2012

Trayvon Martin, 17, was shot and killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in a Sanford, Florida gated community as Martin walked home from a convenience store. Zimmerman, who had called 911 to report Martin as suspicious, was not initially arrested. After national outcry, he was charged with second-degree murder. His acquittal in July 2013 directly catalyzed the founding of Black Lives Matter.

George Zimmerman was not arrested for 44 days after killing Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012. Sanford police cited Florida's 'Stand Your Ground' law. The Martin family's attorney Benjamin Crump, along with civil rights leaders Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, organized national pressure that led to State Attorney Angela Corey filing second-degree murder charges on April 11, 2012.

The Department of Justice reached a $175 million settlement with Wells Fargo — the second-largest fair lending settlement in DOJ history — resolving allegations that the bank steered Black and Latino borrowers into subprime loans and charged them higher fees than white borrowers with similar credit. Approximately 30,000 minority borrowers were identified as victims between 2004 and 2009.

Jordan Davis, 17, was shot and killed by Michael Dunn at a Jacksonville, Florida gas station after Dunn confronted Davis and his friends about their music. Dunn, who was white, fired ten shots into the car, claiming he saw a weapon that was never found. Dunn was convicted of first-degree murder in 2014 and sentenced to life without parole.

The shooting of an unarmed Black teenager and the later acquittal help spark Black Lives Matter.