WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The Smithsonian said it has no plans to acquire and display the hoodie Trayvon Martin wore the day he was killed in Sanford, Fla.

Rumors swirled that the clothing item could be headed to the Smithsonian's under-construction National Museum of African American History and Culture after Museum Director Lonnie Bunch commented on it last week.


The hoodie "became the symbolic way to talk [about] the Trayvon Martin case. It's rare that you get one artifact that really becomes the symbol," she said.

A spokeswoman for the Smithsonian dismissed the rumors Friday in an email sent to the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel.

"Please note: the Smithsonian has NO plans to display the Trayvon Martin hoodie," the spokeswoman, whose name was not reported, said.

"The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture is not currently seeking to add Trayvon Martin's hoodie to its collection," the museum said in a statement released Friday. "We recognize that certain items related to the Trayvon Martin trial could one day have historical value and provide a way to study and discuss race in America. Acquiring any object for our museum involves rigorous consultation with a team of museum historians and curators. Any items connected to the Trayvon Martin case -- should they even become available -- would have to go through that lengthy process."

The hoodie, along with the bag of Skittles and can of ice tea Martin was carrying at the time he was killed were sent to the U.S. Department of Justice while it conducts a civil rights violation investigation into the incident.

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