Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, was in Connecticut this weekend. She spoke at UConn as part of the university’s Black History Month events.
"My life work is to go around the country and let people know that I am Trayvon Martin."
Sybrina Fulton
Seventeen-year old Trayvon Martin was unarmed when he was shot and killed two years ago in Sanford, Florida by a neighborhood watch volunteer. The African American teenager’s death, and the acquittal of his white shooter, sparked a firestorm across the country.
Sybrina Fulton said it was good thing that there is no “stand your ground” law in the state of Connecticut, as there is in Florida, "because it does not work. It is not fair," she said. "And that’s the reason why my purpose, my life work, is to go around the country and let people know that I am Trayvon Martin."
Fulton talked about efforts in to paint her son as threatening, because on the night he was killed he was wearing a hoodie. But then she described her interview with journalist Anderson Cooper, who said he wears a hoodie to work every day when it's cold, and nobody thinks he’s suspicious.
Fulton asked, "Why is it that when a 17-year old wears a hoodie, he becomes suspicious? He becomes the criminal? He becomes the one that caused the problem. So let’s take the hoodie out. What do we have left? We have the color of his skin he cannot take off."
Fulton also focused attention on the launch of President Obama’s initiative, called My Brother’s Keeper, aimed at helping young men of color find paths to success.
