Trayvon Martin's Mother Reflects on Her Son's Death 10 Years Later

On February 26th, 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed on his way home from a convenience store by a police officer who considered the fact of his wearing a hoodie to be “suspicious.” This horrific injustice was the spark that led to the Black Lives Matter movement, which focuses on highlighting the racial inequality and discrimination that people of color experience from the police force as well as the general public. Today will mark ten years since the murder of Trayvon Martin and a life lost solely because of his skin color and outfit. His mother, Sybrina Fulton, has since become one of the most prominent voices against racism and police brutality. 

Fulton is a leader of the Mothers of the Movement group, which is comprised of mothers whose Black children were murdered by police officers. Since her son’s death, she has made it her purpose to “bring awareness to senseless gun violence, try to change laws, [and help] mothers cope with the loss of a child,” which she reflects on in her new essay, “Trayvon: Ten Years Later.” She finds meaning in the fact that Trayvon’s story has reached the public, stating that “he represents so many more young people” who were unarmed and innocent yet shot and killed by police officers due to racial profiling. At the same time, however, Fulton can’t help but wonder what Trayvon would have achieved in the past decade, especially after watching his younger brother, Jahvaris Fulton, go to college and start his own life. Her everyday life is consumed by memories of Trayvon and what he would have become. Trayvon was always interested in pursuing aviation, so situations as minor as walking through the airport always trigger Sybrina’s memories of her son and remind her of the future he was robbed of. 

Fulton recognized the guilty verdicts of the officers involved in the George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery cases as signs of progress but also mentioned that the fact that two unarmed black men were murdered in the first place goes to show that as a country, “we take two steps forward and two steps back.” When asked about whether or not she believed the fight for social justice was headed in the right direction, Fulton said: “I absolutely think that change is happening, it's just going a little slow.”

For many of us, Trayvon’s story is one of many tragic cases of police brutality, but for Sybrina, Trayvon’s story is her life. "I never lose sight that that was my baby,” Fulton reflects. “By the same token, I know that Trayvon Martin is a symbol for other Trayvon Martins that you don't know, [those whose names] you have not said … He was just a vessel that represents so many others." Although Trayvon is no longer with us, his legacy lives on forever. 

By Sophia Sanders