Letter allegedly written by gunman George Zimmerman's family states he is not racist

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — WFTV reporter Daralene Jones obtained a letter that was allegedly written by George Zimmerman's family, claiming he is not a racist.

The letter was sent to the sister of a black homeless man, who was beaten by a Sanford officer's son.

The letter was signed "the Zimmerman family," and stated "death threats [were] made by the black community."

Trayvon Martin's family attorney, Natalie Jackson, called it a "smear campaign," intended to make the case about race.

According to the letter that was also sent to the NAACP, Zimmerman publicly questioned the integrity of the Sanford police after seeing the video of an officer's son punching a homeless man so hard that he knocked him unconscious.

Justin Collison was not arrested for beating Sherman Ware in late 2010, until WFTV started asking questions.

The writer of the letter also said, "Do you know the individual that stepped up when no one else in the black community would? Do you know who waited for the church-goers to get out of church so that he could hand them fliers in an attempt to organize the black community against this horrible miscarriage of justice? That person was George Zimmerman."

The letter goes on to say: "You know as well as I do that there are many NAACP followers that recognize George from the Ware case....you need to call off the dogs. Period. Publicly and swiftly."

The letter was mailed with copies of the fliers Zimmerman supposedly handed out.

In them, he demanded the city fire the former police chief, Brian Tooley, along with officers who refused to arrest Collison.

Ironically, some of those same officers were at the scene the night Zimmerman was not arrested for killing Martin.

Jackson called the letter "propaganda intended to divide the community among racial lines."

Zimmerman's attorney, Craig Sonner, said he was too busy preparing for interviews with national media to speak with WFTV.

WFTV