The intensity of the July heat in New York City’s Union Square only heightened the passion of the speakers at the Justice for Trayvon People’s Mic on Sunday, July 14—just one day after George Zimmerman was acquitted of all charges in the killing of Trayvon Martin.

At the gathering, which demonstrators stressed was as much “teach-in” to plan positive steps forward as an outpouring of anger and grief, elected officials, representatives of grassroots organizations and people from all over New York and out-of-state decried the institutionalized racial discrimination that made the Zimmerman verdict possible.

—Prashanth Kamalakanthan

How can the name Trayvon Martin turn from a lament to a rallying cry?