"An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere." The crowd of protesters cheered as Ward 6 Councilman Tony Yarber gave the tweaked quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a rally cry on the steps of City Hall Sunday.

Hundreds of protesters gathered to rally for justice in the name of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old young man who was shot and killed in Sanford, Fla., by neighborhood-watch volunteer George Zimmerman Feb. 26. Zimmerman claims he shot Martin in self-defense. However, police found Martin carrying nothing more sinister than a bag of Skittles and an ice tea. Zimmerman has not been arrested.

Yarber and Jackson attorney Gerald Mumford organized Sunday's event.

"I've heard some folks ask why in the world are we dealing with stuff that's going on in Florida, in Jackson, Mississippi," Yarber said to the crowd. "'We got enough problems going on in Jackson. Why would we deal with what's going on everywhere else?' Well, to that I simply say that what's going on in Florida is a direct representation of what went on in 1955. When a young man named Emmett Till, at the age of 14 years old, did not have the opportunity to have his due process. And we are standing here in the same state that this took place in 1955, and we're saying, 'It will not happen.' Trayvon will get his due process, and we're going to be sure that we're the folks to do it."

JFP columnist Brad "Kamikaze" Franklin took over emcee duties after Yarber's opening speech. About a dozen speakers followed, including preachers, activists, student leaders from Jackson State University and Tougaloo College, and City council members LaRita Cooper-Stokes of Ward 3, and Chokwe Lumumba of Ward 2. Many speakers encouraged people in the crowd to register to vote, which they could do at a table set up on the City Hall lawn.

Protesters carried signs that read "I am Trayvon Martin" and "No Justice, No Peace," a chant that roared from the crowd more than once during the gathering. The spirits of injustice and righteous protest from Mississippi's not-so-distant past ran from the steps of City Hall and through the crowd, where most dressed in hoodies in Martin's honor despite the 80-plus degree temperatures. The young man had worn a hoodie the night Zimmerman killed him.

"We have to not only understand what is happening to us today, but we must understand the legacy of what happens to us. We must understand that what happens to us is not something that just happens in one space, but it happens everywhere. We must stand here in Jackson, Mississippi, and say this is not going to happen ever again, anymore," Lumumba said.

Lumumba ended his keynote speech by pointing to the statue of Andrew Jackson on the Congress Street side of City Hall.

"We did the right thing by mobilizing on this side of the building today. On the other side of the building is a racist statue of a man who killed Indians and who killed black people," Lumumba told the crowd. "And who became the president of the United States by killing Indians and black people. What we have to do is to start a new tradition. Let's start on the new side of the building. Let's free the land. Let's do what we have to do to get justice for Trayvon Martin. Free the land."

Yarber said he collected information on enough participants to continue to organize the call for justice for Trayvon Martin. He said he and Mumford will provide a road map for people to protest by way of social media and a letter write-in campaign.

For information contact Gerald Mumford at 601-398-2347.