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It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 6 years since 17 year old Trayvon Martin’s life was so brutally taken from him in a cowardly act of violence by George Zimmerman in 2012. For Trayvon’s parents, Tracey Martin and Sybrina Fulton, those 6 years probably feel like a lifetime and/or a never-ending tragic nightmare. As Zimmerman roams the earth as a free man, following his non-conviction years ago, there are millions of other people of all races out here, who actually empathize with Trayvon’s family, including actor/singer, Jamie Fox.
Jay-Z and his partner,Michael Gasparro, are the executive producers of the upcoming documentary series, “Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story,” which premieres July 30 on Paramount Network.
On Thursday, a screening of Part 1 of the upcoming 6-part documentary series was held in a quaint setting, with little, to no press. That did not stop Jamie Fox from showing up to offer his full support to Sybrina and Tracey, in honor of their beloved son.
Jamie has been a long-time vocal opposer about the maliciousness of Trayvon’s killing and the heartless injustice that neither Trayvon, nor his family received, following the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot the unarmed teen in cold blood.
During an emotional Q&A segment of the event, Trayvon’s parents sat alongside the documentary’s producers. They spoke about their son’s passing, what they want other races to take from the documentary and what they teach their other son about race relations, as well as being Black in America.
As Sybrina and Tracey took questions from the audience (see video below), Sybrina was asked what she would tell her other son about how to walk though life, after having loss one son to a cowardly act of violence. Here’s what she replied:
“What I would tell my son is to live his best life,” Sybrina firmly stated to a reply of thunderous applause. She continued, “I’m going to continue to cover him. I want him to be informed about what’s going on. We talk about certain issues…we talk about the police, we talk about White supremacy. We talk about Black Lives Matter and all the other organizations. We talk about all of those things, so he has a clear understanding…”
https://youtu.be/fgLpIM4caXQ
Trayvon’s mother then went on to stress the importance of African American parents educating their children about the realities of our society and how they are perceived simply for being African American. She also stressed the importance of breaking down those racially biased perceptions:
“Not only do we need to speak with our young men, we need to speak to our young ladies as well, because they’re being shot and killed, and profiled… And of course nobody else has to do that, but it’s necessary, we HAVE to keep him (their son) informed, we have to keep them knowledgeable. I’m not gonna tell [my son] that when he sees a police, walk fast, or walk slow. Whatever pace he’s going, it’s not about…what our kids are doing, a lot of times it’s about how other people perceive who he is. And that’s what we need to work on. We need to change other people’s mindset, so they can change their perception.
It’s not about us, it’s not about us at all. I think it’s about…other people and how they feel about us, how they think that we are still three fifths of human,” Sybrina stated to applause once again.
She then expressed the importance of not becoming desensitized as a society, due to the continuous unjustified murders of Black people, at the hands of other races and police officers:
“We cant have these movements and they die off and go away. The only way we continue this is by having workshops, documentaries that keep it out there. I don’t want to have a documentary where only African Americans watch, we already know the struggle – so other people have to see what the struggle is on the other side.”
Well said Sybrina Fulton.
