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Tag: sybrina fulton

  • Trayvon Martin: Mom Says Whites Don’t Get It; ‘We Have a Right To Be Safe’

    Trayvon Martin was not the first black youth to be held as an example of lack of justice for violence against blacks. And he certainly was not the last.

    Trayvon Martin’s killer was “on patrol” for a neighborhood watch program. The recent events in Ferguson surrounding the death of Michael Brown, as well as the events in New York regarding the death of Eric Garner, both focused on the actions of police against black men.

    In all cases, the killers were either acquitted or never brought to trial at all. In all cases, the perceived threat that these black men posed was a major factor for public consideration. And in all cases, there was never any proof that these men posed a threat to the non-black men who killed them.

    These facts were behind the discussion that Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton had with Anderson Cooper recently, as well as another conversation with Dr. Phil.

    With Anderson Cooper, she pointed out that white people who question why black people are protesting are missing something.

    “It’s not happening to them, so they don’’t quite get it,” Fulton told Cooper. “They don’t quite understand. They think that it’s a small group of African-Americans that’s complaining: ‘Oh, what are they complaining about now?’ The people say that all the time, ‘What are they complaining about now? What are they protesting about now?’”

    When Cooper asked her how she would answer white people who ask this, she responded, “To that person, until it happens to them and in their family, then they’ll understand. They don’t understand what we’re going through. They don’t understand the life, and they don’t understand what we’re fighting against. I don’t even think the government quite gets it.”

    She insists that the recent racial unrest over black men experiencing unfounded violence at the hands of police and others is not some dew development.

    “This is not something new. It’s been happening,” she said. “But it’s just been bringing a light to what’s happening. It’s bringing it to the forefront, which is why there’s so much conversations …rallies and protests. Because people are now realizing. … It’s not just about African-American rights… It’s about human rights.”

    With Dr. Phil, Fulton said the problem will continue until white people understand that there is a basic right or everyone to be safe.

    “If history continues to repeat itself, not only do we need to change the laws, but we need to change people’s mindset as well. We have a right to be safe,” Fulton says.

  • Trayvon Martin: Friend Keeps Commitment to Late Teen

    Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman back in 2012, and his good friend Rachel Jeantel spent the last moments of the teen’s life with him–on his cell phone–following the incident. On Friday Jeantel fulfilled a promise she made to Trayvon Martin before he died–she graduated from high school. Trayvon’s mother was there for the ceremony.

    There’s more to simply having graduated from high school for Rachel Jeantel, however. A witness in the Travon Martin case, she drew criticism and even ridicule during her time on the witness stand. Rachel’s speech and demeanor at that time detracted from her testimony. Speaking a combination of Haitian Creole, Spanish, and English, court reporters and jurors alike often struggled to decipher what the teenager was saying. She had one particularly memorable exchange with George Zimmerman’s defense attorney Don West.

    “Are you claiming in any way that you don’t understand English?” West asked Jeantel.

    She paused and simply stared at the defense attorney.

    “I don’t understand you. I do understand English,” Jeantel replied.

    Jeantel was later forced to admit she had great difficulty reading and that she couldn’t read a letter that was written in cursive handwriting. Soon her mannerisms and her version of spoken English was mocked on social media.

    “They called her everything except the child of God,” said Rod Vereen, a Miami defense and civil rights attorney. “Of course she was frustrated. It was like stepping into an arena, and you don’t know the rules.”

    The civil rights attorney and Jeantel met prior to the Trayvon Martin murder trial when a member of her church asked him if he would represent her. He says he tried his best to prepare Rachel for the trial but he had no clue what the defense’s strategy would be. He understood the relationship between Trayvon and Rachel–a friendship that began in the first grade–was one that had been misrepresented. The two weren’t dating as many media outlets reported.

    “He cared about you,” Jeantel said. “That’s a good human.”

    When the trial was over Vereen knew he had to do something to help Rachel.

    “Rachel was in need, and the whole world was watching,” he said.

    Rod Vereen soon assembled a team of three tutors, a psychologist and other mentors to work with Jeantel. She was entering her senior year but was still only reading and doing math at an elementary-school level. For nine months Rachel received after-school tutoring three hours a day five to six days a week.

    “When they say it takes a village to raise a child, this is what has happened here,” Vereen said. “Getting her down that aisle has not been an easy task. Rachel is just like any other teenager. They want to buck the system sometimes, and you just can’t let them buck the system.”

    When she marched at graduation on Friday, Rachel Jeantel was a much different young woman than the one who appeared at her late friend’s murder trial.

    “I did it,” Jeantel said. “The witness who didn’t know how to speak English knows how to speak English through the 12th grade now. I never quit.”

    Sybrina Fulton–Trayvon Martin’s mom–watched her receive her diploma.

    “Her coming is like having Trayvon there saying, ‘You did it. You proved people wrong,’” Rachel told reporters.

    She also said her graduating “is just the beginning of my life.”

    “When people see Rachel Jeantel now, I want them to say, ‘Wow, there was something good that came out of something so tragic,’” Rod Vereen added.

    Trayvon Martin is no doubt looking down on his young friend with pride. Hopefully Rachel Jeantel goes on and does something wonderful with her life–something Trayvon Martin cannot do.

    For now she is still working with tutors in her efforts to complete a pre-college curriculum. She has hopes of one day becoming a clothing designer. Do you suppose she might even use Trayvon’s name on her designs?

    Image via YouTube

  • Trayvon Martin’s Mother: Reform “Stand Your Ground”

    Sybrina Fulton, the mother of the teenager killed by George Zimmerman on February 26th of last year, spoke in front of a Senate panel on Wednesday, according to the Washington Post. Her objective was to ask Senate to clarify and reform the wording of the now-controversial “Stand Your Ground” Act.

    The particular case of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman began a debate on “stand your ground” laws, even though Zimmerman’s defense did not ever reference the law in question. Zimmerman was acquitted of the murder this summer. The aquittal stirred racial tensions across the nation and sparked more fighting over the law.

    “It’s unfortunate what has happened with Trayvon, and that’s why I feel like it’s so important for me to be here so that you all can at least put a face with what has happened with this tragedy.”, Fulton stated to the panel. “The person that shot and killed my son is walking the streets today. This law does not work.”

    The meeting redirected attention to the emotionally charged issue, conveniently, just when the 2014 elections are on everyone’s minds, and it also seemed to cause many Senate democrats to agree with Fulton, possibly in order to help them hang on to their seats.

    Many Republican committee members said the laws do not need to be handled on a federal level, but rather left to the states. Such laws are currently on the books in more than 20 states.

    Republican Senator Ted Cruz said, “This is not about politicking. This is not about inflaming racial tensions. This is about the right of everyone to protect themselves and protect their families.” Cruz made reference to statistics that, he said, show that African Americans cite stand-your-ground laws in self-defense at least as often as whites.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUaonM35B28

    “With only a few exceptions most states are doing quite well with legislating in the area of criminal law without our interference,” said Rep. Louie Gohmert. “Let’s leave state criminal law to the consideration of the state legislatures that we in Congress would probably be well served to take advice from the states that are still solvent.”

    However, not all committee members feel that way. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said, “It is clearly time for ‘stand your ground’ laws to be carefully reviewed and reconsidered.”

    “Whatever the motivation behind them, it’s clear these laws often go too far in encouraging confrontations that escalate into deadly violence. They’re resulting in unnecessary tragedies and they are diminishing accountability under our justice system.”

    Only time will tell whose politics will win out.

    Image via youtube

  • Trayvon Martin’s Family Speaks at MLK Commemorative March

    Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old Florida teen shot and killed in February 2012, has received the greatest volume of media attention from most any legal case in recent history. The allegedly racially-charged shooting trial finally ended last month when a jury acquitted neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, citing that there just wasn’t enough evidence to find him guilty of murder.

    Now, Trayvon Martin’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, are speaking out about what they hope Trayvon’s death will change for America.

    At the 50th anniversary commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s infamous march on Washington on August 28,1963, Martin’s family spoke of his life and death in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Along with his mother, Martin’s brother, Jahvaris Fulton stood to the side holding a “Support Trayvon’s Law” sign. Reverend Al Sharpton also stood on the stage with the family, among others.

    Sybrina Fulton recently told the BBC, “We’ve said the verdict will not define Trayvon’s life. We are just committed to change, to being some type of positive influence.” She has also expressed the family’s need to forgive Zimmerman, though she says that isn’t something they are able to comprehend or deal with yet.

    Colin Powell, former Secretary of State, also voiced his opinion of the final verdict in the case, calling it “questionable.” Powell, on CBS’ Face the Nation, predicted that Martin’s case may fizzle out before long, saying cases such as Trayvon Martin’s, “blaze across the midnight sky,” before they are, eventually, barely even remembered.

    Reports surfaced earlier this month that the Smithsonian Museum was interested in acquiring the blood-stained and bullet-holed sweatshirt Martin was wearing the night he died for their collection. Many thought this may keep the case in the spotlight for years to come. (Later, however, the Smithsonian refuted these claims.)

    Trayvon’s “hoodie” became one of the most important pieces of evidence from, and symbols of, the shooting. Reportedly, in Zimmerman’s first description of the teen, he described the assailant as “wearing a hoodie.” Many people have taken that comment to be a racial profiling of the neighborhood watchman’s alleged “attacker,” aligning most kids today wearing hoodies with trouble. In support of Trayvon, many of his followers wore hoodies to protest at demonstrations. Van White, an attorney and founder of the Center for the Study of Civil and Human Rights Laws, as well as one of the main organizers’ of yesterday’s commemorative march, said of the infamous hoodie:

    “If this [march] ends with just showing our frustration — we’re all carrying Skittles bags and wearing hoodies — if that’s where it ends, then Trayvon Martin would have died in vain. If we don’t create through this an opportunity, they will not remember this march if it’s just about Trayvon.”

    Protesters of Trayvon’s death and acquittal of Zimmerman are still going strong, however; Law & Order: SVU is apparently filming an upcoming episode dealing with the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman trial, combining it with the other major controversial case of 2013, that of Paula Deen’s alleged bigotry. (The 15th season of Law & Order begins on September 25.)

    You can view other articles involving Trayvon Martin here, and also on WebProNews.

    Image Courtesy David Shankbone via Wikimedia Commons

  • Trayvon Martin’s Mother: Screams Were My Son’s

    Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, has testified in court in the case against George Zimmerman. Zimmerman is accused of the February 26, 2012 shooting of Martin after having called 911 to report a suspicious figure in his gated community (Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain, had made similar calls several times over the previous six months).

    When asked by Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda whether she had any children, Fulton replied, “My youngest son is Trayvon Benjamin Martin. He’s in heaven.”

    After describing her son’s tattoos—one of which had the names of his grandmother and great-grandmother, the other Fulton’s name—De la Rionda played an audio recording of a 911 call placed by a neighbor who witnessed Zimmerman and Martin’s struggle. The recording featured screams that Fulton testified to be her son’s, followed by a gunshot.

    On cross-examination, defense attorney Mark O’Mara suggested that Fulton wanted the screams to be those of her son rather than Zimmerman, a claim Fulton rejected.

    Martin’s brother, Jaharvis Fulton, also took the stand, claiming that the voice was Trayvon’s. This testimony forced Jaharvis to recant a previous report that he wasn’t sure whose voice it was. “How do I explain?” he said, “I guess I didn’t want to believe it was him. . . . I guess listening to it was clouded by shock and denial and sadness.”

    Martin’s father, Tracy Martin, had previously told authorities that the voice in the recording was not Trayvon’s.

    An FBI audio expert testified that technology couldn’t definitively clarify whose voice it was, but a close relative may be able to tell. Even so, he warned, bias on the part of the listener could influence what that individual heard.

    Zimmerman is charged with second degree murder. The case has aroused racial tensions nationwide, as Martin was African-American and Zimmerman’s willingness to pursue Martin has been suggested to have been racially motivated. The Martin incident was the fifth time in seven months that Zimmerman had called 911 to report a suspicious person in his community. In all five instances, the person Zimmerman identified as suspcious was an African-American male.

    If convicted, Zimmerman could face 25 years to life in prison.