FIU remembers Trayvon Martin, hosts case discussion at BBC

Written by Martin Haro

Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old high school student who was killed Feb. 26 by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Fla., was remembered during a multifaith memorial service at Biscayne Bay Campus April 18.

FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg shares a few words with Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, and the teen’s brother, FIU student Jahvaris Fulton, following the memorial service for Martin at BBC. Mrs. Fulton was presented with a blue orchid from the FIU community symbolizing solidarity.

Dubbed “Standing on the Side of Love and Justice,” the event was organized by students in adjunct instructor Rev. Linnea Pearson’s world religions class. It served as an opportunity for more than 50 community leaders and FIU students to have a discussion about race, racial profiling and Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law.

Most importantly, the event was designed to show solidarity with Jahvaris Fulton, Martin’s older brother and a student at FIU, and the rest of his family.

Sybrina Fulton, Jahvaris and Trayvon’s mother, attended the event, held at the Mary Ann Wolfe Theater.

“My heart is heavy,” she said. “I’m no different than any other mother, and this has made me choose another position in life. I don’t say much, but I speak now because I have to.”

Fulton encouraged those in attendance, especially students, to remember one thing: “We’re just an average family, and we’re all the same.” She thanked Pearson’s class for inviting her and Jahvaris to the gathering and for remembering her fallen son.

“It was important to come speak to you because you are the future,” she said.

FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg expressed condolences to the family. He reminded the crowd that this tragedy could happen “to any of us” and hoped “our presence here, I hope, sends a message that Trayvon’s loss will not be in vain.”

Effecting Change

Criminal justice junior Vielka Balmaceda was one of the two students who took the lead in organizing the evening’s program. The Broward College transfer says one of the goals of the event was to encourage students to understand the politics of the case and effect change through their votes.

“I’d heard about Trayvon Martin and was touched by the situation,” she said. “Jahvaris was in my class…we’d laugh together. He’s a nice guy. I noticed he had been gone for almost a month and then we made the connection that he’s Trayvon’s brother. So I knew I should do something.”

Working with another classmate, hospitality junior Contessa Major, Balmaceda sought the advice of Pearson and BBC Campus Life to organize the service and host the open discussion that followed. They also collected signatures to repeal Stand Your Ground and plan to travel to Tallahassee this summer to make their voices heard.

Throughout the evening, Florida Sen. Gwen Margolis and Miami Gardens Mayor Shirley Gibson spoke about the roles that race and profiling played in Martin’s death, as well as Stand Your Ground, which Martin’s accused shooter, George Zimmerman, has cited in his defense.

“I made a mistake,” the senator said, addressing her initial support of Stand Your Ground. “I want to apologize for my vote. A lot of my colleagues feel the same way.”

For her part, Gibson, a former police officer, said it is ultimately “up to us” to ensure tragedies such as Martin’s shooting stop.

“I prayed every day that I never had to use my gun,” she said of her days in the force. “I did my job striving to be fair. My job was to get people into the system, and I did that with respect. That’s what this is about, and that’s something we have forgotten about in this country.

“We have stopped valuing each other in America.”

As Gibson noted, nothing happens before its time. She praised the students for bringing the community together and cautioned the road ahead won’t be easy.

“Changing the law…they aren’t going to like admitting they were wrong,” she said. “But we have a job to do and we have not been doing it. It’s time we do.”