LESSONS LINGER FROM TRAYVON’S DEATH:
Trayvon Martin’s parents are distressed by the rampant gun violence that continues to plague America since their 17-year-old was gunned down by a neighborhood watch captain in 2012.
Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton hope to promote change through a new documentary series, “Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story,” which they produced alongside JAY-Z and the Paramount Network.
The six-part series, which premiered Friday at the Tribeca Film Festival, chronicles the night their unarmed son was fatally shot by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla., as he walked back from a convenient store.
“It’s very relevant because it does continue to happen today,” Fulton tells the Daily News. “When you have the students in the Parkland (Fla.) area that went to school and never made it home, it’s apparent we have an issue with gun violence. “It’s not just happening to African-Americans, it’s happening to everybody.” The docuseries, which will be available to a wider audience when it launches on the Paramount Network July 30, also covers the fallout from that night. Outrage over Trayvon’s death — as well as the acquittal of Zimmerman, who claimed self-defense — helped spark the Black Lives Matter movement and opened a discussion about gun rights. “When you look back to 2012, you see that we were talking about how gun violence was impacting AfricanAmerican communities,” Tracy tells The News. “It was kind of just like brushed to the side. Now, in 2018, you have the Parkland incident, and so now the lightbulb just went off, and everybody's talking about it.”