Video: Grand Jury to investigate Trayvon Martin killing

>>> investigate the 17-year-old's killing. in a statement, norm wolfinger said, quote, i share in the desire of the family and the community who accurately collect and evaluate all the facts surrounding the tragic death of trayvon martin. this come as police released new 911 call late yesterday made by george zimmerman , the man who shot martin. those calls were made over the past six months. keep in mind this is before the shooting itself involving trayvon martin. sanford pliss say zimmer magic called him 46 times since january 2011 reporting suspected break-ins, suspicious people and other incidents. police released six calls and in four of them zimmerman reported suspicious men in the neighborhood.

>> what did they look like? are they white, black or hispanic ?

>> black males . one is wearing a white shirt . they're at the back gate of the neighborhood.

>> now here's a portion of another call released by police where zimmerman is reporting two people he said he's never seen before.

>> we've had a lot of break-ins in our neighborhood recently and i'm on the neighborhood watched and there is two suspicious characters at the gate of my neighborhood. i've never seen them before. i have no idea what they're doing. they're just out, loitering.

>> meantime, the justice department confirm, it is of course getting involved launching its own investigation and will meet with local leaders to address tensions in the community. the congressional black caucus had asked to look into the case. joining me now, emanuel cleaver . chairman, thank you for your time. first let me get your reaction to the fact that the department of justice is now getting involved and they also want to address what is so obvious, the tensions in the community in florida and beyond at this point regarding this case.

>> we believe that it is very important for the jarnlt to become involved because the situation had become highly volatile. and because we think that a hate crime was committed. and i've got to tell you that unlike days of old when things like this happened, we just had mainly african-americans out expressing outrage. now we have people from all walks of life who i think have trained their hearts to be sympathetic to injustice. so we're seeing people even here in washington, having people coming up, white, black , hispanic , republicans, all saying something is wrong here. the justice department had to get involved because the local police department obviously had some problems of its own and ultimately they need to look into that. the reason we think that this is a hate crime , if you listen to the tape. which i have refused to do anymore. it hurts too much for me. i can imagine what the family is going through. is the fact that the one thing the man said over and over and over. it is a black man. it is a black kid. everything was black . and then he said the magic words , they always get away with it. so i think that i'm not a judge and jury, but i think that those who can do that kind of thing can bring things to a judge and jury are moving in that direct. the congressional black caucus is pleased at the response of the u.s. department of justice and not only because they're looking into the case but because they're going to try to get some of the understandable anger that is boiling up in the community.

>> chairman, one of the reasons you point to why you believe this should be investigated as a hate crime because you say as we've heard in this state, trayvon martin is described as a black man. on the 911 calls that were just released, zimmerman is asked to identify, describe, if anyone has ever called 911, they know the operator asks to you describe. i have to note here that of the six calls that were released by police today, four of them, zimmerman identifies the individual as an african-american or a black person . now, that is not to say that in the dozens of other calls that he made, that the other suspects were not white, hispanic , male, female, but in these calls released by authorities four of the six, as i understand it, were minorities. with that said, just because he described the individual as being black , how does that then lead to a hate crime ?

>> they always get away with it. they, who? i would like to have the answer to that question. they, who? and i also think that it is important for us to understand that it's very easy to generate suspicion based on race. we're going to get beyond it as a nation. i know the time is coming but we're not there yet. i think that even a casual observer can look at this situation. listen to this poor kid screaming for help and this man executing him, allegedly, if all the facts are true. so it is difficult to see that race is not a factor. particularly when you hear the refrain, "they always get away with it."

>> let me take you to this other point here. of course zimmerman is the focus. he is the person who fired the gun. now a grand jury will look at the facts here. i have to bring you to the sanford police department . you have so many people who equate this to famous cases in mississippi. cases in my home state of texas where actions were carried out by bad people but they were enabled by the inactive pursuit of police departments , of county sheriffs. i'm not saying that is the case here but how much pressure should be put on and questions placed on the sanford police department ?

>> i don't think there is any question. i implied that earlier. i think the justice department has to look at the police department . i'm from texas as well. i was married in kansas city , missouri. we've gotten over many of our problems with the police department over the years. if a police officer has a justifiable shooting, that police officer is suspended with pay until there's an investigation even if all the facts show that the police officer was justified in the shooting. we had a man shoot down a 17-year-old bundle of hope and potential l and he still has his gun. there was nothing done. it's like, okay, we'll see you later . the police department must i think receive a federal review and if something is there, i think a grand jury ought to be brought together to look at what the police have done in terms of complicity.

>> all right, congressman, thank you so much for your time. we appreciate it. i can you and the other members of the black caucus will be down there as well.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/46798577/

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