Header Ads

Trayvon Martin's Parents Float Potential Future in Politics - NBCNews.com



Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, the parents of the late Trayvon Martin, have released a book coinciding with the five year anniversary of his death -- which helped spawn the Black Lives Matter movement -- and one of the biggest headlines to emerge from its rollout is the news that they may be weighing a future in politics.








"Since Trayvon's death, we saw how divided the country is on these issues and we saw how the country can come together," Tracy Martin told Capital Download. "You have those that are for uniting the country and you have those that want to be apart. And what this new presidency does, it takes those that want to be apart and it puts them right in the position where they can say, 'We'll change the laws, and we'll make it tougher.'"










































"Somebody asked a question about us running for office, and I said it was something that we were exploring, you know, in [the] long term," Fulton said in a separate interview on "Good Morning America." "It's not something that we're filling out papers for, but we certainly want to look at the positions that are available locally and we want to look at the positions for the state of Florida and then U.S. positions."








Related: 'Bids' Top $65M for Gun That George Zimmerman Used to Kill Trayvon Martin








"We want to take a look at those positions to see what areas we would best fill and we would benefit from and they would benefit by having us there," she added.








NBC News has reached out to Fulton and Martin's reps to seek out further details on their book and political aspirations, but has not heard back at this time.








Fulton, who has embraced a role as an anti-gun violence advocate via the Trayvon Martin Foundation, was active during the 2016 presidential campaign as one of several "Mothers of the Movement" who endorsed the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. She also recently appeared alongside mothers of other slain, unarmed black men at the massive women's march the day after President Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington, D.C.










































Before she was thrust into the national spotlight back in 2012, when her son was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, Fulton worked for the county housing authority in Miami-Dade.








Today, she is willing to take her fight for gun violence victims "all the way up to the White House," but she realistically is thinking of starting small first, perhaps with a run for city council.








"Before I was just comfortable with my average life, but now I feel like I'm just obligated to be part of the change," Fulton said in an interview with USA Today. "The only way we can be part of the change is if we start with local government and we work our way up."








"There's no limitations," added Martin. "I think once you embark on a journey, you don't minimize your goal; you want to maximize your goals. So you start on the local level and then you work your way up, and hopefully it will take us to a place where we can help more than just local, more than just state. National. That would be the focus."








Related: Brother of Trayvon Martin Headlines National Community Engagement Tour








A political career borne out of a shooting tragedy is not unheard of. In 1996, former Rep. Carolyn McCarthy embarked on a campaign for Congress in part to enact stricter gun laws after her husband was murdered in an infamous 1993 New York City subway shooting. The long-time serving Democrat would be dubbed "the doyenne of anti-gun advocates in the House" by her colleagues and would handily win re-election eight more times.








Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin's book, entitled "Rest In Power," which details the lead-up to their son's death and its aftermath, hits bookstores today.








No comments :

Powered by Blogger.