When Kevin Cunningham, who describes himself as “Super Irish,” heard the news about the shooting of 17 year old unarmed Trayvon Martin in Florida, he knew he had to do something to help. Cunningham looked to social media as a platform for helping the effort to see George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin’s assailant, be prosecuted.
MSNBC’s Miranda Leitsinger spoke with Cunningham and learned how the lawyer’s small effort garnered huge results. Using Change.org to create a petition which demands Zimmerman be prosecuted for the shooting of Martin, Cunningham utlizied social media to helped the petition go viral and ultimately receive more than 2 million signatures.
“I decided to take the skills that I’ve been working on … and apply them to the situation and see how well it would work out, and it just went crazy on me,” said Cunningham. Currently, Cunningham works as a social media coordinator for a Palestinian children’s charity, KinderUSA. He notes that he “fell in love” with social media during the Egyptian revolution.
“What I’ve learned through social media, you don’t have to go through institutions anymore…Any individual with any idea can make it work if they have (a) connection to the Internet.”
Cunningham, a former Howard University law student, first learned of Trayvon Martin’s death when he received a listserv from Men of Howard, an informal but secretive fraternity he joined during his years at Howard. Cunningham then proposed starting a petition, which was reportedly met with both support and skepticism.
“At Howard, they tell us as soon as you get there, ‘If you’re going to be a lawyer, you’re either a social engineer or a parasite on the society,’” said Cunningham. “ … that’s how I think about life … is to be a social engineer, and that’s what my parents were always trying to be.” Cunningham notes that his parents were also activists.
After Cunningham launched the petition on Change.org, his fraternity members were quick to post it it to their social media sites, triggering an “avalanche” of support. On the first day alone, Cunningham believes the petition gained 100 signatures calling for the prosecution of George Zimmerman.
The early signatures came from places around the country including California, Martin’s home state of Florida, and beyond. Some of the signatures indicated that the signee was a friend or family member of Martin.
It was evident that Cunningham’s petition was quickly gaining momentum.
After only a few days of being live, Cunningham’s petition had garnered 10,000 signatures. It was then that Change.org contacted Cunningham and suggested that he transfer the petition to Trayvon Martin’s parents to continue on as they were quickly becoming the faces of the case.
Transferring a petition is extremely rare for Change.org to suggest, according to the organization’s spokesperson Megan Lubin. She added that nearly 100,000 petitions have been created since the organization’s conception in 2007.
With nearly 15,000 petitions created a month on Change.org, Lubin noted how impressive it was that Cunningham’s grew so rapidly. Not surprisingly, the petition has become the biggest in Change.org’s history - topping out the previous largest petition that called for reform in the wake of the Casey Anthony trial last year.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Searlit | Apr 01, 2012, 04:31 PM EDT
@KerryGold, you can start your own petition by going to the change org site.
KerryGold | Apr 01, 2012, 03:16 AM EDT
Super Irish should do a petition to the emigration laws for the Irish updated there in the US.
Searlit | Mar 31, 2012, 11:05 PM EDT
The whole point is that Zimmerman was never arrested. About a month went by with no arrest. You can't bring someone to court and try them without an arrest. That's why people started getting involved. Something is very wrong here. There's a victim who had no arrests and a shooter who had already been arrested for pushing a police officer. This comes from police records, not the media.
merefalow | Mar 31, 2012, 07:36 PM EDT
a rush to lynch mob justice.wait for the facts to emerge.
pilib04 | Mar 31, 2012, 02:07 PM EDT
Thanks for the link to the petition. Seems like thre should be more that we can do to jail this monster.
ciaradexy | Mar 31, 2012, 02:00 PM EDT
If he came here and called himself Super irish he'd get a dig and would be told to cop on. Sap.
s_side_refugee | Mar 31, 2012, 09:46 AM EDT
A Jewish/Peruvian man shoots a Black teen in self defense. Whose neighborhood/business gets destroyed when the Jewish/Peruvian man is found "Not Guilty?" It's the working-class Irish (and Italians, Germans, Poles, etc.) who will lose the most in the "Trayvon" riots when Zimmerman is found Not Guilty.
Curitiba | Mar 31, 2012, 06:50 AM EDT
I agree with you, Ciara. We don't know this guy's precise ancestry, he could have 1 Irish great-grandparent and 7 non-Irish ones. If that were the case he would only be 1/8 Irish. We don't know.So we can't make a judgement as to how Irish he is.
MSDIPPED76 | Mar 30, 2012, 09:52 PM EDT
SURE THIS 140 LB BOY REALLY KNOCKED THIS 240 LB MAN TO THE GROUND...., AND HE REALLY TOLD THIS MAN WHO HAD A GUN THAT HE WAS GOING TO DIE, SO I GUESS YOU ARE GOING TO TELL ME THAT THOSE SKITTLES, OR THE CAN OF TEA WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BULLET PROOF?,
Mike7571 | Mar 30, 2012, 07:16 PM EDT
So if a punk knocks you to the ground with a punch, jumps on top of you slamming your head into the pavement yelling 'Today you're going to die' you have no right to defend yourself? Not if you happen to be caucasian evidently. Cunningham clearly is showing he is another shallow knee jerk reactionist. Justice for Trayvon? It's already been delivered.
Jason76 | Mar 30, 2012, 07:06 PM EDT
Another moron cashing in on the latest, racist fad. Like MOST people, they don't give a crap about the situation, they're trying to "look good" to everyone around them. To assume that Trayvon is innocent and Zimmerman is guilty when the investigation is still ongoing is just stupid and shows people will eat whatever crap is fed to them. Our president already showed his ignorance, I guess it's no shocker for "2 million" average citizens to show theirs as well.
ciaradexy | Mar 30, 2012, 06:28 PM EDT
When did Cunningham emigrate to the US from Ireland? Oh thats right, he didnt! Hes American NOT Irish! WTF??
Fearbruscar | Mar 30, 2012, 05:50 PM EDT
Until all of the facts are in it is wrong to assume that Zimmerman is a murderer. The death of this young man is a crying shame that is for sure! However, do you think that if Trayvon was shot by a black man we would be having this discussion? 90% of black murder victims are killed by other black people and there is virtually no outcry! Media outlets and people like this Cunningham person are guilty of fanning the flames of racial strife! What is needed now is calm, not inflammatory rhetoric and bounties.
teadoir | Mar 30, 2012, 05:19 PM EDT
A cracker that graduated from a a historically black university in Washington, D.C......I'm sure he is not biased.....
teadoir | Mar 30, 2012, 05:12 PM EDT
maybe Niall should repost Mr. Martin's tweeter/facebook pictures showing his Gangta pose with money from Facebook or publish some of his writings from his "NO_LIMIT_NIGGA" Twitter account...poetry like "f**ck a bi ch any bi#tch, who you want? take yo pick but you gone have to take your time" or the heart felt tweet about a classmate "Hahaha Hoe u got USED fa ya loose a$$ Pu--sy! Tighten up!" or this kid that was misunderstood and suspended from school 3 times tweeting “Plzz shoot da #mf dat lied 2 u!" If you live like a gangsta you probably going to die like a gangsta.....jumping to judgement is helping recruiting of the idiots who wear white sheets with pointed hats as uniforms and actions of the new Black Panther Party who is rewarding the capture of Zimmermen or Spike Lee's tweeting what he thought was the address of the shooter instead it turning out to be a 70 year old Mr. Zimmerman.... But what do I know, I thought OJ was innocent and the Duke Lacrosse players were criminals.....
jamieLM | Mar 30, 2012, 04:45 PM EDT
Zimmerman may well be guilty, but until ALL the facts are on the table, this is a rush to judgment. This isn't the first time everyone jumped on the guilty bandwagon only to find out they were wrong (Tawana Brawley, Duke case). In America, this guy is innocent until PROVEN guilty and is entitled to have his day in court to prove his innocence. This is NOT an open and shut case, yet, just because the media and others have already convicted him. Btw: if you're getting all your "facts" from the media, be careful. Don't believe everything you read.
Murph46 | Mar 30, 2012, 04:17 PM EDT
Niall,with respect,I remember when the Duke Rape Case was an open and shut case.The team picked her up and raped her,truth was that NEVER HAPPENED,same with Tawana Brawley.Niall for god's sake this is what we have courts for.I find it incredible that you as a respected editor are a focal point in this rush to judgement.Headlines in many papers already say today that Zimmerman would have a hard time getting a fair trial because of remarks such as yours!
Niall O'Dowd | Mar 30, 2012, 03:45 PM EDT
Well said McNamara.. Folks this is open and shut ,this Zimmerman is a wannabe cop who said he was pursuing this kid who was unarmed Black or white has nothing to do with it --the fact that he wasn't arrested is outrageous
Maggie47 | Mar 30, 2012, 02:20 PM EDT
Mr. Cunningham, Crawl back into your hole. Facts please, only the facts. I remember Tawana Brawley I lived in NY at the time. Still waiting for an apology.
citrine | Mar 30, 2012, 01:03 PM EDT
This Irish guy is a phoney looking to be a hero to the blacks and act like a superior than thou white guy! Why doesn't this idiot have anything to say about all of the whites that have been attacked by blacks? What about Matthew Coon 13 year old in Kansas City that was set on fire by 2 blacks and racially bullied at school by teachers and students? What about the 2 English tourists killed by 16 year own Sean Tyson for being white? This white phoney is just looking to make a false hero of himself. He like B Hussein Obama say nothing and do nothing about the whites that are murdered. And what does Cunningham say about the genocide of white S African farmers? What cunningham should do is advocate for white people the blacks have enough people to rally and advocate, but whites have no one, RIP MATTHEW CHEW murdered by 6 blacks New London , CT 2012 EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL NOT SPECIL RIGHTS FOR SOME!
Murph46 | Mar 30, 2012, 12:39 PM EDT
Supereejit more like it!
McNamara31 | Mar 30, 2012, 12:31 PM EDT
This is more about the use of influence than being black or white. Ask yourself some simple questions: If you were shot wouldn't you expect the shooter to be drug tested along with the victim? If you were killed wouldn't you want your mother and father to know you are lying in a morgue for three days? If your killer was the son of a judge, and you answered yes to the first two questions wouldn't you think there was influence used in the investigation? And finally when a lead investigator breaks ranks and tells the press he thinks this is a case of manslaughter, with bias issues why do so many continue to blame the victim or any group assisting in the victim's behalf?
hooligan6a | Mar 30, 2012, 12:26 PM EDT
We do have a legal system and it is not the press. Why did the press run a picture of a 12 year old Trayvon and not a 6'2", 17 year old Trayvon??
kilgara | Mar 30, 2012, 12:24 PM EDT
How dare he prejudge this case? This knucklehead passed the bar?A sad commentary on the lowering of standards all accross this once great land.
manhattan | Mar 30, 2012, 12:08 PM EDT
Oh super Irish put some of your energy to make a name for yourself by addressing why white people are afraid of young black males. No one is addressing this because then people like "super Irish" will scream racism. Each day in Baltimore at least one black man will be shot. That is black on black crime. Why is the fact a white man shot a black boy cause for finally speaking out? Black leaders please address the causes that drove Zimmerman to shoot him.
jjkleprechaun | Mar 30, 2012, 11:30 AM EDT
It's true...100% of Irishmen (women included) are hot heads and jump to conclusions. Face it, Kevin Cunningham, you are looking for a name for yourself and jumped on a bandwagon that you thought would take you somewhere. You didn't wait for all the facts...legal procedures must advance ONLY on FACTS. Were you absent from class the day I presume it might have been taught? By the way, were you a minority at Howard? And what qualifies you to be a "Super Irish?" Sounds a little like an ego maniac title to me.
McNamara31 | Mar 30, 2012, 11:17 AM EDT
According to court records, George Zimmerman is the son of retired Supreme Court Magistrate Judge Robert J Zimmerman, and mother Gladys Zimmerman a court clerk and was arrested in Orange County in 2005 on charges of resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer. The arrests were mysteriously closed with no semblance of charges for the Florida resident. It has also been reported that he was fired several times from his job as private security for house parties because of his explosive nature. So how was someone with a violent past including that of battery against an officer able to carry a 9 mm handgun? Zimmerman went on to be a neighborhood vigilante/ watchman who pursued a kid with a 9 millimeter gun and shot him dead. The shooter was neither drug tested nor background checked as the “victim was” that night. Instead of trying to blame Martin, or his hoodie for his own murder, why aren't people also asking why this child’s sat in a morgue for three days as a John Doe before his parents were notified; even though his real name was on the police report from the first day? The mortician stated there was not a bruise or cut knuckles or skinned knees on his body which would have been present in an extreme struggle. All facts are pointing in one clear direction; Martin was pursued, and "shot down" even when the police told Zimmerman not to follow. Facts show Zimmerman comes from a family quite expert at finding their way through the criminal process This child was stalked and murdered and all else is bias and distraction.Bravo to you Mr.Cunningham for your efforts to bring justice to this family.
SeamusMor | Mar 30, 2012, 10:40 AM EDT
This is a classic example of a rush to judgment. When the story broke it was about a young black boy being shot for wearing a hoodie. Now we learn that Zimmerman shot the perpetrator of a violent assault in self defense. Who would sign a petition to prosecute the victim of a violent and bloody attack?
Murph46 | Mar 30, 2012, 10:24 AM EDT
What does he know that the police don't ? If you are applauding his methods may I remind you they are a modern version of a lynch mob.Justice will prevail.Remember Tawana Brawley and the Duke rape case!
kilfinnane | Mar 30, 2012, 09:25 AM EDT
Did they also teach him at Howard to reach conclusions before all the facts are in? The rule of law must prevail over knee-jerk reactions. If he is a true social engineer, he will now take the opportunity to make that point to his 2,000,000 new friends.