Trayvon Martin’s Mother, Sybrina Fulton, Is Running for Political Office in Florida

Sybrina Fulton, mother of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in 2012, announced Saturday she is entering the race for Miami-Dade County Commission. Fulton is running to fill a seat in District 1 vacated by term-limited Commissioner Barbara Jordan. The mayor of Miami Gardens is also running to fill the District 1 seat.

Fulton is not the first member of the Mothers of the Movement, a group of activist mothers whose African American sons were killed by gun violence, to seek political office. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA) was elected to Congress in 2018. McBath’s son, Jordan Davis, was shot to death by a white man demanding Davis lower the volume of music in his car the same year Martin was killed.

Fulton, who has been a vocal social justice activist and campaigned for Hillary Clinton along with other Mothers of the Movement in 2016, will formally announce her candidacy on Monday, the Miami Herald reported. She also founded the Trayvon Martin Foundation to raise awareness about gun violence in her son’s memory.

“Since 2012, I have advocated tirelessly to empower our communities and make them safer,” Fulton said in a statement Saturday. “But the work is not done. I am proud to announce that I will run to represent District 1 on the county commission… Our county must continue moving forward so our families are safe from violence, can afford to live in Miami-Dade, and have access to good paying jobs,” the statement said. “I am ready to take on these issues and many others in county government.”

In a May interview with ESSENCE, Fulton spoke about the tragic loss of her son and how it pushed her into activism. “Prior to this, I was just an average mom working an average job living in an average house, taking care of average kids,” she said. “It took my son to be shot down before I stood up, because I never expected to be a community activist, to be a spokesperson, to be an author.”