Rapper Macklemore took the opportunity during an acceptance speech Sunday night at the American Music Award ceremony to talk a bit of politics, slamming what he characterized as the nation’s racist response to the shooting death of Florida teen, Trayvon Martin.
Trayvon was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in a wide-reaching case of self-defense that ignited a national debate over stand-your-ground state laws that let permitted gun carriers to use their weapons when threatened.
Many in the civil rights camps — those headed up by the likes of the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton, especially — called the shooting a murder and decried stand-your-ground laws as racist. Mr. Zimmerman was later acquitted of murder.
But the issue raised its head at the AMA awards, Fox News reported.
Via satellite from Miami to the audience in Los Angeles, Maclemore said, The Blaze reported: “Due to the fact that we are in Florida tonight accepting this award, I want to acknowledge Trayvon Martin and the hundreds and hundreds of kids each year that are dying due to racial profiling and the violence that follows it. This is really happening. These are our friends, our neighbors, our peers and our fans, and it’s a time that we look out for the youth and fight against racism and the laws that protect it.”
He also quoted Martin Luther King Jr. and said that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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