Shortly following the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the Florida man who fatally shot unarmed teen Trayvon Martin in 2012, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) offered his advice for listeners displeased with the jury's verdict.
"Get over it," the congressman said during a Tuesday appearance on WMAL's "Mornings on the Mall" radio show.
(Watch the video above. Harris' Zimmerman comments begin at the 6:20 mark.)
Harris had joined the program to discuss the Affordable Care Act and impending votes in Congress, but the conversation shifted to Zimmerman, who was found not guilty in the 2012 shooting on Saturday.
When asked if he'd been following the heavily publicized courtroom drama, Harris denounced the media frenzy surrounding the case, expressing frustration that "with all the huge issues going on in the world, with unrest in the Middle East, [the public eye is] hung up on this one case where this one fellow was in fact found not guilty by a jury. That's the way the American law system works," he said. "Get over it."
As the high profile case dominated the airwaves, many caught in its emotionally charged aftermath argued that merely "getting over it" is not an option.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, has urged citizens "on the side of truth and progress" to take part in nationwide demonstrations on Saturday in an effort to spur a federal investigation of Zimmerman.
"Trayvon had undeniable civil rights that are to be protected under the laws of this nation," Sharpton said. "We must fight for those rights because he no longer can."
During his WMAL appearance, however, Harris argued that intervention by the Department of Justice would be "purely political," and would require lawmakers to "look at ways to rein in the Justice Department."
"To consider going after a person who, under our system, has been found not guilty, is incredulous," he said.
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