Colin Powell: Trayvon Martin jury verdict which freed killer of Florida teenager 'questionable'

Colin Powell (Reuters)

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell says the jury verdict that freed the killer of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin was “questionable.”

Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation, Mr 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.

Mr Powell recalled being refused service when trying to buy a hamburger before the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"In my lifetime, over a long career in public life, you know, I've been refused access to restaurants where I couldn't eat, even though I just came back from Vietnam.

"I think all leaders, black and white, should speak out on this issue."