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Sanford Community Leader Reflects on Ferguson

View from the center of the 8,000+ strong crowd at "The Trayvon Martin March and Rally for Justice" in downtown Sanford, March 26th 2012. Photo by Nicole Creston
View from the center of the 8,000+ strong crowd at "The Trayvon Martin March and Rally for Justice" in downtown Sanford, March 26th 2012. Photo by Nicole Creston

This week has seen protests in cities across the country, after a grand jury’s decision not to bring criminal charges against the police officer who shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

In Sanford, a small group gathered to protest on Monday night.

Two years ago, Sanford was the scene of massive demonstrations after an unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin, was shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman. But those marches - and the demonstrations last year after Zimmerman was acquitted of murder - were peaceful.

90.7’s Amy Kiley spoke with Frances Oliver, who runs the Goldsboro Historical Museum in Sanford, and who was instrumental in organizing those demonstrations.

Oliver began by talking about the different response by authorities in Ferguson and Sanford.

Nicole came to Central Florida to attend Rollins College and started working for Orlando’s ABC News Radio affiliate shortly after graduation. She joined WMFE in 2010. As a field reporter, news anchor and radio show host in the City Beautiful, she has covered everything from local arts to national elections, from extraordinary hurricanes to historic space flights, from the people and procedures of Florida’s justice system to the changing face of the state’s economy.