How Skittles became a symbol of Trayvon Martin's innocence.

[kstewart33]

The Guardian:

About the only thing that everyone agrees on is what Trayvon Martin was carrying when he died. There were his clothes, including a black hooded top with a badge pinned to it showing a picture of his dead cousin. There was his cellphone, on which he had been talking to a friend. In his pockets were a cigarette lighter, some earphones, a can of Arizona watermelon fruit juice cocktail, a little over $40 in cash, a bag of Skittles he'd just bought from a nearby 7-Eleven, and no weapon of any kind.

Since the killing, as pressure grew for Zimmerman to face a murder charge, and now in the outrage over his acquittal, bags of Skittles have become the protesters' flag. They have been waved, hung round necks, taped over mouths and even glued to placards, often combined with hoodies and sweet drinks. Packets were bought and sold to raise campaign funds, or posted to Bill Lee, chief of the Sanford police department, which declined to charge Zimmerman for so long.

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2013/jul/15/skittles-trayvon-martin-zimmerman-acquittal

[bettyellen]

1. But weren't racist claiming he was using them to make a druggy concoction?

[kstewart33]

2. Yes, that too.

More from the Guardian article:

Conversely, Skittles are now a point of attack for those who believe that Martin was one of those rare unarmed 17-year-olds who can be dangerous enough to merit killing. The Skittles and the drink he bought, some have suggested, could have been ingredients to make lean (AKA sizzurp or purple drank), a homemade drug based on cough medicine that might cause aggressive and irrational behaviour if overused. (The fact that Sprite and Jolly Ranchers are more usual, and that Martin didn't have any cough medicine, are also worth considering.)

[bettyellen]

3. It's so weird, white people abuse legal mess all day long and there are no memes for it...

But kids and cough syrup- they declare a state of emergency.