Trayvon Martin's Mother Urges Law School Students 'To Make a Difference'

The mother of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager whose killing by a neighborhood-watch volunteer last year sparked a national outcry over racial profiling, self-defense laws, and gun violence, urged Harvard Law School students to use their educations to reform the legal system during a talk Monday.

Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, and two of her family’s attorneys, Daryl D. Parks and Benjamin L. Crump, spoke to students in the class Harvard Law School 2214: “Race and Justice: The Wire.” The course examines the legal proceedings in the HBO drama “The Wire,” a crime drama set in Baltimore, while also delving into broader discussions of race and the law.

The two-hour-long talk, before a packed audience at Austin Hall, centered on 17-year-old Martin, who was shot and killed in February 2012 in Sanford, Fla. by volunteer neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman. Zimmerman, who said he fired his gun in self defense, was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter on July 13, igniting nationwide protests.

Fulton and Crump both discussed racial profiling, which they said caused Martin’s death and allowed Zimmerman to walk free.

“It was bad that George Zimmerman profiled Trayvon Martin,” Crump said. “It was far worse that our institution of criminal justice profiled Trayvon Martin.”

Fulton said that while Martin was her son, his story has implications for others—especially young people.

“Today it is my family,” Fulton said. “Tomorrow it may be yours. If we allow people to discriminate, to cause harm and kill our children because of the color of their skin, what’s next?”

Crump also discussed what he sees as the broad ramifications of the case, including what he called the “insanity of the stand-your-ground concept,” which, he said, is “getting ridiculously out of hand.”

Stand-your-ground laws, which are currently on the books in many states, generally allow a person to use deadly force without attempting to retreat, if he or she believes it necessary to avoid mortal danger.

Crump cited multiple cases in which stand-your-ground laws have resulted in the death of innocent citizens.

Parks added that these laws also facilitate an environment where people take the law into their hands.

“What we’re dealing with is a mindset,” he said. “We’re fighting the mentality of people who want to pull guns.”

In addition to discussing her son, Fulton addressed the law school students directly about their future careers.

“It’s just not good enough to have a degree,” she said. “What are you going to do to make a difference once you have that piece of paper in your hand?”

Fulton said that her family’s case could serve as motivation for students to use their degrees to help abolish stand-your-ground laws.

“I want to try to merge my purpose with your purpose,” Fulton said. “It’s important that you understand how I feel as a mother, as a parent, as a person, as an American.”

Law students at the event said that Fulton’s message resonated with them.

“I may not remember everything I learn in all my [law] classes, but I will always remember [Fulton] telling me to do something better with my degree than sticking it on the wall of some fancy office,” said Law School student Sarah R. Gersten.

The event also included two performances by vocalists from the Berklee College of Music, who invited the audience to join in song. Cambridge Mayor Henrietta J. Davis presented Fulton with a key to the city, and a member of the Boston City Council, Charles C. Yancey, read a resolution thanking Fulton for raising awareness of Martin’s case in Boston.