believed that when growing up, the justice system was harsher on black people in his community that were caught with drugs or selling drugs compared to the white people in

Sanford. This is something that many people still feel is a real problem all across the country. He even told me how the police kicked in his door one day while looking for his cousin and when they did not find him, they did not apologize for kicking the door in. He explained that they left his mother and him to deal with the damages without offering to pay or apologizing.

After I interviewed my subjects, I found that though Sanford had no direct involvement in legislation or civil action, it had been affected by segregation, the Civil Rights Movement, and integration. I found a community that seemed to have been making much progress since the time that people were forced to eat in different restaurants and attend different schools just because of the color of their skin. I felt that though this history may not have had any direct impact on the shooting, the memories of racial prejudice were still present in people’s minds. 25 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING Race Relations in Sanford

The shooting brought about the dialogue of race relations not only nationally but also locally in Sanford. The shooting allowed for people in the community to voice their feelings concerning the racial dynamics between people in the city. When talking with my participants I found that there were many deep-rooted dynamics that were not previously acknowledged because of the shooting. Not only did I see the relationship between white and black people discussed but also recognized the unique treatment of multi-racial individuals as well as people of Hispanic ethnicity.

When questioned about the years leading up to the shooting, most people told me that things started to even out and that they felt less racial tension than when growing up. When discussing current race relations, Amber said that “living here, working in the jail or the schools, I’ve seen more racism of blacks towards whites than whites towards blacks.” She was mainly referring to the way that children treat other children or their teachers and how prisoners treat fellow inmates and guards. She was not making a general statement about people all across the community.

By the time the shooting occurred, the country was in a very different place compared to where it was during the Civil Rights Movement or in the seventies and eighties. We had experienced the economic recession in 2008 and in the same year was the presidential election of

Barack Obama. When describing this period of time, Charles said “I think the country was already reacting to the presidency of Barack Obama. And I think the country was already sort of dividing along some racial lines. Not black versus white but either in acceptance of diversity or not in acceptance of diversity. That’s the line. It’s not a line between black and white people.”

That is perhaps a very fair statement made regarding race relations leading up to 2012. 26 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING Charles went on to elaborate about why he thought the shooting occurred in the first place.

He explained that:

In the black community, African American males in particular are often seen as the boogeyman… parents have had to say to black boys that you’ve got to be careful when you get stopped, put your hands up. When the police pulls you over, put your hands on the steering wheel. You know, keep your hands in sight. Always say “yes sir”. Whatever it is you can do. Try to pull over in a lighted area. You know just all of these warnings that, I think sometimes think people who are not African American don’t- can’t fathom that it’s part of the training of being a black kid.

Some argue that this is what the core issue concerned with the shooting. Though we have made much progress since the Civil Rights Movement, even electing our first multi-racial president, to some people, black men are still the boogeyman. Charles did clarify his statement by saying “I’m not saying that this boogeyman thing is something that only happens to white people. I think it also happens to black people. I think that black people sometimes, whether we want to accept it or not, look at African American males, we’ve been conditioned by TV and society, in dark places as the boogeyman”.

The community of Sanford reacted in a number of ways when the shooting occurred and this was apparent when discussing the shooting with my participants. As I was discussing general facts about the shooting with Daphne, she said “I was surprised about the community where it happened. I didn’t expect that sort of aggressive mentality there.” Which is what many people told me as well. He was shot in an area near the Seminole Towne Center mall, which is more of a commercialized area and not one that many people would associate with historic Sanford. The area is generally quiet and I remember many residents of Sanford being surprised that the shooting happened where it did and not in one of the historic parts of town. The shooting even took place in close proximity to a Mercedes Benz dealership, not particularly an area that someone would consider dangerous. 27 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING Noah gave me a very good insight into what it was like to be a middle schooler at this time.

This is particularly important because many of these children’s first experiences with race related violence came during this shooting and it especially effected the children because it occurred in their community. He explained how a lot of his friends on Facebook changed their profile pictures to Trayvon Martin and that it was the first time his black friends felt comfortable explaining some of the hardships they experienced growing up. Noah said “most of the people I surrounded myself with really just wanted ‘Justice for Trayvon’” and at the end of the day that was definitely one phrase that you heard over and over again during the coverage of the shooting even leading into the trial of George Zimmerman.

As someone who is half-Hispanic and half-white, Noah told me that his race was often brought into question when he discussed the issues with others. He told me that he often feels like white people discredit him when talking about white problems and that Hispanic people also discredit him when talking about Hispanic problems because of his mixed ancestry. During the case, depending on who he was talking to, people questioned the validity of his opinions because they saw him as “the same” as Zimmerman and this sometimes made him feel like he did not have a voice. This often made him question what motivated many people to feel the way that they did about the shooting. In the interview, Noah did tell me that “[Zimmerman’s] race isn’t important, what he did was wrong, but it definitely had to do with something”. Noah meant that during the coverage the media should have defined Zimmerman by his actions and not his race.

He felt there was actually a lot of public outcry because of Zimmerman’s race. He believes that

“if Zimmerman was black, the shooting wouldn’t have mattered.”

I heard similar things to what Noah said from other participants as well. Amber told me that she felt that the media “didn’t want to stereotype the race but also made it about the race”. 28 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING Interestingly enough, as I spoke to Cody about the news coverage of the shooting, he told me that once he and his colleagues found out that there was somewhat of a racial dynamic involved in the shooting that “for a little while we kind of then tried to make race an issue without making it an issue”. It seemed like Amber and Noah had very valuable criticisms about the media driving the issue to become a racial issue. The fact that the media did this confused Amber. She explained by saying “don’t get me wrong, Sanford is dangerous due to typical crime” but “we have a lot of black on black shooting all of the time and no one says anything about it”.

I found that the election of Barack Obama in 2008 affected the community quite significantly like the rest of the country. His presidency alone brought up many issues about race and the acceptance of diversity and these themes carried over to the shooting. Many of the subjects felt that Sanford did not have particularly unique racial dynamics at the time of the shooting and that after the shooting, race became such an important factor in everyday life, more so than usual.

Many members of the community all from different backgrounds felt this.

The Law and the Shooting

Before I started my interviews, I felt that the legal issues surrounding the case were almost just as important in defining the popularity of the case as the racial issues. What was unique about this case compared to other similar instances since is that Zimmerman was not a law enforcement officer and therefore, this brought up the legal questions of self-defense and

“standing your ground”. Other similar cases since the shooting have involved law enforcement and average citizens and so they have triggered discussion more about the role of the police and the power of law enforcement officers while protecting their communities.

I asked my participants about the “stand your ground” law and its relation to the shooting and many of them had different opinions. I was told by some of my participants that the “stand your 29 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING ground” law in itself is a dangerous law and it allows for killings like that of Trayvon to take place. Others told me that it is a justified law because it protects people and allows them to defend themselves if they are put in a dangerous situation. This seemed to reflect the national debate that was present at the time after the shooting occurred. The biggest issue I found when discussing this topic is whether Zimmerman put himself in the dangerous situation that warranted his ability to “stand his ground”.

I found it very fascinating that almost everyone brought up on their own the fact that dispatchers told Zimmerman not to pursue Trayvon. Ultimately it seemed like a lot of people felt that when he was told not to follow Trayvon, he should not have, even though Zimmerman’s lawyers argued during his defense in court that he did not follow Trayvon. Elijah and Ms. Evelyn both brought up the dispatch issue to me on their own. Both were equally as passionate about it because it seemed like they truly felt that if Zimmerman had listened, no one would have died that night. Interestingly enough, Amber brought it up to me as well, but for a different reason.

She explained that people often use that moment as a way to say that Zimmerman was breaking the law because he did not listen to a police officer. She made sure to clarify to me that the people working in the dispatch office are not law enforcement officers and therefore people are not legally required to listen to them, therefore he did not break any laws, though he should have listened.

It is apparent that Amber had a unique opinion concerning the shooting because of her background in law enforcement. She was very concerned with the fact that Bill Lee, the police chief, lost his job. She said that “as far as the chief losing his job, it was emotion driven. It was basically resign or be fired.” She worked with him at the Seminole County Sheriff’s office and felt that “he was a great law enforcement officer.” She felt that “the media didn’t give him a 30 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING chance to do his job.” This was an issue addressed by the city council when he tried to resign as police chief in the months following the shooting. The city council originally did not allow him to resign and felt that he needed time to figure things out and process the investigation26. As far as mayor Triplett was concerned, Amber felt that “the only reason Triplett stayed in office is because he listened to the black community.” This was in reference to Mayor Triplett’s actions in releasing information about the shooting to the public and pursuing a special prosecution with

Congresswoman Corinne Brown27.

Amber’s connection to the Sanford Police Department gave her great insight into information about the shooting and things that happened around town, sometimes even before the public knew. At one point, she said that while talking to her colleagues she “heard that Sanford PD was told to let things slide as long as it wasn’t a felony”. She explained that this was to try to soften the relationship between the police and the community. Amber seriously felt that the public got in the way of the official investigation and that it was unfair to the police. She told me that “what some people really didn’t get about the initial investigation was, how are you supposed to know if someone committed a crime if you can’t investigate?” There was frustration in her voice as she explained that “[the media] didn’t let the police department do their job completely to make a final decision with statements, evidence, and witness testimony to determine if a crime was committed”.

Perhaps the reason that Amber and others like her felt that the public was obstructing the criminal investigation is due to the power that the average viewer feels due to their access to knowledge. This point was brought up by Cody. He explained that:

26 "Sanford commissioners reject chief of police resignation over Trayvon Martin case." 27 "Crowds at rally call for gunman George Zimmerman's arrest in Trayvon Martin's death." WFTV. March 20, 2012. Accessed March 29, 2017. http://www.wftv.com/news/state-attorney-case-will-be-given-grand-jury- shoot/287890477. 31 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING I think we are all constitutional law experts. Even Bob who dropped out of high school and is changing tires down at Wal-Mart is a constitutional law expert. You may not be able to spell ‘constitutional’ but good god, you’re one on Facebook… We got so deep in the weeds in the legalistic issues of “stand your ground” that it gave people this pop culture understanding of constitutional law. And so I think that it may not have necessarily provided new case law for other cases… but what I think it did is it gave Joe Blow, John Smith, this empowerment that they have a better understanding of the law than the lawyers do because they heard all of these technical terms on television for “stand your ground”.

It appears that there is a degree of truth to Cody’s statement. Amber’s clarification about the dispatch issue just proves how knowledgeable many people think they are because of the news and TV shows, even though they might not necessarily know as much as they think. A great example of this misunderstanding due to television is the “CSI Effect”. The CSI Effect explains that because of the accessibility to law shows on television and information on the internet about

DNA and fingerprints, jurors are now expecting DNA evidence and fingerprints for a higher number of cases than in years before. This is mainly because they misunderstand the evidence collection process28. It is very likely that because of our connection to the internet and our fascination with crime shows and real life crimes, many people have misinterpreted many aspects of the law when they believe they have some sort of an understanding.

I found that the media influenced most of the opinions formed by my participants about the legal and racial issues surrounding the shooting. It seemed that while members of the community pressured the Sanford Police Department to bring about “Justice for Trayvon”, they actually obstructed the Police Department’s ability to investigate the case in a procedural manner. I was fortunate enough to talk to Amber because she definitely defended the process of investigation for the police and felt that the public placed too much pressure on the police.

Though the shooting might not have created any new legal rulings regarding the “stand your

28 Shelton, Donald E. "The 'CSI Effect': Does it Really Exist?" National Institute of Justice Journal 259 (March 17, 2008). Accessed March 22, 2017. https://www.nij.gov/journals/259/pages/csi-effect.aspx. 32 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING ground” law it definitely added to the national dialogue about the controversial piece of legislation.

The Shooting and the Black Lives Matter Movement

Society’s growing connection to the internet has not only brought us closer to information regarding news or crime but it has also allowed people to connect in more ways than ever before. In my research I was very interested in the Trayvon Martin shooting’s relation to the

Black Lives Matter movement and what similarities exist between the Black Lives Matter movement and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. Many of the people I interviewed told me that they felt the Black Lives Matter movement is just the Civil Rights Movement of the

1960’s but “with a voice”.

Due to the easy access to social media and the internet, people have the ability to communicate and be heard now more than ever. The Trayvon Martin shooting was one of the first shootings given a voice since the rise of social media, mainly because people felt that

Zimmerman shot Trayvon wrongly due to the color of his skin. Elijah told me that “Black Lives

Matter just is a matter of looking at the records and seeing how many charges didn’t make sense”. Cody believed there was a changing social climate in the United States where people who usually did not have any power to speak finally had the opportunity to have a dialogue.

Cody also added that “Black Lives Matter came about to push that dialogue with people”.

Many of the people I interviewed felt that the struggle experienced by the Black Lives

Matter movement first manifested itself in Sanford. Though the shooting spawned many groups organizing themselves nationally for Million Hoodie Marches and other protests29 to support individuals like Trayvon, many people living in Sanford felt that Sanford was at the heart of the

29 Williams, Matt. "Trayvon Martin protests being held in more than 100 US cities." The Guardian. July 20, 2013. Accessed March 31, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/20/trayvon-martin-protests-us-cities. 33 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING movement. Noah told me that “Sanford became a political center for the black community as an example of a place that wasn’t fair to black people.” This was true even if most of the people living in Sanford did not believe the killing was justified. Elijah remembered that during the coverage of the shooting “more people came together that ordinarily would not have. And all different organizations. I mean, all different religious organizations came together, all different ethnic groups came together. You found that during the actual time that more people were asking for a peaceful solution… an honest solution, than ever before.”

In contrast, many people in the community felt that Sanford should not have been thrust into the spotlight like it was. Amber elaborated on her feelings by saying “our president himself came out and said ‘if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon30’ and he had no business in our local affairs.

He boosted up Sanford to the national stage. Even to other countries.” I know that many people I talked to during the coverage of the shooting felt this way as well. I was not surprised that

Amber brought it up because it is something that many people still talk about when venting their frustrations about the aftermath of the shooting.

Media Coverage and the Perception of the Shooting

Many people strongly believed that the media’s involvement shaped people’s opinions on the shooting. The constant news coverage and interpretation of every detail certainly consumed viewers nationally as well as locally. Amber told me that she thought “the media started the whole uproar” and Elijah said that “at the time [of the media coverage] you couldn’t avoid none of it. It was on all the local stations, you turn on the radio and all day on all the local radio stations. You know they really were forcing the issue.” Almost all of the people I spoke to told me that they got their information mainly from the local news stations and papers while also

30 Tau, Byron. "Obama: 'If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon'" POLITICO. March 23, 2012. Accessed March 31, 2017. http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico44/2012/03/obama-if-i-had-a-son-hed-look-like-trayvon-118439. 34 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING frequently looking at national news stations and internet articles. Noah told me that he felt that

“local news would be a little less bias. The local news would report the news and not form their own opinions” and many of my participants felt the same way. Interestingly enough, Cody explained to me how local news typically interacts with their national affiliates.

He described how every news source has their own information-sharing network. NBC’s is called News Channel, ABC’s is called News One, CBS’s is called News Path, CNN’s is called

News Source, and Fox’s is News Edge. These networks are their own little organizations that filter information through different affiliated news sources. For example, Cody explained that “if

MSNBC needed something from the Today Show, they would have to filter through us to make sure that we are all on the same page editorially.” He told me that this happens with local news as well. Although they seem like they have more free rein to report the news, much of what they report for big stories, such as the Trayvon Martin story, is first reported to their national affiliates and then redistributed back to them with a script to instruct them on what to say during reports.

The information is also transmitted nationally so all of the affiliates are giving out the same information.

When it came to all media, not just television, I wanted to know if any of the participants felt the news sources were competing for ratings or popularity. When I asked Noah if he felt like there was competition for ratings, he responded by saying “for sure the media was competing for ratings, I remember not being able to escape the shooting in the news, mainly locally. That’s what the media tried to make their money on. Like they’re looking for ratings and not action.

Like they are exploiting these cases.” Elijah explained that he felt as though different news sources were competing for ratings but when seeking the ratings “it was telling the truth. It opened it up.” He meant that while the news sources were seeking ratings, he thought that their 35 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING constant trial coverage brought out many truths about the case and revealed what was happening on a broader scale all across the country. As someone who worked for the news, Cody explained that “ratings determine everything. Ratings determine how much I can charge for advertising.

You know, if I’m the number one station, I can charge more for advertising, I’ve got more eyeballs watching me.” This means that if more people watch a specific news channel or read a certain paper, they are able to make more money because of advertising revenue. It is easy to understand why some people would feel that the news was exploiting or sensationalizing some aspects of the coverage for ratings.

I was also very concerned about the media’s impact on the image of Sanford. Throughout the coverage of the shooting and the trial, my parents had family members calling us almost once a week asking us to move from Sanford because of what they were seeing in the news but a lot of it was just not true. When I asked Cody about this, he said “when you have a blank slate like

Sanford, my entire reality of Sanford is going to be constructed by the media.” He means that since most viewers had absolutely no prior knowledge about Sanford, all that they knew was that there was a shooting that was presumed to be racially charged and there appeared to be a lot of civil unrest in the community. The media had a very powerful position in determining what people saw and therefore how they constructed their reality. Not only did the information reported on by the media influence people outside of Sanford but it also greatly influenced people in the community as well. Noah told me that “a lot of people just restated the media and held importance to facts important to them”. He meant that most of the people he spoke to only used certain supporting facts reported on by the mainstream media to back up their arguments and rarely considered other facts that came out which supported other opinions. 36 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING Cody even admitted that NBC and many other major news organizations did not bother to do many of what the business calls “human interest pieces”. These are usually small sidepieces to broadcast that give people a feel for other aspects of a place or a person. Cody explained that many of the human-interest pieces that were produced involving the shooting were still focused on the shooting and no other aspects of the community or people living there. To sum this up,

Cody told me that “whatever is on the news is very minute compared to what really goes on.”

Cody believed that much of what was being reported was focused on the shooting only because it was the “summer of black kids”. He said that “Trayvon got people talking about black kids getting shot” and that most news sources after the Trayvon Martin shooting popularized stories such as Michael Brown in 201431, Eric Garner in 201432, and Freddie Gray in 201533 because of the interest that they could spur in the public.

Not only did the media spur up the interest because of Trayvon’s race but also because of

Zimmerman’s as well. Noah expressed that he felt that “the media definitely demonized George

Zimmerman; they rode that train pretty hard.” I even asked Cody if while reporting for NBC, he felt that they had convicted Zimmerman before anything substantial could happen in the investigation of the shooting and he just responded by saying “Oh god, yes.” He even compared the treatment of Zimmerman by the media to what happened with Richard Jewell after the

Centennial Olympic Park bombing34. Cody acknowledged that the media as a whole insisted that there was a racial issue involved in the shooting but eventually focused on the “stand your

31 Brown, Emily. "Timeline: Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Mo." USA Today. August 10, 2015. Accessed March 31, 2017. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/14/michael-brown-ferguson-missouri- timeline/14051827/. 32 Imam, Jareen, and Deborah Bloom. "New York man dies after chokehold by police." CNN. December 08, 2014. Accessed March 31, 2017. http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/20/justice/ny-chokehold-death/. 33 Graham, David A. "The Mysterious Death of Freddie Gray." The Atlantic. April 22, 2015. Accessed March 31, 2017. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/the-mysterious-death-of-freddie-gray/391119/. 34 "Richard Jewell keeps being remembered as a suspect, not a hero." NY Daily News. August 29, 2016. Accessed March 24, 2017. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/seeking-bomb-shelter-article-1.891938. 37 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING ground” law. At the end of my interview with Cody, I asked “Why? Why did the media press the shooting as a race issue and why did they seem to want to convict Zimmerman as guilty before the formal investigation could finish?” All he said was “it was easy. It was low hanging fruit.”

While researching the way that the media depicted Sanford I found many articles online from websites that tried to dig up Sanford’s “racist past”35. The only incident that I could find discussed in these articles occurred when Jackie Robinson played baseball in Sanford. The movie

42 depicts the historical moment where a white sheriff escorted Robinson off the field in the middle of a game because did not want him playing. In addition to his, he was also run out of town by a white mob that did not like that he was breaking the color barrier in baseball36. When watching the movie in theaters, I knew exactly what was going to happen when the team’s manager announced that they would go to Sanford for spring training. This fact was utilized by many news sources to argue that Sanford had a racist history but none of the sources discussed the fact that today, Sanford’s Babe Ruth little league has their annual opening day ceremonies on the very field that he played on. At the entrance to the stadium there is a plaque celebrating the fact that he played there and many of the children are proud to step foot on a field that a Hall-of-

Famer played on. It is obviously inexcusable that the community treated Jackie Robinson the way that they did in 1946, however, I do not believe it is entirely fair to define a whole community of people based on something that happened sixty-six years prior, especially when most people in the community condemn the treatment of Robinson.

35 Brown, Tom. "Racist past haunts Florida town where Trayvon died." Reuters. April 08, 2012. Accessed March 28, 2017. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-florida-sanford-idUSBRE83706920120408. 36 Dreier, Peter. "Sanford and Its Sons: From Jackie Robinson to Trayvon Martin." The Huffington Post. July 14, 2013. Accessed March 28, 2017. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/sanford-and-its-sons- from_b_3595577.html. 38 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING Based on the information I was given in my interviews, I found that there were a number of ways in which the media impacted the perception of the shooting. People in Sanford felt that there was no way to escape the media coverage, although they themselves consumed a lot of the information. Many people constructed their narratives of the shooting from what the media had reported on the subject and typically got their information from television and newspapers both nationally and locally. The media certainly had an impact on the perception of Sanford nationally and they were obviously trying to frame it in a negative light by bringing up the story of Jackie

Robinson visiting Sanford.

Newspaper Coverage of the Shooting

In addition to my interviews, I examined the way that newspapers wrote about the shooting because I felt that they could tell me a lot, especially when considering the vocabulary used by the different outlets. I wanted to focus on only the first month of newspaper articles because I felt that within that first month, most people would make every conclusion they could about the case and any information that came out after that period would not have much bearing on the way that people felt. While examining the Orlando Sentinel, I started to find many patterns. For example, within the first month, I did not find a single article that referred to Zimmerman as half-Hispanic but there are over four articles specifically describing him as being “white”37. In fact, the pictures used to accompany many articles were usually outdated pictures. The picture initially released of

37 Prieto, Bianca. "Police turn over Trayvon Martin shooting case to State Attorney." OrlandoSentinel.com. March 15, 2012. Accessed February 4, 2017. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-trayvon-martin- shooting-state-attorney-20120313-story.html. "Sanford shooting calls for FDLE investigation." OrlandoSentinel.com. March 19, 2012. Accessed February 4, 2017. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-ed-sanford-shooting-031412-20120313-story.html. Stutzman, Rene. "Dad: Arrest crime watch volunteer who killed my son." OrlandoSentinel.com. March 16, 2012. Accessed February 4, 2017. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-teen-shooting-killed-sanford-police- 20120308-story.html. Stutzman, Rene. "Trayvon Martin shooting case goes to State Attorney's Office today." OrlandoSentinel.com. March 22, 2012. Accessed February 4, 2017. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-trayvon-martin-shooting- case-20120312-story.html. 39 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING Trayvon in a maroon shirt was first said to be “undated” but later found to be from about five years before the shooting, whereas the first picture released of Zimmerman was a seven-year-old mugshot38. Many news sources use both of these photos repeatedly as visual references. The

Orlando Sentinel also has multiple instances where they have a side-by-side comparison of the two pictures in greyscale, making Zimmerman look whiter39.

The Orlando Sentinel also described the shooting by writing that Trayvon was “slain”40, which more than likely evoked a stronger emotional response from the reader. It is also mentioned frequently that Trayvon carried “skittles in his pocket” when he was shot41, possibly to support his innocence42. Many of the articles completely omitted the fact that he was carrying a drink, Arizona Watermelon Fruit Juice Cocktail43. At first, most of the news sources stated that he had purchased iced tea but the police later reported that he was carrying the can of

38 "Are old photos of Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman deceptive?" U.S. News. March 31, 2017. Accessed March 28, 2017. https://usnews.newsvine.com/_news/2012/03/31/10952926-are-old-photos-of-trayvon-martin- george-zimmerman-deceptive. 39 Kassab, Beth. "Trayvon Martin Shooting: Another Neighborhood Watch leader's view." OrlandoSentinel.com. March 15, 2012. Accessed March 30, 2017. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/beth-kassab/os-trayvon-martin- shooting-another-neighborhood-watch-leaders-view-beth-kassab-20120314-story.html. Prieto, Bianca. "Trayvon Martin: 'We are gathered here today to demand justice' in teen's fatal shooting." OrlandoSentinel.com. March 15, 2012. Accessed March 30, 2017. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/seminole/os-trayvon-martin-shooting-death-rally-20120314-story.html. Stutzman, Rene. "George Zimmerman's father: My son is not racist, did not confront Trayvon Martin." OrlandoSentinel.com. March 23, 2012. Accessed March 30, 2017. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os- trayvon-martin-shooting-zimmerman-letter-20120315-story.html. Sullivan, Jerriann. "Coverage from readers: A Million Hoodies March for Trayvon Martin." OrlandoSentinel.com. March 16, 2012. Accessed March 30, 2017. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/trayvon-martin-george- zimmerman/os-a-million-hoodies-for-trayvon-martin-20120321-htmlstory.html. Sullivan, Jerriann. "Social media posts following Trayvon Martin's death." OrlandoSentinel.com. March 16, 2012. Accessed March 30, 2017. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-trayvon-martin-coverage-from-readers- 20120316-htmlstory.html. 40 Stutzman, Rene. “Trayvon Martin shooting case goes to State Attorney’s Office today”. 41 Stutzman, Rene. “Dad: Arrest crime watch volunteer who killed my son.” 42 Benedictus, Leo. "How Skittles became a symbol of Trayvon Martin's innocence." The Guardian. July 15, 2013. Accessed March 31, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2013/jul/15/skittles-trayvon-martin- zimmerman-acquittal. 43 Blumer, Tom. "Press Perpetuates 'Iced Tea' Myth in Coverage of Zimmerman Verdict and Trayvon Martin Demonstrations." NewsBusters. July 22, 2013. Accessed March 31, 2017. http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tom-blumer/2013/07/22/press-perpetuates-iced-tea-myth-coverage- zimmerman-verdict-and. 40 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING Watermelon Fruit Juice Cocktail. Presumably, they did not want to perpetuate racial stereotypes and that is why they reported that it was iced tea. However, once the police publicly corrected that he was carrying the Watermelon Fruit Juice Cocktail, most news sources continued to report that it was iced tea. In addition to this, many conservative sources, as well as Mark O’Mara,

Zimmerman’s attorney, used the information about the Watermelon Fruit Juice Cocktail to try to say that Trayvon was using the drink for illegal purposes.

The New York Times published their very first article twenty days after the shooting 44. That is how long it took to gain traction nationally as more frequent press conferences were held about the shooting and it started to look more like Zimmerman would not be arrested. The first few articles written for the New York Times also mention the race of both Trayvon and Zimmerman and the fact that Trayvon was carrying skittles and “iced tea”. The articles included the older pictures of the two as well45. Interestingly enough, at one point, they refer to Zimmerman as solely Hispanic46 and that is perhaps the only time that I found this to occur. The same article cites witnesses describing the confrontation between the two to have “terrified howls” and includes little details about the histories of the two parties. The article describes that Zimmerman was charged in 2005 with “battery on a police officer and resisting arrest with violence” while it is explained that Trayvon was visiting his dad because he was suspended from school due to a

“violation of school policy”47. A violation, which was later, reported as possessing an empty bag

44 Alvarez, Lizette. "Justice Department Investigation Is Sought in Florida Teenager’s Shooting Death." The New York Times. March 16, 2012. Accessed February 04, 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/17/us/justice- department-investigation-is-sought-in-florida-teenagers-shooting-death.html. 45 Alvarez, Lizette. "911 Calls Add Detail to Debate Over Florida Killing." The New York Times. March 18, 2012. Accessed February 04, 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/us/911-tapes-released-in-killing-of-florida- teenager.html. Alvarez, Lizette. “Justice Department Investigation Is Sought in Florida Teenager’s Shooting Death.” Blow, Charles M. "The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin." The New York Times. March 16, 2012. Accessed February 04, 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/17/opinion/blow-the-curious-case-of-trayvon-martin.html. 46 Alvarez, Lizette. “911 Calls Add Detail to Debate Over Florida Killing.” 47Alvarez, Lizette. “911 Calls Add Detail to Debate Over Florida Killing.” 41 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING of marijuana48. Overall, the New York Times pressed the issue as a “stand your ground” issue and not a racial issue, publishing opinion pieces titled “Killing, With the Law on Your Side”49,

“Shoot First, Claim Self-Defense Later”50, and “Florida Shooting Focuses Attention on ‘Stand

Your Ground’ Law.”51

Analysis

Before I started this research, I honestly thought that most people I spoke to would feel the same way that I did. By the end of the research, my participants had exposed me to a diverse group of opinions that did not necessarily always agree with what I believed. Oftentimes, specific answers from my subjects surprised me. I asked many questions while speaking with my subjects and an average interview lasted between thirty minutes and an hour. There were some instances where we went drastically over time because my subjects accepted a platform to share their feelings and opinions, not only about the Trayvon Martin shooting but also about the history of race relations in Sanford and the “stand your ground” law. For some people the platform empowered them to share details of their lives that they might not otherwise feel comfortable sharing.

When it came to my interview with Cody, I did not expect him to be as transparent as he was about broadcast journalism or the media’s role in the public’s perception of the shooting. I

48 "Trayvon Martin was suspended three times from school." U.S. News. March 26, 2012. Accessed March 31, 2017. https://usnews.newsvine.com/_news/2012/03/26/10872124-trayvon-martin-was-suspended-three-times-from- school. 49 Winkler, Adam, Jeannie Suk, Kenneth Nunn, Walter Olson, Gregory O' Meara, Victor Rios, and Dennis Baxley. "Killing, With the Law on Your Side." The New York Times. March 21, 2012. Accessed March 31, 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/21/do-stand-your-ground-laws-encourage-vigilantes/. 50 Rosenthal, Andrew. "Shoot First, Claim Self-Defense Later." The New York Times. March 20, 2012. Accessed March 31, 2017. https://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/shoot-first-claim-self-defense-later/. 51 Goodman, J. David. "Florida Shooting Focuses Attention on 'Stand Your Ground' Law." The New York Times. March 20, 2012. Accessed March 31, 2017. https://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/florida-shooting-focuses- attention-on-stand-your-ground-law/?_r=0. 42 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING thought that Cody would only give me a minute insight into the journalists’ perspective on the issues. To my surprise, Cody was extremely open throughout the interview. It was a noticeably exasperating topic for him to talk about but I believe that is because of how long he spent in the field. He was also very to-the-point which made me feel like he was confident with his answers and that he had a good understanding of what he was saying. He explained to me the structure of the mainstream television media and how they transmit news between national and local affiliates as well as how they typically cover contentious news stories.

At the end of my research I felt that I had sufficient answers for all of my research questions.

As I examined race relations in Sanford and questioned what impact historic race relations may have on race relations in the present, I found that it mainly depends on whom you talk to. For some people, such as Elijah, the race relations of the past are heavily engrained in how he perceives the present because of the major effects they have had on his life. Other people, such as Amber, recognize the racial history of Sanford, but do not particularly recognize that it has any influence on their perception of the present. It did not appear that there was a racial history of Sanford that influenced the Trayvon Martin shooting in anyway, though there is a history of segregation and the historic mistreatment of Jackie Robinson.

While examining whether or not national news publications created different narratives of events compared to the local communities in which the events take place, I believe that it depends on the news publication. As far as television goes, most of the major news sources are organized into nationwide networks all controlled by single news sharing organizations. A national source has the same information and interpretation as a local source, even if the event being reported on occurred in the local area of the news source. As far as newspaper goes, most publications are generally less centralized and allow for a greater range of interpretation and 43 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING dissemination of information. Though news-sharing organizations, such as the Associated Press, connect newspaper writers, the writers have their own opportunities to write about the news and not just go off a script provided by a larger publisher. This allows for contrasting views and opinions between national and local newspapers and this is the reason that I found differences between the Orlando Sentinel and the New York Times.

I was most surprised about the structure of these news sources and the high level of organization within the news sharing organizations. I figured that local television stations in

Sanford were reporting on the shooting and then the national affiliates were taking information from those original reports, however, it appeared that the local stations were given scripts on what to report. This showed me that though there might appear to be differences between national and local television sources concerning stories of national interest, for the most part, there is not really. Obviously national television personalities have more of a say in the interpretation of information but for the most part, the major news networks look to homogenize their information across the entire country, as explained by Cody.

As I compared the ways in which people received news during the coverage of the shooting and how they receive news today, I found that the biggest difference is the rise of social media.

Many of the people that I interviewed did not necessarily rely on social media to be a source of news during the media coverage of the shooting but admitted that today they have a greater reliance on social media. This is perhaps because of the growing presence of social media in our everyday interactions. During the coverage of the shooting most of the participants answered that they gathered their news from both national and local newspapers, mainly the New York Times and the Orlando Sentinel. They also added that they gathered information from both national and 44 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING local television news sources. Many of them said that they still use these same news sources today just as they did during the coverage of the shooting.

When I asked whether the participants favored local or national news and whether or not they thought that had an effect on their perception of the shooting, most responded that they did not have a preference. A few of them explained that because different news sources typically cover different stories, they would refer to national news for information on international or nationwide events and refer to local news to see coverage on statewide or local events. Most participants felt that the news had a significant impact on their perception of the shooting because that was the only means to gather information about the shooting besides hearing rumors about it around town.

I was very interested when I asked the participants about what role they believed the national news played in shaping public opinion about the Trayvon Martin shooting and whether or not they thought it positively or negatively affected the reputation of Sanford. I generally received mixed opinions about the matter. Almost all of them agreed that the national news did have some sort of influence on public perception of the shooting; however, not everyone agreed that it affected the reputation of Sanford. Some participants, such as Amber, explicitly stated that the national news described Sanford in a way that affected the community very negatively, whereas other participants, such as Noah and Elijah, believed that the national news did little to create any sort of perception of Sanford. There were no participants that thought the national news positively influenced the reputation of Sanford. Cody explained that for the most part many people in the national media did not explicitly try to paint Sanford in a negative light but he did say, “I think it came across that way.” I believe that it depends on what impression the participant already had of Sanford and how that impression matched up with how they were 45 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING seeing Sanford portrayed in the news. If a participant already had an impression of Sanford that was not entirely positive, the portrayal of Sanford in the media could have appeared to be accurate.

I came across a multitude of opinions when I examined if people believed that there are similarities between the current Black Lives Matter movement and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. Evelyn believed that the Civil Rights Movement was more faith based, centered and organized around churches and pastors, which allowed for better structure of the movement.

Noah described how many people that he has talked to that have attended protests affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement are not formally members of the organization but because of social media they are given the opportunity to organize quickly and participate in protests or marches affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement. Overall, most of the participants agreed that both movements looked to push a dialogue between the black community and the rest of the country and that both movements simply wanted to seek social equality.

Conclusion

As I compiled all of the data from the interviews and research, I realized just how rich in information this topic truly is. It deals with the anthropology of place, the media, and remembrance. It also deals with race relations, the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement, and the

“stand your ground” law. The shooting had effected every participant interviewed differently and its legacy will have lasting impacts on everyone, not just in Sanford, but also in the nation. The issues that had been present in American society for decades but not previously discussed were given the opportunity to surface and create a national dialogue about the legacy of Jim Crow and race relations in the country. Most importantly, I found that during the media coverage of the 46 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING shooting of Trayvon Martin, the media drastically affected public perception of the shooting and purposefully incited racial tensions, which caused a lasting impact on the community of Sanford.

Perhaps the most important thing that I learned from my research is that sitting down and talking about challenging issues is extremely difficult. It certainly is. In my interviews, I talked about “stand your ground” laws, the Trayvon Martin shooting, the Black Lives Matter movement, and segregation in the 1960’s. Just one of these topics can be considered taboo to talk about by some because of the polarizing times that we live in and this makes many people avoid discussion on these issues. Not only is discussing these topics challenging, but it is also extremely enlightening. Discussing hard topics, especially race related topics; allows people the opportunity to educate others about their own unique experiences and opinions which can possibly enlighten people living different lives from them. This can help contextualize where a person is coming from and why they might have the opinion that they do. All of this helps with understanding others. Such an understanding can allow for every one of every race to take the time to consider other worldviews and possibly become more accepting of others.

There was something that Charles said to me in our interview that really resonates with me regarding the shooting and the Black Lives Matter movement. He said that:

The message cannot be that “only black lives matter” but certainly black lives matter. And Trayvon Martin’s life was not one that was indispensable. It was not one that should have been “he didn’t matter; it was just one little 15, 16 year old kid”. His life mattered to him, to his mother, to his dad, and to his family and his friends... But I don’t like it when it’s put out there like… “Only black lives matter”.

I certainly agree with Charles. Not one particular life is any more valuable than another, especially not because of the color of someone’s skin. Trayvon Martin’s life was not one that was indispensable. His life mattered to all of the people that loved him. It is so easy to be caught up in the politics of race or the “stand your ground” law and forget that a life was lost that can 47 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING never be brought back. Perhaps this should be considered with more weight when people try to politicize events such as this or when news sources look to exploit the information for viewership and ratings.

I believe that the first step to fixing any problem is to identify the problem. By further research on issues such as the ones addressed in this study, people can start to understand why the problems exist in the first place. By gaining this understanding, leaders can start working on ways to fix the problems present in society and hopefully help with healing the country socially.

Charles told me about how he participated on multiple community outreach boards created in the wake of the shooting and the trial. He explained how he was on a board organized by the United

States Department of Justice with other community and religious leaders all tasked with coming up with ways to heal the community. He explained that they had a number of successful campaigns such as “Hands across Sanford”, which looked to show the public that the people of

Sanford are diverse and united in dealing with issues in the community. There was also the campaign in which people put out signs that said “I Live in Sanford, I Work in Sanford, I Love

Sanford” as a way to show their support for the community publicly.

As other researchers have focused on the anthropology of news through the ethics of the news and the relationship between journalists and “the truth”, I have focused on the impact of the media on the perception of place. I have used the Trayvon Martin case to examine how people remember a significant event, such as the shooting, and how they have created their own truths.

The participants’ subjective realities were extremely influential in the shaping of their narratives about the effects of the media on the shooting and Sanford. I used the research to focus on what journalists do to find “the truth” and how this affects communities from which the information is 48 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING extracted. More importantly, I think that I did it on a level that is easy to understand by only focusing on Sanford.

Given the opportunity for future research, I would research the other communities affected by similar cases in the same manner in which I did this study. These areas include

Ferguson, Missouri; Baltimore, Maryland; and New York City, New York. I would like to see people talking personally with members of the communities that were effected by similar deaths that were perceived to be racially charged and also heavily reported on by the news. I think that by expanding the research over a greater area and talking to people while looking to find subjective truth will shed light on the legacy of race relations in America and the place of the news in the dissemination of information nationally. In addition to expanding the research to other cities, I would also expand the amount of people interviewed in each city. I felt that I definitely could have interviewed more people and gathered more narratives. I also believe that it is important to interview more people that are not from the communities affected by the shootings in order to see how outsiders perceive the shootings.

The narratives that I found about the Trayvon Martin shooting were not confined to one demographic or group. Every person I interviewed had a different perception of the shooting.

Their attitudes towards race were shaped by their experiences and the information they were given as they grew up and tried to define their place in Sanford. People in the media effected the shooting because of their ability to cover the shooting the way that they wanted to as well as discuss whatever themes they decided were worthy of discussion. In my interviews, I clearly found a group of people that had been shaped not only by the history of the past but also by the problems of the present. The people of Sanford, myself included, are using this relationship of the legacy of the past to a person’s present self to shape our present identities. The experiences 49 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING faced following the shooting will shape our future decisions and hopefully positively influence not only Sanford but the rest of the world as well.

50 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING Appendices

Appendix A: Map of Sanford

Image Courtesy of Google Maps 51 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING Appendix B: Framing Topics and Interview Questions

Framing Topics Include:  The Trayvon Martin shooting.  “Stand Your Ground” Laws.  The Civil Rights Movement.  The Black Lives Matter movement.  Local and National News.

Possible Interview Questions Include:  How did you get most of your information about the Trayvon Martin shooting? Was it local or national news? TV or Newspaper?  Do you believe the media impacted the way people reacted to the shooting?  Did it seem that there was much misinformation about the shooting throughout the media?  As a viewer, did it feel like different media sources were competing for ratings during the coverage of the shooting?  Do you believe that people were most outraged over the shooting because Trayvon was 17, the shooting raised issues about the “Stand Your Ground” Law, or because there might have been racial motivation?  In what ways did you see the shooting impact Sanford? How familiar were you with Sanford before the shooting?  Did the media make Sanford seem dangerous?  In what ways did you see the country impacted by the shooting?  How do you think the Trayvon Martin case has shaped the outcome of other cases in the country?  To what extent do you think the Trayvon Martin case impacted the formation of the Black Lives Matter movement?  How many similarities do you see between the Black Lives Matter movement and the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s?

Questions Specifically for Citizens of Sanford  Were you affected personally by the shooting? If so, in what ways?  In what ways did you see the community react to the shooting?  Do you believe that there was a positive or negative reaction to the shooting after the verdict was read?  Did it seem like the racial history of Sanford influenced the shooting? In what ways?  How did you see the news portray Sanford? Was it an honest portrayal?  What narratives did you hear people from the city create about the shooting and the city?  What do you feel is important to mention about the shooting or the city of Sanford?

52 NARRATIVES OF THE TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING Appendix C: Table of Interview Participants

Name Race Gender Age Occupation Location Evelyn Black Female Late 70’s Retired Goldsboro Daphne Black Female Late 40’s Goldsboro Elijah Black Male Early 50’s Midway Charles Black Male Early 60’s School Apopka Administrator Amber White Female Late 40’s Law Enforcement Sanford Officer Noah White Male Early 20’s Student Sanford Cody White Male Late 30’s Student Gainesville

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