Trayvon Martin’s parents tell their story as well as his.
Poignant and personal, “Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story” explains how his parents coped after the 17-year-old’s killing in 2012. They taught by transforming pain into activism.
The six-part documentary, debuting Monday on Paramount Network, explores race, stand your ground law and media coverage. The program re-examines Trayvon’s fatal shooting by George Zimmerman in Sanford, the highprofile trial that ended with Zimmerman’s acquittal of murder and the start of the Black Lives Matter movement.
But the series always comes back to parents Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, whose anguish and resilience define the story. They are executive producers determined to tell Trayvon’s story. They tell their own as well, with help from admiring co-directors Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby
Nason.
“Time does not heal all wounds,” Fulton says. Martin wanted redemption for his son.
They hired civil-rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who saw the case as racial profiling and worked to win in the court of public opinion through the parents’ TV appearances. They fought for Zimmerman’s arrest, then endured a bizarre trial.
The series claims the prosecution was a debacle: Witness Rachel Jeantel wasn’t prepared for the stand. Medical examiner Shiping Bao self-destructed. The state’s use of a dummy for a demonstration was disastrous. MSNBC’s Joy Reid says the prosecution utterly failed. Sunny Hostin, Tamron Hall and Michael Eric Dyson also supply pointed commentary.
“Rest in Power” puts Trayvon’s tragedy in the context of past injustices (lynchings, Emmett Till), touches on the NRA’s influence in Florida and scans today’s polarized politics. Yet the personal makes the deepest impression, especially when the series contrasts Fulton and Martin’s purpose with Zimmerman’s troubles.
Fulton says they didn’t want the verdict to define Trayvon, and the program recalls he was a good football player and a fan of aviation. Ultimately, he was a beacon, inspiring Black Lives Matter and moving millions to act.
“Rest in Power” takes the long view, and Fulton urges people to get involved. That’s her story, too. “It took my son being shot down to make me stand up,” she says.