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WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Secretary of State Colin Powell says the jury verdict that freed the killer of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin was "questionable." But he isn't sure it will have staying power in the public consciousness.
Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation, Powell said cases like Martin's "blaze across the midnight sky" and are forgotten.
The first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and first black secretary of state, Powell says America has come a long way toward racial equality 50 years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Powell recalled being refused service when trying to buy a hamburger before the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Minorities have many more opportunities today, but Powell says King would still demand work on education, housing and economic opportunities.
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