“Justice for Trayvon” Rallies Across 100 US Cities; Beyonce and Jay Z join Trayvon Martin's Mum in Rally [PHOTOS]

Protesters point toward the Courthouse Annex building as speakers call for  State Attorney's resignation

People gather in front of Alabama Capitol

The Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network organized “Justice for Trayvon” rallies across US on Saturday, July 20, 2013, in reaction to the recent George Zimmerman acquittal.

People gathered to press for federal civil rights charges against the former neighborhood watch leader, and to call for changes in the nation's self-defense laws, one week after a jury found George Zimmerman not guilty in the shooting death of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin.

The Florida case has become a flashpoint in separate but converging national debates over self-defense, guns, and race relations. Zimmerman, who successfully claimed that he was protecting himself when he shot Martin, identifies himself as Hispanic. Martin was black!

For some attendees, particularly those who are black, the rallies seemed as much about those larger issues as about the verdict.

"It's personal," said Cincinnati resident Chris Donegan, whose 11-year-old son wore a hoodie to the rally, as Martin did the night he died. "Anybody who is black with kids, Trayvon Martin became our son."

The Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network organized the "Justice for Trayvon" rallies and vigils outside federal buildings in at least 101 cities: from New York and Los Angeles to Wichita, Kan., and Atlanta, where people stood in the rain at the bases of two federal buildings, with traffic blocked on surrounding downtown streets.

Chants rang out across the rallies. "Justice! Justice! Justice! ... Now! Now! Now!" "'We won't forget." ''No justice! No peace!" Many also sang hymns, prayed and held hands.

And plenty of participants carried signs: "Who's next?" "I am Trayvon Martin." ''Enough Is Enough."

Most rallies began at noon. In New York, hundreds of people — including Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, and music superstars Jay-Z and Beyonce — gathered in the heat. Supercouple Beyonce and Jay Z joined the proceedings when demonstrators reached New York City police headquarters.

Beyonce and Jay Z with Sybrina Fulton and Rev. Al Sharpton [Twitter/@TheRevAl]

"Jay Z and Beyonce said they didn't want to speak and they didn't come for a photo op," Sharpton told demonstrators. "Jay Z told me, 'I'm a father. Beyonce is a mother.' We all feel the pain and apprehension. The laws must protect everybody, or it doesn't protect anybody”.

In addition to pushing the Justice Department to investigate civil rights charges against Zimmerman, Sharpton told supporters that he wants to see a rollback of "stand your ground" self-defense

"We are trying to change laws so that this never, ever happens again," Sharpton said.

Fulton told the crowd she was determined to fight for societal and legal changes needed to ensure that black youths are no longer viewed with suspicion because of their skin color.

"I promise you I'm going to work for your children as well," she told the crowd.

At a morning appearance at Sharpton's headquarters in Harlem, she implored people to understand that the tragedy involved more than Martin alone. 

"Today it was my son. Tomorrow it might be yours," she said.

In Atlanta, speakers noted that the rally occurred in the shadows of federal buildings named for two figures who had vastly differing views on civil rights and racial equality: Richard B. Russell was a Georgia governor and U.S. senator elected in the Jim Crow South; Martin Luther King Jr. is the face of African-Americans' civil rights movement.

"History would suggest that we have plenty of data to be worried when we see other folk moving through our neighborhoods in hoods. Some of them have on pinstripe suits — but in their hearts, they're wearing a hood."

In Indianapolis, the Rev. Jeffrey Johnson told roughly 200 attendees that Saturday's nationwide rallies were about making life safer for young black men, who he said are still endangered by racial profiling.

"The verdict freed George Zimmerman, but it condemned America more," said Johnson, pastor of the Eastern Star Church in Indianapolis and a member of the board of directors of the National Action Network.

In Miami, Tracy Martin spoke about his son.

"This could be any one of our children," he said. "Our mission now is to make sure that this doesn't happen to your child."
He recalled a promise he made to his son as he lay in his casket. "I will continue to fight for Trayvon until the day I die," he said.

Speaking at the White House on Friday, Obama said it's a reality for black men in American to

 "be followed in a department store" while shopping or to walk down the street and "hear the car doors lock." The nation's first black president said he had both experiences before he rose to social and political prominence.

At the New Orleans rally, La'Monte Johnson shared a similar story. The California native said he's been stopped multiple times by police and handcuffed "because I fit the description of someone they were looking for," though he noted charges were never filed against him.

"You can be the greatest black guy around, but you can't get away from it," he said. "You're not equal."