Trayvon Martin Case Witness Keeps Promise to Late Friend, Graduates High School
Rachel Jeantel, the close friend and witness in the Trayvon Martin case, graduated from High school on Friday.
"I did it," Jeantel told The Inquisitr. "The witness who didn't know how to speak English knows how to speak English through the 12th grade now. I never quit."
During the highly controversial Zimmerman vs. State of Florida case, Jeantel was asked to speak on behalf of Trayvon Martin as a witness who spoke to Martin on the day of his tragic death.
However, when Jeantel went to go speak on the witness stand in court, she was criticized for her use of slang and dialect when talking about Trayvon Martin.
UPI reported that, at one point during the trial, defense attorney Don West asked whether or not Jeantel, then 19, understood English.
He asked, "Are you claiming in any way that you don't understand English?"
Jeantel paused, gave West a mean stare and responded, "I don't understand you. I do understand English."
Rachel Jeantel reportedly speaks Haitian Creole, English and Spanish. She is the daughter of immigrant parents.
Despite the backlash she received for her alleged "lacked knowledge of the English language," Jeantel prevailed and earned her High school diploma at a Miami school auditorium, just a few short miles away from where Trayvon Martin is buried.
Miami defense and civil rights attorney Rod Vereen helped Jeantel achieve this academic accomplishment. According to UPI, Vereen arranged to have tutors teach Jeantel proper reading and math skills following the criticism she received during the Trayvon Martin case.
"When they say it takes a village to raise a child, this is what has happened here. Getting her down that aisle has not been an easy task. Rachel is just like any other teenager. They want to buck the system sometimes, and you just can't let them buck the system," Vereen told the Inquistr.
Trayvon Martin was 17-years-old when he was fatally shot by George Zimmerman on Feb. 26, 2012. In the highly controversial case, Zimmerman was found innocent.
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