The New Black Panther Party is in Sanford, Florida organizing rallies and gatherings to be held after the jury reaches a verdict in the George Zimmerman trial. The jury began its second day of deliberations on Saturday.
Jurors are deliberating whether Zimmerman committed second-degree murder when he shot and killed Trayvon Martin last year. Zimmerman has claimed he had to shoot Martin in self-defense.
The Washington Times noted the group has tweeted, “New Black Panther Party will not give you specific details on anything other than to say we have rallies and street maneuvers planned.” The group has even tweeted about a planned Sept. 7 rally for Trayvon Martin: “We can’t and WON’T try to control the general dissatisfied population. For sure we are ORGANIZING.”
“If Zimmerman is acquitted there is likely to be unrest all over America. It will be way beyond the capacity of the NBPP,” the group tweeted. “From what we are hearing there is a HIGH chance of rebellion across the nation if Zimmerman is acquitted on all charges.”
The Times flagged some tweets that showed the group’s disdain for Zimmerman. The NBPP tweeted that Zimmerman was “exposed on closing arguments as a lying, conniving, manipulating scheming underhanded profiling devil” and that the prosecution’s “withering” closing argument “wiped that smile off his [expletive] face.”
On Friday, Malik Shabazz, Chairman of the the New Black Panther Party, appeared on the David Webb Show on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125, which Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon guest-hosted. Shabazz claimed the New Black Panthers are in Sanford because President Barack Obama has encouraged more “traditional” civil rights groups and leaders, like Al Sharpton, to not play active roles in organizing protests during the trial. He said groups like the New Black Panthers have had to replace the more “traditional” civil rights groups who he claimed have been “silenced.”