BET to air ‘Shoot First: The Tragedy of Trayvon Martin’

BET has scheduled a half-hour special Shoot First: The Tragedy of Trayvon Martin hosted by Emmett Miller, which will break down key elements of the case through first-hand accounts, the Martin family and neighborhood witnesses.

The special will air Monday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m. and re-air on Centric at 8 p.m. that night.

The tragedy of Trayvon Martin, a black 17 year-old killed by George Zimmerman (a self-appointed neighborhood watch vigilante), has outraged our nation and captured the attention of national news and media.  Rallies for justice have been held all over the world, reaching as far as London, Paris, New York and in Sanford, FL where Martin was killed.

President Obama weighed in on the tragedy today as well, “All of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how does something like this happen,” President Obama said this morning following a White House Rose Garden ceremony when asked about the 17-year-old’s death.  The president called the shooting a “tragedy” and says “every aspect” of the case should be investigated. Obama gave his condolences to the slain teenager’s parents and said if he had a son, “he’d look like Trayvon.”

The FBI and the Department of Justice is conducting investigations into the shooting.  In addition, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the American Civil Liberties Union and other national civil rights organizations have called for Zimmerman’s arrest.