A rally for Trayvon Martin—the black teenager who was shot and killed in a gated community in Florida after he purchased Skittles and iced tea from a nearby 7-Eleven—is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Freedom Plaza.
Martin’s killer has claimed self-defense against the unarmed teenager and has not been arrested, causing public outrage from people and media outlets around the country who say this is a racially motivated crime that needs its day in court.
Rally participants are asked to wear a hoodie, what Martin was wearing when he was murdered.
Washington City Paper posted a list today of crimes against black teenagers in D.C. that could be compared to Trayvon Martin’s murder.
The article asks if DeOnte Rawlings is D.C.’s Trayvon Martin. Rawling was 14 when an MPD officer killed him in 2007. The officer said Rawlings stole his minibike and then fired a gun. The officer shot him in the back of his head and fled the scene. No evidence found suggested that Rawlings was armed and there are doubts of whether he stole the bike.
No charges were brought against the officers involved, but City Paper reports that the District settled the case with the family for an undisclosed amount.
* Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will be the headline speaker at a rally in Washington Saturday against Obama’s health care act, according to The Washington Post.
Cuccinelli was the first attorney general in the country to challenge the 2010 federal health care law.
Herman Cain, several members of Congress and tea party activists from across the country are expected to be at the “Road to Appeal Rally.”
The Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments about the case Monday.
Washington Exmainer columnist Harry Jaffe urged D.C. residents to vote in the upcoming city election, writing in his column that it’s time to renovate D.C.’s City Council starting in Ward 7.
We need to beg Ward 7 voters to get behind challenger Tom Brown. Yvette Alexander, the incumbent, has not helped her constituents or the city at large. She comes to work every day in stylish, new clothes but brings no new ideas, no legislation, no proposals. Ward 7, which lies mostly east of the Anacostia River on both sides of East Capitol Street, is poised for growth. It deserves a new council member.
Tom Brown is exactly the type of new leader the city needs on the council. Born and raised in D.C., he comes from solid stock: His father drives a tour bus, his mother is an event planner. He graduated from H.D. Woodson High, went to college, did a tour in the Air Force. Then he came back to his hometown to work in the weeds of training kids and adults for jobs. He's been in the "work force development" sphere in a city that needs jobs and capable workers more than anything else. He's actually trained hundreds of workers! He's accomplished real, honest, necessary work!
* Mayor Vincent Gray introduced his proposed spending today that needs to close a $172.1 million budget gap in the District.
The budget adds no taxes or fees but instead relies on “fiscal responsibility.”
His proposed budget calls for $102.7 million in cuts to expenditures and $69.4 million cuts in revenue initiatives.
* Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” talk show today and talked about his Celtic rock band and his much-criticized gas tax.
The Post wrote that O’Malley said a gas tax is “the most unpopular tax you can propose.”
But he said he is still pushing his plan to apply a 6 percent sales tax to gas, although he is open to other options in the General Assembly.
O’Malley plans to use the tax to fund transportation projects.
Host Joe Scarborough also asked O’Malley about his 2016 presidential plans, but the governor didn’t really answer the question.
