NAACP asking Obama administration to pursue civil case against Zimmerman

The NAACP is asking the Justice Department to open a civil rights case against George Zimmerman, the Florida neighborhood watch captain acquitted Saturday night by a jury in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous started the drive by posting a petition Sunday morning on the website MoveOn.org that is addressed to Attorney General Eric Holder. "The most fundamental of civil rights -- the right to life -- was violated the night George Zimmerman stalked and then took the life of Trayvon Martin," Jealous wrote in the petition. The Justice Department has already been reviewing the handling of the criminal case in which Zimmerman, a Hispanic, fatally shot Martin, a black teen, in February 2012, raising concerns about such issues as racial profiling and equal justice. Jealous told CNN’s “State of the Union on Sunday morning, “There is reason to be concerned that race was a factor in why (Zimmerman) targeted young Trayvon.” He also said he has not spoken directly with Holder but has spoken to his senior people. “We are glad that what they began months back continues, which is a serious reviewing of everything that came out in this case, everything that was known before this case,” Jealous said. “If this moves into a civil phase, they will review all that comes out in that and then they will make a choice about whether or not they will pursue criminal civil rights charges.”