Pastors trade robes for hoodies for Trayvon

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- Clergy across the Bay Area traded in their pastoral robes for hooded sweatshirts on Sunday in solidarity with Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Florida teen shot to death last month by a neighborhood watch captain

The pastor at Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland expressed outrage over the killing and the ways in which individuals are judged solely by the way they look.

"I will never look at hoodies in the same way," he said.

Trayvon's mother, Sybrina Fulton, responding to the nationwide support and the call for George Zimmerman's arrest, has expressed her gratitude.

Zimmerman, who was never charged in the killing of Martin, claims he killed the 17-year old in self-defense. His friend, Joe Oliver, says he is upset over the killing.

"After this first started, the reports I got was that he could not stop crying. He knows what happened and because he is not in jail he has been very confident, naively, that this would all blow over," Oliver said.

There have been some who have suggested that race may have played into Zimmerman's interaction with Martin. Pastor Mike McBride of The Way Christian Center warns against assumptions of racism and says we must look at the bigger picture of gun violence as a whole.

"This is a moment in time where our ongoing work can be amplified to pay attention to the continual loss of life, this is not race baiting," McBride says.

He says it's important to remember that there are two families in pain.

"I would trust and rely on God to hear her heart."

Nancy Williams, who lost her teen son to gun violence, says her church family and her faith are what pulled her through -- and she wishes the same for Travon's mother.

"If it worked for me, I know it will work for her. God is good. Yes he is, all the time," Williams said.

Zimmerman's attorney tells ABC News that his client fears for his life and the safety of his family. People across the country are now asking themselves how things could've gone so wrong -- and what can be done to prevent it from happening again.

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