Trayvon Martin’s Mother: ‘Race Did Play An Issue’ In Son’s Death

Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old boy who was killed 18 months ago by George Zimmerman, was honoured at the Washington D.C. 50th Anniversary march on Saturday. Trayvon’s mother, Sybrina Fulton spoke at the rally about the death of her son, and the aquittal of his killer.

The BBC website reported on Trayvon’s parent’s road to forgiveness on 24th August:

“It has been more than a month since George Zimmerman was acquitted by a jury of the murder of Trayvon Martin. In their first British media interview since the verdict, the teenager’s parents told the BBC’s Rajini Vaidyanathan they are working hard to build a legacy for their son, and are beginning the difficult process of forgiving his killer.”

Fulton continued in the BBC interview to speak about the fact that she and her family would be seeking justice, no matter what the race of the killer:

“Had George Zimmerman been an African-American man, we still would be seeking the same justice as we would in this case. Race did play an issue. But we didn’t make it a race issue. Never once.”

She also spoke about the work that needs to be done to ensure that future killings, like the one that resulted in the death of Trayvon, are avoided:

“We certainly have a long way to go, because when we have teenagers who are not safe walking down the street and you have laws that will justify somebody taking their life, that means we have a lot of work to do.”

She added: “Trayvon was no criminal. He was not committing any crime. If you see the pictures of him, he was always smiling; he was always happy. Those are the things we want people to focus on most about Trayvon.”

The situation is clearly a difficult one for the Martin family. It remains to be seen just how challenging the forgiveness process will be for Trayvon Martin’s parents.