Terry Jones Latest Extremist Threatening to Join Fray Around Trayvon Martin Case

Terry Jones

Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center, a virulently anti-Muslim, anti-gay apostolic church based in Gainesville, Florida, has joined the growing list of extremists who are enflaming the situation surrounding the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida.

Jones announced in a press release that he would hold a rally in front of the Seminole County Courthouse on April 21 in support of “the Constitutional Rights for George Zimmerman and Treyvon [sic] Martin” because “America is being corrupted, controlled, and manipulated.” Martin’s family and their supporters are demanding that police arrest Zimmerman, who is allegedly in hiding due to threats made against him after the shooting.

Other extremists have also announced that they will go to Sanford in the wake of the shooting. In a posting to their Web site, the National Socialist Movement (NSM), the largest neo-Nazi group in the country, claims that they will carry out armed patrols in Sanford to protect local white citizens from alleged “racial violence” taking place there. Sanford police, however, have denied that the neo-Nazis are patrolling the streets there.

The NSM asserted in the same Web posting that they are taking action in response to the activities of the New Black Panther Party (NBPP), which offered a $10,000 reward for the “capture” of Zimmerman. The NBPP has also promoted a number of other activities in Sanford since the shooting, including a "National Day of Action" and community patrols “to protest against racial violence and attacks.”