By Aakash Jain ’14
THE ROUNDUP

The death of African American teenager Trayvon Martin has triggered a national media frenzy, and the issue of race has been at the forefront.

Many rallies have been held in Martin’s honor, often consisting of thousands of people demanding the arrest of his killer, George Zimmerman.

Most notably, several civil rights leaders, including Al Sharpton, Dick Gregory and Martin Luther King III, gathered on March 22.

Zimmerman was taken into custody April 11, 2012, more than six weeks after Martin’s killing. He was released from jail 12 days later and will wear an electronic monitoring device until trial.

In many ways, these protesters are justified in wanting to find the truth.

However, a young man is dead, and that is the core of this issue.

Supporters of Martin should cite human rights, not civil rights, when they decry the actions of Zimmerman.

The optimist would say that we have entered a new era of U.S. politics in which justice and truth are sought regardless of race, gender and ethnicity but simply because we are all human beings.

Whether Zimmerman acted in self-defense or cold murder should be left for the courts to decide, without the undue influence of his or Martin’s skin color.