|
| FILE - In this Saturday, July 13, 2013 file photo, Darrsie Jackson, center, reacts after hearing the verdict of not guilty in the trial of George Zimmerman, with her children Linzey Stafford, left, 10, and Shauntina Stafford, 11, at the Seminole County Courthouse, in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman had been charged with the 2012 shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Nearly 70 years after Jackie Robinson was run out of town by the KKK, Sanford is absorbing what some see as another blow to race relations: Zimmerman's acquittal. |
SANFORD, Fla.
(AP) -- Nearly 70 years after Jackie Robinson was run out of town,
Sanford is absorbing what some see as another blow to race relations:
the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin.
Some
black residents of this community of almost 50,000 people where the
shooting took place say that while relations between black and white
have improved over the years, progress has been slow and the Martin case
demonstrated that problems persist.
James
Tillman, who is black, said Saturday's verdict just adds to his mistrust
of local authorities, who have been criticized over the years for their
handling of other crimes against blacks. Tillman, 47, said city
officials try to portray Sanford as a "quiet and laid-back town."
"This
town here is one of the worst towns about covering things up," Tillman
said, stopping his bike in front of a memorial to the 17-year-old
Martin. "When you put something in the closet, it's going to burst back
on you."
Sanford, a mostly middle-class suburb
of Orlando, about 25 miles away, has reacted somberly - and peacefully -
to the verdict. The city was mostly silent the morning after the
verdict, in contrast to the rallies that drew thousands not long after
the shooting.
Only a few people went past the
permanent memorial built in the city's historically black Goldsboro
neighborhood to honor the Miami teen.
Standing
in front of the memorial, Venitta Robinson, the minister at Allen
Chapel, said she hopes the black community doesn't dwell on the verdict.
"It's
a little disheartening, but that was the process we go through as far
as having a jury, and that's the verdict that they had, and we have to
respect that," said Robinson, who is black. "We don't necessarily have
to like it, but we have to respect it."
In
just the 17 months since the killing, Sanford has changed: The city,
which is about one-third black, now has a black police chief and its
first black city manager.
Before the shooting,
Sanford was best known for its antiques shops and as the southern
terminus for Amtrak's Autotrain, which carries tourists and their cars
between Florida and the Washington area.
The
police department was heavily criticized for declining to charge
Zimmerman at first, and he wasn't arrested until 44 days after the
shooting, by order of a special prosecutor.
But the distrust between Sanford's city government and its black citizens predates the Martin case by several decades.
A
large portion of the black community lives in Goldsboro, which was
Florida's second city incorporated by African-Americans when it was
founded in 1891. Tensions were inflamed when an expanding Sanford
annexed Goldsboro in 1911.
In 1946, Sanford was the site of the botched start of Jackie Robinson's first steps toward breaking baseball's color barrier.
Robinson
had been sent to Sanford for his first spring training with the
Brooklyn Dodgers' minor-league Montreal Royals. Two days after he
arrived, he was sent to the Dodgers' minor-league team in Daytona Beach
after getting death threats from Sanford residents.
In
1997, on the 50th anniversary of Robinson's breaking into the majors,
then-Sanford Mayor Larry Dale issued a proclamation apologizing for
Robinson's treatment.
That tension has re-emerged in recent years because of several shootings of blacks and an attack on a black homeless man.
In
2010 Justin Collison, the 21-year-old son of a white Sanford police
lieutenant, was videotaped leaving a bar and punching a homeless man
named Sherman Ware in the back of the head, causing serious injuries.
Police
officers arrived within minutes, looked at the video and spoke to
witnesses who said the attack was unprovoked, but they let Collison go
after he called his father.
After the video
became public and spurred protests, Collison was charged almost two
months later with battery and disorderly conduct. He struck a plea
bargain and was sentenced to probation, anger management and substance
abuse counseling - but no jail time.
In
February 2010, Dennis Williams was shot on the front steps of his home
while he held his 9-month-old son. Police have never been able to
identify a suspect.
That same month, a Sanford
police investigator shot and killed Nicholas Eugene Scott in his car as
officers tried to arrest him in a supermarket parking lot. Prosecutors
ruled the shooting justified.
Cecil Smith, who
became police chief earlier this year after Bill Lee Jr. lost his job
in the fallout over the Martin case, promised at a prayer service on
Monday to try to ease the mistrust in the community.
"Everyone
is watching the people of Sanford," he said. "We may not have liked the
outcome of this trial, but we are united enough to say we are starting
to move forward."
In downtown Sanford, business owners hope tourism will rebound from the hit it has taken from the furor.
Howard
Marks, a civil rights attorney and owner of an art gallery in Sanford's
historic district, said the city has been unfairly cast as a racist and
dangerous place.
"Sanford's got issues like
any other town," said Marks, who is white, "but this town is as good a
town with as good a people as any town in the state of Florida."
He added: "The case is never going to be over in some people's mind. But I think as far as Sanford, the worst of that is over."
