Even though the Gainesville group was small, the participants were just as impassioned about drawing attention to the acquittal of neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, a decision everyone in the group felt strongly was an injustice to the African American community.
The Gainesville gathering was organized quickly by Willie Mitchell, a member of Gainesville's City School Board, but Mitchell said he was not acting in his school board capacity, but as a church member.
"I had people talk to me and say...'what are we going to do about this, what's the church going to do about it?' And I told them, every Sunday I go to church, I'm a Christian...I am the church...so I'll go get a permit."
Mitchell said by the time he had obtained the permit for the rally and arrived back home, others were calling and offering support.
Initially, a dozen people were gathered on the Spring Street side of the Federal Courthouse building in downtown Gainesville, but the group grew to three times that number by the conclusion of the rally. Many in attendance were pastors, and the gathering started and ended with prayer.
"Give us hope today, oh God, we pray," said Rev. Eddie Walker at the onset of the rally. "Give us faith in the God of our salvation that you will work things out, not only in Florida, but all over the world."
And while prayer was the focus, there was talk of a flawed justice system and how to repair the racial divide that some said continues to grip the nation.
Rev. Earnest Mason said he believes it's not only the Justice Department's job to handle changes in the law on a national level, but he thinks some laws - the "Stand Your Ground" law in particular - need to be reviewed on a state and local level.
"I think the law is very subjective - the Stand Your Ground law - because...someone can look at me and I might feel threatened, you know, and that's too much...being subjective to the individual," said Mason.
Mason said while there have been other acts of violence that might be considered equally unfair, the Martin death has spurred such an outcry because it's something that should not happen in modern society.
"We're not talking the 1930s, we're talking 2013," said Mason. "I'm glad to say in this city, for the most part, we have pretty good race relationships, but there are still laws that have glitches. It's like having a bug in a computer system."
Walker agreed that race relations still are not where they need to be, that there needs to be more dialogue for an understanding among races. In fact, he said, a little dialogue might have prevented Trayvon Martin's death.
"He [Zimmerman] could have just asked the young man 'Where are you going?' 'Can I help you?'," said Walker. "He didn't have to go all the way he went."
The youngest participant at the Gainesville rally was 16-year-old JaJuan Nicely and he said the outcome of the George Zimmerman trial was a big topic of conversation with his friends.
"It's all over Facebook," he said.
His mother, LaTonya Morrow, said the case has definitely sparked conversations about how JuJuan, as an African American teenage boy, may be viewed by others. She said he sometimes dresses just like Trayvon Martin dressed, in hoodies and baggy pants.
"I told him you still have to be aware of your surroundings, and people are not going to react to you the same way as you think they see you, because outer appearance is different compared to how you really are," she said.
The rally, scheduled to last an hour, was cut short by about 15 minutes because of rain, but not before participants discussed plans for another event next week. The Gainesville-Hall County NAACP has scheduled what it calls a "community listening panel" to hear questions, concerns and solutions sparked by the Zimmerman verdict. That meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 25 at 6 p.m. at Antioch Baptist Church on Mill Street.
The rallies in Atlanta and Gainesville were among scores held across the country Saturday. (See separate story.)
About three dozen people, many of them clergy members, gathered at the entry to the Federal Courthouse building in downtown Gainesville for the rally
Rev. Eddie Walker of Gainesville opened the rally with prayer
As rain begins to fall, Michelle Lowe Mintz prays in front of rally attendees
While the crowd was much smaller than those in larger cities across the nation, the message for justice for African Americans was proclaimed just as loudly in Gainesville
JuJuan Morrow and his mother LaTonya (center) participated in Saturday afternoon's march and rally
http://accesswdun.com/article/2013/7/263714