NEW YORK – The following is a statement from ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson.

“Geraldo Rivera’s comments today on ‘Fox & Friends’ regarding Trayvon Martin’s attire on the day that he was killed were reckless and irresponsible. Rivera claimed that ‘the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was.’ Rivera’s attempt to reduce the significance of racial bias in this country does nothing to bring Trayvon’s family closer to achieving justice after the brutal slaying of their child. Rivera’s remarks reinforce racial stereotypes which all too often have deadly consequences for our children. ColorOfChange will monitor Rivera, Fox News and the news media as a whole as we continue to call on the Department of Justice to arrest Trayvon’s killer and hold the Sanford Police Department accountable for its mishandling of this case.”

More than 145,000 CoC members have signed the petition calling on the Department of Justice to take over the case, arrest Martin’s killer, and launch an independent investigation into the Sanford police department’s mishandling of the case.

The petition can be found here: http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/Trayvon

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With more than 800,000 members, ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest African-American online civil rights organization.