Reports emerging this week that the Black Panthers had offered a $10,000 reward for the "dead or alive" capture of George Zimmerman, was in fact from March 2012 before George Zimmerman was arrested for the Trayvon Martin killing. Numerous outlets reported the news of the bounty as if it were just announced, as a response to the Zimmerman not guilty verdict, however, the story was based on a video from 2012 and is not new.
In the 2012 video a number of members from the New Black Panther Party are shown offering the bounty on Zimmerman.
Several Black Panther members came out at the time to issue statements against the police's decision not to immediately arrest Zimmerman.
In one video, Black Panthers spokesman Mikhail Muhammad offered $10,000 "for the capture of George Zimmerman. We're going to force our government to do their job properly, and if they don't we will."
Muhammad also shocked viewers at the time by claiming that his Party had received the support, and financial contributions, from various athletes and celebrities, although he did not name anyone specifically.
He did, however, state that they hoped the bounty would rise up to $1 million by the following week from those contributors.
He said at the time, "We're saying to President Obama, you gotta do your job on this one buddy… So white America, we have given you 400 years to get it right and you still have failed black people. We're not even citizens in this country. We're still third class citizens. Today as black men, we must stand up. We must say to white America, 'Your time is up.'"
New Black Panther Party leader Malik Zulu Shabazz also said that Zimmerman would "always be hunted and hated like the villain that he is and the demon that he is to many."
"Those jurors were making a direct statement to black America, and they were telling us that, 'We are in fear of the black male, fear of the black man and fear of the Trayvon Martin's and we are going to maintain this first, the right of us to kill you n*****,'" he said.
George Zimmerman was found not guilty of second degree murder and manslaughter in the Trayvon Martin killing recently, sparking waves of protests across the country. Many are now calling for the "stand your ground" law to be repealed or amended in Florida, and others have accused Zimmerman of racially profiling Martin, and believe that he should be held responsible for Martin's death.
Offering a bounty for an American citizen who is not legally guilty of a crime is a felony in most U.S. states.
Following Zimmerman's not guilty verdict last Saturday, the New Black Panther Party called for protests and rallies to take place across the country. Malik Zulu Shabazz, the group's national chairman, told supporters to "take to the streets [and] stay there."
He said on Twitter ,"Were at war. Its (sic) silly and immoral to call for peace when war has been declared."
Film at 11..... 🤦
