1 ENGLEWOOD, N.J. - Gerald Marion has spent his career fighting fires, not racial injustice.
2 The lifelong Englewood resident rose through the ranks and became the city's second black fire chief, earning a reputation as a calm, steadfast advocate for his department who stayed out of the political fray.
3 But Marion reached a breaking point on Saturday, when a Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, during a confrontation in a gated community.
4 The chief entered the racially charged controversy surrounding the verdict this week, when he asked the City Council to boycott businesses in Florida and other states with stand-your-ground laws, which eliminate the legal requirement to retreat before people can defend themselves - with deadly force if necessary - if they believe someone is trying to kill or seriously harm them.
5 'I've never been an activist,' the 46-year-old said.
6 'I'm fed up. It should not be a law that you get to murder because you're uncomfortable'.
7 Marion, a firefighter for 24 years, said stand-your-ground laws disproportionately affect blacks, especially when law enforcement and others assume black youths have criminal intent while white youths get the benefit of the doubt.
8 'We read the news every day and you're always coming across a story … an African-American gets shot because the shooter was threatened by their presence or the shooter was reacting to a stereotype,' he said.
9 'It could be me. It could be my son.
10 It could be my nephew'. Marion may be the first public official in Bergen County, if not New Jersey, to ask a local government to shun Florida businesses in the wake of the verdict.
11 But he is far from alone in calling for a boycott of the Sunshine State to pressure Florida business leaders, particularly in the influential tourism industry, to lean on state lawmakers to repeal the controversial self-defense law.
12 Singer Stevie Wonder said he would no longer perform in Florida or other states with stand-your-ground laws.
13 More than 10,000 people have signed a series of online petitions on Moveon.org calling for a Florida boycott, and social media users on Twitter have encouraged rejecting Florida products with hash tags such as #boycottflorida and #notflorida.
14 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is considering a boycott of the state, said Anthony Cureton, president of the Bergen County chapter.
15 Cureton, an Englewood police officer who grew up with Marion, said he understood the fire chief's frustration and the motivation for his actions.
16 'I share the same position,' he said.
17 'He has belief in this. He doesn't hold back when there's something he's passionate about.
18 I stand with him on that point'. At the City Council meeting on Tuesday, Marion said the Fire Department would 'not spend one taxpayer dollar' on equipment made in Florida.
19 For years, the department has purchased its trucks and much of its equipment from E-ONE, a company based in Ocala, Fla.
20 He said his predecessors bought trucks and equipment from the company for years so that the fleet would have uniform equipment.
21 But he said companies in New York and Wisconsin sell quality fire apparatus as well as trucks, which cost $350,000 to $750,000.
22 The chief told council members that the boycott would allow him to 'sleep with a clear conscience'.
23 'I don't want to be a target anymore,' he said.
24 'And I want someone to help. And that has to start with us'.
25 But Marion and other officials sympathetic with his stand may not legally be allowed to boycott a state's companies in soliciting bids for goods and services.
26 New Jersey's local public contract law does not permit preferences when bidding out contracts and other government services, said Bill Dressel, the executive director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities.
27 'Municipal governments must follow state law,' he said.
28 Dressel said state lawmakers could alter the law, as they did years ago in banning purchases from South Africa when it was under apartheid.
29 Englewood has just one active contract with a Florida-based company, which was hired in May to compile an online registry of vacant properties, City Manager Timothy Dacey said.
30 'This was publicly bid and they were the only bidder,' he said in an email Wednesday.
31 Englewood City Councilman Eugene Skurnick said he would support a Florida boycott, adding he would like to see a wider boycott of towns and cities in New Jersey and other states where there have been racially controversial fatal shootings.
32 Councilman Marc Forman called stand-your-ground laws 'an abomination' but wasn't sure a boycott was the right course of action.
33 'I mean, we are the United States,' he said, 'and Florida is not the only state with stand-your-ground laws'.

But Marion reached a breaking point on Saturday , when a Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin , an unarmed black teenager , during a confrontation in a gated community .
breaking point
How did he get involved with the political fray?