Mother of Trayvon Martin Announces Run for Local Office

By ELLIS RUA

FILE – In this April 3, 2019 photo, Sybrina Fulton participates in a panel at the National Action Network Convention in New York. Fulton, a mother who turned to activism after the slaying of her black teen son Trayvon Martin, has announced she is running for office in Miami. The Miami Herald reports Fulton will be entering the race to join the 13-member board of Miami-Dade County commissioners. Fulton said in a Saturday, May 18 statement that she would continue working to end gun violence. She will challenge Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert for the seat that is up for grabs in 2020 because of term limits. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The mother of the unarmed black teen who was shot dead by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida in 2012 has formally announced her candidacy to run for local office.

Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, spoke to supporters Monday in Miami Gardens. She’s challenging Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert for a Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners seat that is up for grabs in 2020 because of term limits.

Fulton says her 24 years as a county employee and her activism have prepared her for office. She was thrust into the national spotlight after her son’s killer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted under Florida’s controversial self-defense law.

Martin’s death sparked national outrage and was the catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement, fueling the ongoing national conversation on systemic racism.