National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President Benjamin Jealous. (AP Photo)
(CNSNews.com) – A petition by the NAACP – which has shown support for abortion – and the ardently pro-abortion MoveOn.org invokes the “right to life” in calling for the U.S. Justice Department to take action against George Zimmerman, acquitted of a murder charge Saturday by a Florida jury over the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
“The most fundamental of civil rights—the right to life—was violated the night George Zimmerman stalked and then took the life of Trayvon Martin,” the petition said. “We ask that the Department of Justice file civil rights charges against Mr. Zimmerman for this egregious violation.”
MoveOn.org announced more than 250,000 people had signed the petition by Monday afternoon.
On Sunday, the organization made public an e-mail from NAACP President Ben Jealous to MoveOn.org head John Neumann after the Zimmermann verdict. MoveOn.org is heavily involved in starting petitions for liberal groups.
The NAACP does not take a formal position for or against abortion, but in May joined a lawsuit against the state of Arizona, which enacted a ban on race and gender-based abortions.
In January 2004, then NAACP President Julian Bond spoke at the NARAL Pro-Choice America Dinner in Washington.
The NAACP is reportedly suing Ryan Bomberger, an African-American and chief of The Radiance Foundation, a pro-life group. Bomberger has been critical of the NAACP, which was founded on Feb. 12, 1909 as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Bomberger parodied the group with billboards that said the “National Association for the Abortion of Colored People.”
NAACP President Ben Jealous said in an e-mail to MoveOn.org head John Neumann sent at 1:43 a.m. Sunday that the NAACP is joining forces with MoveOn.org in requesting the Justice Department take civil rights legal action against Zimmermann, 29, for shooting and killing Martin. Zimmermann said he acted in self-defense.
In July 2005, the NAACP announced it had “serious concern over President Bush's nomination of Washington, D.C. Circuit Court Judge John Roberts to replace U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.”
The press release continued, “The NAACP is asking its members to write their senators to make sure that these very hard questions are asked of someone who has a questionable history on issues of importance to the NAACP, such as individual rights, states' rights, environmental protection and health care options for women. As a Deputy Solicitor General during the first Bush administration, Roberts argued before the Supreme Court that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and should be overturned in a case to prohibit federally funded family planning clinics from discussing abortion with patients.”
MoveOn.org takes a stridently pro-abortion stance, currently gathering signatures on a petition against abortion restrictions in Ohio and praising Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, a Democrat, who helped stall the ban on abortions after 20 weeks.
MoveOn.org made the e-mail public in a press release Sunday afternoon.
“Tonight, a jury acquitted George Zimmerman. But we are not done demanding justice for Trayvon Martin,’ the message said. “We're calling on the U.S. Justice Department to open a civil rights case against George Zimmerman and have launched a petition to Attorney General Eric Holder.”
“The petition says: The Department of Justice has closely monitored the State of Florida’s prosecution of the case against George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin murder since it began. Today, with the acquittal of George Zimmerman, it is time for the Department of Justice to act.
“The most fundamental of civil rights—the right to life—was violated the night George Zimmerman stalked and then took the life of Trayvon Martin,” the petition continues. “We ask that the Department of Justice file civil rights charges against Mr. Zimmerman for this egregious violation.”