After Zimmerman Verdict, Reflecting On Race And Justice

Over the weekend we saw shock and protests — from Los Angeles to Boston — over the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 19-year-old Trayvon Martin. Today, there's a deeper effort to understand the meaning of the verdict — in particular what it means to African-American communities across the nation and around this city.

Yesterday evening, about 500 people rallied in Roxbury's Dudley Square and then marched up Malcolm X Boulevard to protest the verdict. Ministers across the the city called for peace and healing, even as they expressed solidarity for Trayvon Martin and his family.

Willie Bodrick II, youth minister at the Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, and a student at Harvard Divinity School.

Tricia Rose, director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University.

The Boston Globe: "Hours after Bodrick and other ministers called for peace and healing following the not-guilty verdict in the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin, a protest in Dudley Square drew hundreds, some wearing hoodies and carrying homemade signs. More than two dozen speakers forcefully expressed their frustration with the verdict and with wider issues of inequality."