Empowering Churches to Action, Mother Sybrina Fulton embraces Saint Sabina Pastor Michael Pfleger, after she speaks.
Her voice trembling, with emotions high, stylish speaker Sybrina Fulton drew hundreds of listeners into her world, as she described her heartbreaking agony of losing her youngest son. Fulton conveyed her pain, but also asked audience members, clergy and lawmakers to take action against current gun laws, so no mother has to endure the pain she has lived with for six years.
Amid her voice cracking and tears in eyes, the beautiful Ms. Fulton stood proud and tall, as she reflected on how her son’s death changed the United States.
As the mother of the late Trayvon Martin, Fulton travels the world to advocate for victims of gun violence. Her unarmed, 17 year-old son was hunted down and killed by neighborhood watchman in Sanford, Florida, George Zimmerman, on February 26, 2012, as he gripped a can of Arizona Green Tea, a bag of Skittles, while wearing a popular teen hoodie. Trayvon was not a thug and was completing high school at the time of his death,
Zimmerman would later be acquitted of homicide on July 13, 2013 and many Black communities held marches and reacted to the unjust and controversial verdict. And while Fulton saw the nation erupt over her son’s murder, many youth became “woke”, meaning they formed political and social platforms to take their cities back and reclaim their rights as free Americans, through voting and social action. Fulton would become the “matron” of this new, youth movement, much like Mamie Till, who was the “symbol” when her son, Emmett Till, was murdered in Mississippi.
Sister Fulton recently spoke as a guest in the Faith Community of Saint Sabina’s Speaking Series this month. Bus loads of college students poured into the church, as the group, Purpose Over Pain (POP) quietly took their seats in front. The women represent local women who have lost children to gun violence. Speaking without a script, Fulton paced herself in the sanctuary, speaking from her heart to the crowd of 800 people, for this free event.
In addition to being a public speaker, Fulton has been busy producing the documentary series titled Rest in Power Trayvon Martin (2017). She appears in events with her Delta Sigma Theta Sorority sisters. She is a graduate of Florida Memorial University and worked for 25 years in the housing department in Miami, FLA.
The community wide event was sponsored by The Westin Michigan Avenue and radio station WVON (1690 AM).
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