On Tuesday, radio host Tom Joyner offered Rachel Jeantel, a friend who was on the phone with Trayvon Martin the night he was killed, a full ride to college.
Jeantel, 19, spoke to CNN’s “Piers Morgan Live” on Monday night.
Joyner said he was so touched by what she said then, and during her testimony during the second-degree murder trial of George Zimmerman, that he was moved to help.
Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, was acquitted of a second-degree murder charge in Martin’s shooting death.
“Rachel, here’s my offer to you. If you want to graduate from high school and go to an HBCU, even if it’s not in Florida but especially Florida … If you want to do that, I want to help you do that,” Joyner said during his radio show, referring to historically black colleges and universities.
“I will help you get tutors to get you out of high school, tutors to help you pass the SAT, and I will give you a full-ride scholarship to any HBCU you’d like.”
Jeantel, who said she might want to go into law enforcement, responded, “Thank you.”
She said Monday that she was “disappointed, upset, angry, questioning and mad” at Zimmerman’s acquittal.
Jeantel found herself in an unforgiving spotlight of the nationally televised trial, during which viewers criticized her dress, her weight, her speech and her combative manner on the stand. She admitted to lying about her age and her reasons for skipping Martin’s funeral.
She called the verdict “BS” and said Martin, 17, was never aggressive.
“He was a calm, chill, loving person who loved his family, definitely his mother, and a good friend,” Jeantel said.
