Trayvon Martin’s father appeared in a video for Father’s Day asking viewers to contact their governors and review Stand Your Ground laws around the nation.
In a one-minute video, Tracy Martin speaks about the meaning of Sunday's holiday and the importance of reviewing what he called “dangerous laws.” Martin said 30,000 fathers in 2011 lost a child to senseless gun violence.
“This Father’s Day will be the first without my son, Trayvon,” he said in the video.
Martin, who appears in photos with his son, asked that viewers share the message of the video with officials in their state.
“If we do, next year, thousands more dads will have a happy Father’s Day together with their children and not the toughest one of their life without them,” he said.
The video, which was posted on YouTube Wednesday, was similar to a video posted by Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, for Mother’s Day. She also asked viewers to press leaders to review the laws. Both Martin and Fulton were listed as founders of JusticeTM.org.
Both parents also spoke at a public meeting Tuesday and asked the state of Florida to amend its “Stand Your Ground” law. Fulton and Martin, along with attorney Benjamin Crump, addressed the Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection and asked that the "Trayvon Martin amendment" be passed.
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“We come here simply to address the task force and ask them to consider the Trayvon Martin amendment to the Stand Your Ground law, and that is, you cannot be the pursuer, you cannot initiate the confrontation and then say that you were standing your ground,” Crump said. “What a horrible message that sends to society.”
Trayvon Martin, 17, was fatally shot by George Zimmerman in February. Zimmerman said he shot the teenager in self-defense.
