After George Zimmerman was found not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin, a number of protests took place throughout the U.S.
Zimmerman claimed he killed the teen in self-defense in Sanford, Fla., in February 2012. He was charged with second-degree murder.
The jury’s decision sparked outrage online and off, as thousands gathered in New York City, Los Angeles, and elsewhere to protest Florida’s legal system.
One photo in particular seemed to grab the attention of Instagram and Twitter users over the last day or so. It depicts a mass rally seemingly in support of Martin taking place on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. But the image is actually older than Martin himself.
Seriously unbelievable!!!! San Francisco Justice For Trayvon pic.twitter.com/cmfjkGFr1n
— NEVER B ANOTHER (@MzzQuietstorm) July 15, 2013
That’s real. “@IStayWoke22: OCCUPIED: THE ENTIRETY OF THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE IN THE NAME OF TRAYVON MARTIN!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/bG6vzby1lm”
— El Yolo Loco. (@AyeTajiddin) July 15, 2013
The snap is actually an Associated Press photo from the 50th anniversary of the bridge, as an Inquisitr commenter pointed out. That means the photo is from 1987—eight years before Martin was born.
It was taken at an event called Bridgewalk ’87, in which an estimated 800,000 people showed up and 300,000 packed the bridge at any one time. Some injuries and arrests were reported as pedestrians reenacted a walk over the bridge during its 1937 opening. The throngs of people even flattened the curved span of the bridge.
It’s not clear exactly who took the image out of context and reframed it as a march for Martin. That it depicts so many people turning out for a singular cause obviously caught the imagination of the many Instagram and Twitter users who reposted it.
But it had absolutely nothing to do with Martin.
H/T The Inquisitr | Photo by ground.zero/Flickr
