Dwyane Wade, Heat players offer 'hoodie' support in
Trayvon Martin case
By Ira Winderman
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Via PIX 11
March 23, 2012
http://www.wpix.com/sports/sfl-miami-heat-dwyane-wade-s032312-001,0,5430300.photo
Photo: Heat players show solidarity in the Trayvon
Martin case as they prepared for Friday's game against
the Detroit Pistons. (Twitter)
http://tinyurl.com/7rowskw
AUBURN HILLS, Mich.
On the day President Obama commented for the first time
on the fatal shooting of unarmed Trayvon Martin in
Sanford, All-Star guard Dwyane Wade and his Miami Heat
teammates also injected themselves into the
conversation.
Martin, 17, was shot a month ago after a confrontation
in a gated community with neighborhood-watch captain
George Zimmerman, with the youth's body discovered Feb.
26. Zimmerman who has claimed he shot Martin in self-
defense, has not been charged.
Martin was wearing a "hoodie" hooded sweatshirt when he
was shot, which has added to the debate about racial
profiling.
To that end, Wade on Friday posted to his Facebook page
a picture of himself wearing a hoodie. On his Twitter
account, he simply posted, "#hoodies #stereotype
#trayvonmartin" with a link to the photograph of
himself wearing a hoodie. Later, LeBron James posted
a picture on his Twitter account of the entire Heat
team in hooded sweatshirts, apparently taken at the
team hotel, with the Twitter post, "#WeAreTrayvonMartin
#Hoodies #Stereotyped #WeWantJustice."
Various rallies held in support of Martin have asked
participants to wear hoodies.
"I'm a father," Wade told the South Florida Sun
Sentinel following Friday morning's practice at the
Palace of Auburn Hills, in advance of Friday night's
game against the Detroit Pistons. "It's support of the
tragic thing that has taken place. No matter what
color, race, we're all fathers.
"When you think about what that family's going through,
it hits you hard and it hurts your heart to think about
it. Just anything you can do, obviously we can't bring
him back, but anything you can do to get behind and
support is what we're doing."
Wade said he felt it was the perfect time to present
the photo of himself in the hoodie.
"It's a picture that I've taken before. I thought it
was great opportunity to use it," he said. "I've never
used it before, really. So that was a great opportunity
to use it. Just to get the people to understand what
we're in support of."
Friday in Washington, President Obama said, "I can only
imagine what these parents are going through, and when
I think about this boy, I think about my own kids, and
I think every parent in America should be able to
understand why it is absolutely imperative that we
investigate every aspect of this and that everybody
pulls together, federal, state and local, to figure out
how this tragedy happened."
Wade, a father of two, said he felt it imperative to
enter the conversation. His girlfriend, actress
Gabrielle Union, had already voiced her outrage over
the handing of the case.
"We discussed it," Wade said. "I only start doing
something when I find out more information on it. Early
on, I didn't hear the [911] call, I didn't have a lot
of information. So I wasn't going to just jump into it.
She knew a lot early on about everything. That's why
she was very vocal."
Wade had taken a high profile with various charitable
causes but, until Friday, had largely remained on the
side on politically charged issues.
Wednesday, South Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson spoke on
the U.S. House floor, calling the incident "a classic
example of racial profiling quickly followed by
murder."
Following Friday's practice, Heat guard Mario Chalmers
posted on his Twitter account, "Our prayers are with
the Martin family."
[log in to unmask] Follow him at
twitter.com/iraheatbeat
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