There is much controversy and uproar on the recent George Zimmerman Gun Show appearance in which he was invited to this event to sign autographs for his adoring fans and supporters.
What made this event really a slap in the face to many was that it was originally contracted to take place at the Majestic Night Club located at 801 John Young Parkway in the Black Community just several feet north of the intersection of John Young Parkway & Colonial Drive, a.k.a Route 50 here in Central Florida.
Now for the most part, race should never play a part in where someone chooses to hold an event, but it appeared to be quite an insensitive move considering the open wounds still felt in that community after the senseless murder of Trayvon Martin which George Zimmerman was later acquitted of his murder.
Would these same show organizers have plan an event in the Jewish community to commemorate the life of Adolph Hitler?
I don’t think so, they wouldn’t have even considered it!
So what makes our feelings in the Black community any different?
The following is an excerpt from a March 6 2014 article on the website ClickOrlando.com:
“A local gun show with about 100 vendors may be canceled after the event space learned the organizers had invited George Zimmerman to be a featured guest.
The sign outside The Majestic at 801 North John Young Parkway implies this weekend’s gun show is still on. Organizers for “The New Orlando Gun Show” told Local 6 The Majestic canceled their event late Thursday.
“We’ve had discussions with The Majestic and they decided to cancel the event because George Zimmerman was making an appearance,” said Mike Piwowarski, who organized the gun show.
The gun show organizers recently posted on their Facebook page a picture posing with Zimmerman, but the online comments that followed the picture sparked a controversial debate. It’s exactly that kind of polarizing debate that caused The Majestic to shy away from allowing Zimmerman at the event.
A Twitter account that Zimmerman has used before tweeted, “another company bowing to threats of being labeled racist. Americans, give them your opinion.”
“The New Orlando Gun Show” organizers said they have had a year-long contract with The Majestic, but only recently asked Zimmerman to be the featured guest. Promotions for his attendance created controversy.
“The event center asked us to do a few things when they found out Mr. Zimmerman was present; pull down posts, pull down announcement that he was going to be there. We did all of that when they asked us to do it. They rescheduled the event. Then they later went on to cancel it again, after we complied with all of their requests,” said Piwowarski.
If the show remains canceled, Piwowarski and about 100 gun dealers could stand to lose thousands of dollars, which is why gun show organizers plan to go to court tomorrow to try to keep the event running. Piwowarski said his contract said nothing about who can and cannot attend.”
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