A rally drew prominent civil rights leaders to a Los Angeles church on Thursday to mark the two-month anniversary of Trayvon Martin's death.
The rally started around 5:30 p.m. at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ at 3045 Crenshaw Boulevard, and was attended by the Martin family, NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous, the Rev. Al Sharpton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Bishop Charles Blake, who preaches at the church.
Several celebrities, including Stevie Wonder, Chaka Kahn, David Banner, Paul Rodriguez, radio host Big Boy and Magic Johnson, also attended.
“This is an issue that we need to keep in the forefront of America,” said Leon Jenkins, the president of Los Angeles NAACP. “We need to not stereotype. We need to make sure that this does not happen again."
Widening its scope, the rally focused on other controversial shooting deaths, some of which happened in Los Angeles.
The rally remembered Oscar Grant, who was fatally shot to by a former BART officer in 2008 (an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Grant was beaten to death) ; Earl Anthony Dunn, a 32-year-old U.S. postal worker from Compton, who was killed in Boyle Heights March 7, 2012, after an unlicensed driver struck him; and Kendrec McDade, 19, whose shooting March 24 by Pasadena police drew parallels to the Martin shooting.
The rally comes as news broke that the man believed responsible for Martin’s death, George Zimmerman, has taken down a website devoted to helping raise money for his legal defense, a spokesman for his lawyer said Wednesday.
The website www.therealgeorgezimmerman.com was no longer functioning as of Tuesday, said James Woods, a spokesman for Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara.
Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of the 17-year-old Martin in February. He has pleaded not guilty and is claiming self-defense.
O'Mara has hinted that he will ask Zimmerman to be declared indigent, which would allow taxpayers to pay for his legal bills.
Any income from the website would make that process more difficult. The website was created almost two weeks ago by Zimmerman's family to thank his supporters and to receive donations from anyone who wanted to help with his legal defense.
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The 44-day delay in Zimmerman's arrest spurred protests nationwide and inspired a national debate about racial profiling, equal justice under the law and Florida's self-defense law.
Zimmerman went into hiding earlier this week after he was released from jail on a $150,000 bond.
NBC Wire Services contributed to this story.
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