George Zimmerman, Multiracial Latino, Goes on Trial For Trayvon Martin Slaying

George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old multiracial Hispanic American, is officially going on trial.

Charged with the fatal shooting of 17-year-old African-American Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., the neighborhood watchman's altercation with the youth has become a lightning rod story for race relations, gun control, and Stand Your Ground laws in America.

Martin got into an altercation with Zimmerman late at night on February 26, 2012 in the Retreat at Twin Lakes, a gated community in Sanford. After a scuffle in which Zimmerman fractured his nose, Zimmerman shot and killed Martin, who was unarmed.

Jury selection in the case began Monday, though the process remains slow-going. Prosection and defense attorneys couldn't find a single prospective juror Monday who hadn't been exposed to the intense media firestorm around the incident; they need six to proceed with a trial.

Potential Juror "B-51" explained the issue succinctly, according to the Huffington Post.

"I haven't lived under a rock for the past year," she said. "It's pretty hard for people not to have gotten some information."

In March of 2012, Martin's parents and African-American activists held a Million Hoodie March in Union Square, calling for Zimmerman's arrest. LeBron James tweeted out a picture of the entire Heat's team wearing hoodies, in a show of solidarity with protesters. President Obama eventually weighed in, saying that if he had a son, he would have looked like Trayvon.

Martin was wearing a hoodie, and had a bag of Skittles and an Arizona iced tea at the time of the killing.

The initial decision not to press charges against Zimmerman lead to the town's police chief being fired, and a special prosecutor being put on the case.

Benjamin Todd Jealous, President & CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People issued the following statement, after charges were filed:

"Trayvon's case moved the nation because it underscored the twin tragedies that affect so many of our young people: Trayvon was profiled because of his race-looked upon as a threat rather than the loving son he was. And then, once he became a victim, he was neglected by the very police department tasked with protecting our communities and families. As a nation, we've got to address the issues of racial profiling."

The Nacional Council of La Raza (NCLR), a Latino Rights Advocacy Group, has largely sided with the NAACP and those furious with police inaction.

"Earlier this month, NCLR joined with African American civil rights leaders to march from Selma to Montgomery, AL," Janet Murguía, President and CEO, NCLR said in a statement last March. " We marched against unjust and discriminatory laws that threatened to take away our vote and our civil rights. We marched for a common struggle against a hateful environment that is being sown in not only Alabama, but throughout the United States. It is an environment that says that if you are Latino, you somehow "don't belong" in this country. It is also an environment that says that if you are African American in this country, you don't have the right to walk on the street."