Speaking to NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday, NAACP president and CEO Benjamin Jealous compared the Zimmerman trial to the one six decades ago of two white men who were acquitted for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till, a black teen in Mississippi.
"We hoped that the verdict this time would reflect the gravity of what happened," he told host Rachel Martin. "The reality is that if Mr. Zimmerman had done what the police had asked and stayed in his vehicle, Mr. Martin would still be with his family today."
Jealous, who leads the country's oldest civil rights organization, acknowledged however that the verdict did not necessarily mean the jury thought Zimmerman's actions were right, only that there was reasonable doubt as to his guilt. (Is that not what they were supposed to do, if so, how can he dispute it?)
"It does not actually mean that Mr. Zimmerman should have killed Mr. Martin. It doesn't mean that Mr. Zimmerman was right to get out of his car. It doesn't mean that he was right to intentionally purchase a firearm with no safety," he said. "So, it's important that we keep this in perspective."
Several other civil rights groups voiced similar reactions to the verdict, seen by many as a bellwether for judicial equity and race relations.
