WASHINGTON – The director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is reportedly interested in obtaining the hoodie worn by Trayvon Martin for the museum’s collection.

Museum director Lonnie Bunch says the item of clothing — worn by Martin the night he was shot and killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman — offers a chance to continue a discussion about race in America, The Washington Post reports.

“Because it’s such a symbol, it would allow you to talk about race in the age of Obama,” Bunch tells the Post.

The Post says Bunch would like to obtain the hoodie once the legal questions around the case are settled. The Justice Department is investigating possible civil rights violations in connection with Martin’s death, and the hoodie could be used as part of a civil lawsuit.

Bunch has obtained other legally relevant pieces of history, the Post says, including handcuffs used on Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.

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