Trayvon Martin's Family: ‘Our Son Is Your Son’

Thousands attend ‘Hoodie’ march in downtown New York City, where family validates their effort

As demonstrators arrived for a Wednesday evening march for Trayvon Martin, New York City police appeared to ready a set of barricades.

But the metal gates, the same kind used to shut out Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in Zucotti Park, sat untouched.

Those who gathered in Union Square, near the corner of 14th Street and Broadway, weren’t there to “occupy” anything. Thanks to quick planning by a few organizers, more than one thousand supporters turned out for the “Million Hoodie March” to demand justice for the unarmed Florida teen, who was gunned down by a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain in an Orlando suburb, just three weeks prior.

The “hoodie” became the symbol of empowerment, and not suspicion, as march creator Daniel Maree had envisioned. Via YouTube, Maree encouraged participants to where hoodies similar to the one Martin wore, which made the teen “look like he’s up to no good,” his killer told police.

Martin’s case became international news, after the release of 911 tape recordings from the Feb. 26 incident gave chilling detail to the final moment of his life.

“I have not heard the 911 tapes and I honestly don’t want to hear them,” said 26-year-old Kimberly White of New York. “I have heard what was on them and I don’t want to hear a 17-year-old crying for help before taking his last breath.”

Martin’s confessed killer, 28-year-old George Zimmerman, may have heard the fired-up crowd from where ever he was holed up, not in the custody of any law enforcement officials. The man with a reportedly violent past was questioned and released by Florida authorities, after claiming he shot the candy- and beverage-wielding teen in self-defense.