Today’s ‘Million Hoody March‘ organizer is taking Trayvon Martin‘s murder very personally. Daniel Maree(pictured) looks like a casually dressed midtown executive in this photo.
But when he dons his hoody, he feels people give him that “is-he-going-to-rob-me” glance.
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“I’ve been in situations, both when I was in high school and now in New York City, where I’ve been walking down the street in a hoodie and I can instantaneously tell I’m being taken as suspicious or people start grabbing their purses when I walk by,” said Maree who was born and raised in South Africa and college educated in the United States.
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While no one has shot Maree because of his hoody, he certainly doesn’t feel his job in the digital strategy field and college degree inoculates him from the same fate as Trayvon Martin. That is why he is calling on everyone in the New York City area to join him in Union Square to protest the absurdity of Trayvon‘s murder.
Watch Daniel Maree Express His Outrage Over Trayvon Martin
The march will begin in Union Square and end at the United Nations building. On Wednesday, is the United Nations’ “International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,” so the event’s timing is perfect to draw international attention to the issue. So far, Maree says more than 1,000 people are planning to participate. Volunteers from Amnesty International and different groups from the Occupy Movement are lending a hand to the march, Maree says.
In addition to the march, Maree is encouraging 1 million people to sign the petition on change.org, demanding the arrest of George Zimmerman. So far, more than 800,000 people have signed it. You can add your John Hancock to the petition here.
What Maree hopes will come out of this march is a raised sense of solidarity with Trayvon’s parents, as well as the resolve for people to feel more secure in their “personhood” without having to feel their attire criminalizes them.
“[Today], when everyone gets together in a hoody, we’re all going to look ‘suspicious,'” Maree said.
The march will start at 6 p.m. and end at 9 p.m. Marchers are meeting directly in front of Whole Foods grocery store where vendors normally frequent.
