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Trayvon Martin was visiting his father in Sanford, Florida, when the 17-year-old Black teen was fatally shot Feb. 26, 2012, during a confrontation with George Zimmerman

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press

February 24, 2022, 10:42 PM

5 min read

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Trayvon Martin was visiting his father in Sanford, Florida, when the 17-year-old Black teen was fatally shot Feb. 26, 2012, during a confrontation with George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer. Zimmerman claimed self-defense and was later acquitted during a jury trial. Martin was unarmed. His death fueled the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement just a couple years later.

An update on what has happened to the people involved in that tragedy over the past decade:

TRAYVON MARTIN

Martin's name is now mentioned in the same breath as others whose violent deaths have refocused attention on race and justice in the U.S. over the past decade: Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd. Martin's death and subsequent protests lit the spark that eventually grew to become the social justice movement Black Lives Matter. His legacy is compared to that of Emmett Till, the Chicago teen whose lynching in Mississippi in 1955 stoked the civil rights movement.

GEORGE ZIMMERMAN

Since being acquitted of second-degree murder in 2013, Zimmerman has had regular run-ins with the law, though none of the charges have stuck because of a lack of cooperation from those who reported him. The allegations have included that he pointed a gun at his then-girlfriend, threw a wine bottle at another girlfriend and smashed his estranged wife's iPad. In 2018, he was issued a summons for misdemeanor stalking for allegedly threatening an investigator who was helping with a documentary on Martin. Two years ago, Zimmerman sued Martin's family and family attorney, claiming defamation. The lawsuit was dismissed earlier this year. In the years after his trial, Zimmerman tried to auction off the gun used in the killing and sold Confederate flag art he made online. In court papers, he says he has been regularly subjected to death threats, has had to move to protect himself and has had trouble finding employment.

BEN CRUMP

In the decade since Martin's killing, Crump, who represented the teen's family, has gone from being a Florida lawyer little known outside of the state to becoming America's most famous social-justice attorney. He has represented families whose relatives have died at the hands of law enforcement or vigilantes, including Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Crump has won multimillion-dollar settlements in police brutality cases, stood with Black farmers taking on an agribusiness giant and represented families exposed to lead-contaminated water in Flint, Michigan. Last year, the Rev. Al Sharpton called Crump Black Americas attorney general.

SYBRINA FULTON

Trayvon Martin's mother, a former county government worker, was thrust into the spotlight following her son's death, becoming an activist against gun violence and over the years becoming a leader in the racial justice movement and a candidate for public office. Fulton and Trayvons father, Tracy Martin, also formed a foundation that supports families affected by gun violence and promotes education. In the course of her activism, Fulton became a matriarch of the Black Lives Matter movement. In the summer of 2020, following a wave of racial justice protests, she ran for a seat on the Miami-Dade County Commission and won the endorsements of former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker. She lost to a former Miami Gardens mayor by about 420 votes.

ANGELA COREY and BERNIE DE LA RIONDA

When Sanford police didn't charge Zimmerman for a month, and the local prosecutor recused himself from the case, then-Florida Gov. Rick Scott named Angela Corey as a special prosecutor for the case. The State Attorney from Jacksonville, a conservative Republican, indicted Zimmerman on charges including second-degree murder, and had her deputy, Bernie de la Rionda, lead the courtroom prosecution. After Zimmerman's acquittal, Corey returned to Jacksonville and was voted out of office in 2016, following several other controversial cases, including one in which she sought a 60-year prison sentence for a woman who fired a shot in the direction of her abusive husband and another in which she charged a 12-year-old as an adult on a first-degree murder charge. De la Rionda retired from the office in 2018.

MARK O'MARA

Along with defense attorney Don West, O'Mara successfully argued that Zimmerman acted in self-defense. Since the case, O'Mara has been a CNN legal analyst, a regular commentator on Court TV, a frequent writer about legal cases for the Orlando Sentinel and has served as president of a national trial lawyers organization, all the while working as a defense attorney in central Florida. In 2020, OMara took on a role in another case of a Black teen killed in Sanford this time representing the family of the teen, who had been fatally shot by a homeowner during what police said was a burglary. Prosecutors said the shooting was justified and declined to press charges.

CITY OF SANFORD

The small city north of Orlando had a history of racial tensions even before Martin's killing. When local police didn't charge Zimmerman right away, thousands of protesters filled the streets. In the decade since Martin's death, the city has tried to address its racial conflicts. Last year, city commissioners agreed to form an advisory committee to study how race, class and gender can lead to social inequities. The 15-member Race, Equality, Equity and Inclusion group has been charged with making recommendations on how to eliminate inequities in Sanford.

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP

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Trayvon Martin 10th anniversary: A look at the players - ABC News

In an attempt to prevent police brutality against people of color, one Black teenager created an app that is designed to hold police accountable.

Peacocks upcoming documentary Use of Force: the Policing of Black America features interviews with numerous individuals fighting against injustice and police brutality. George Hofstetter is one such person. He began working on his app to prevent police violence when he was just 15 years old.

At a TEDxSeattle appearance featured in the documentary, Hofstetter explains that when he attended the technology event Hackathon, the organizers posed the question: could an app have saved Trayvon Martin? Martin was 17 when he was shot and killed in 2011 by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer. Zimmerman was found not guilty in the death of Martin in 2013.

Hofstetter decided to act on the question asked at Hackathon. Now 21-years-old, and the CEO at his own tech company GHTech Inc,he created CopStop, an app that records video and stores it on a person's phone when they are in contact with the police. It also sends alerts by text and email, sharing the persons location with up to ten contacts.

[CopStop] was born out of the idea that we need to figure out how to alleviate this overwhelming sense of anxiety that Black folks get, and other folks of color get when theyre talking to an officer after he or she pulls you over, Hofstetter explains in Use of Force. Its ridiculous that you can feel like youre frozen, that these folks that youre supposed to call after anything happens, that you feel like theyre ready to kill you, so I had to figure out some step in the right direction to figure out a solution with it.

The app caught the attention of football player and activist Colin Kaepernick, who in turn asked Hofstetter to speak to 300 young people at a Know Your Rights Camp in 2018, Bay Area outlet Press Democrat reported in 2019. Hofstetter told that crowd there that his fear became my inspiration. Hofstetter has also worked with Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf, and Megan Smith, the ex-United States chief technology officer and assistant to President Obama on utilizing technology for racial equality, the Press Democrat reported.

Now a University Innovation Fellow at Stanford University, Hofstetter says on his website that his goal is to, truly change the diversity numbers in tech, to eliminate the digital divide, and elevate communities of color.

Use of Force: the Policing of Black America debuts on Friday.

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Who Is George Hofstetter, Who Created The 'CopStop' App As A Teenager? - Oxygen

Martin Luther King Jr. day is a federal holidayrepresenting the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his work he did across the nation, many know him as a representative for the civil rights but do we know the back story of when he visited Washington?

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, 'I have a dream' 1963.

King was born on January 15th 1929, graduated from college and became a pastor in Alabama.

From the beginning he believed that the 'separate but equal' laws in place were wrong and wanted to help bring awareness to the racial injustice towards African Americans.

Rosa Parks refusal to move to the back of the bus in 1955 was the first time Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was chosen to lead a city wide bus boycott.

2 years later a group of civil rights activists formed the southern christian leadership conference to have non-violent protests for civil rights.

In November 1961 Dr. King accepted an invitation from his friend Reverend Samuel B. Mckinney to visit Seattle for the first time and talk about his movement, but was not welcomed with open arms.

"I think Washington like a lot of places and at the time it was 1961, Seattle in 1961 is not Seattle in 2021" said Dr. Jamie Nolan,Associate Vice President, Community, Equity, and Inclusive Excellence.

The visitation proved to be extremely controversial and had to even switch venues from where he was originally going to talk.

"I think in some ways the colder welcome, the cold shoulder in some ways really demonstrated you know where, its sorta of like if it's in the abstract we can be comfortable like theres this really important movement and civil rights yes!" said Dr. Nolan. "Equity for all people and justice for all people but then when it's right in your backyard and you're having to really confront who you are might be it's being a little different."

Moving forward in 1963 Dr. King gave his famous 'I have a dream' speech in Washington D.C., standing as the main representative for the civil rights movement for everyone participating.

"He was and continues to be an icon of the civil rights movement ad represents I think the multiple layers of the movement" said Dr. Nolan. "I think he stood for all efforts towards justice, especially for the black community in the united states but in doing so it was about justice for all."

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed in 1968, but his message didn't die with him.

"The work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is ongoing, although he represented the civil rights movement in that era, he represents the ongoing war as well" said Dr. Nolan.

With the black lives matter movement starting in 2013 after the George Zimmerman shooting and theacquittal of Trevon Martins murder, the message from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. still reins today bringing justice, healing, freedom and equality to black people around the world.

"It's important we commemorate this day and this time" said. Dr. Nolan. "That we understand it in our current historical context and it's not just something we look back on but rather use the moment as a way to both consider yes, we've maybe come a distance and we have yet so far to go."

While the work of Dr. King still resonated with some today, the flight for equality for some groups is still an ongoing issue.

Read more:
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited Seattle and was not welcomed - NBC Right Now

In an attempt to prevent police brutality against people of color, one Black teenager created an app that is designed to hold police accountable.

Peacocks upcoming documentary Use of Force: the Policing of Black America features interviews with numerous individuals fighting against injustice and police brutality. George Hofstetter is one such person. He began working on his app to prevent police violence when he was just 15 years old.

At a TEDxSeattle appearance featured in the documentary, Hofstetter explains that when he attended the technology event Hackathon, the organizers posed the question: could an app have saved Trayvon Martin? Martin was 17 when he was shot and killed in 2011 by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer. Zimmerman was found not guilty in the death of Martin in 2013.

Hofstetter decided to act on the question asked at Hackathon. Now 21-years-old, and the CEO at his own tech company GHTech Inc, he created CopStop, an app that records video and stores it on a person's phone when they are in contact with the police. It also sends alerts by text and email, sharing the persons location with up to ten contacts.

[CopStop] was born out of the idea that we need to figure out how to alleviate this overwhelming sense of anxiety that Black folks get, and other folks of color get when theyre talking to an officer after he or she pulls you over, Hofstetter explains in Use of Force. Its ridiculous that you can feel like youre frozen, that these folks that youre supposed to call after anything happens, that you feel like theyre ready to kill you, so I had to figure out some step in the right direction to figure out a solution with it.

The app caught the attention of football player and activist Colin Kaepernick, who in turn asked Hofstetter to speak to 300 young people at a Know Your Rights Camp in 2018, Bay Area outlet Press Democrat reported in 2019. Hofstetter told that crowd there that his fear became my inspiration. Hofstetter has also worked with Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf, and Megan Smith, the ex-United States chief technology officer and assistant to President Obama on utilizing technology for racial equality, the Press Democrat reported.

Now a University Innovation Fellow at Stanford University, Hofstetter says on his website that his goal is to, truly change the diversity numbers in tech, to eliminate the digital divide, and elevate communities of color.

Use of Force: the Policing of Black America debuts on Friday.

Read more here:
Who Is George Hofstetter, Who Created The 'CopStop' App As A Teenager? - Yahoo Entertainment

When George Floyd's 6-year-old daughter, Gianna, said, "My daddy changed the world," Amos Smith was taken back to the night almost 65 years ago when the body of his cousin Emmett Till was brought back to Chicago from Mississippi.

"We knew something terrible had happened. We just couldn't understand what it was," he said in an interview for the ABC documentary series "Let the World See."

Smith and his sister listened to the adults in their family talking about what happened from the top of the stairs.

"We crept back into the bedroom and we didn't go to sleep, but we did go back to bed, and we kinda talked to say Bobo's not coming back. Bobo's dead," he said.

"When George Floyd's daughter said, 'My daddy changed the world,' it all came back," Smith added. "It was about the same feeling I had that night I listened at the top of the stairs. And I had to leave the room."

The second episode of "Let the World See," airing Thursday, Jan. 13, explores the impact of Mamie Till-Mobley's decision to hold an open casket funeral for her son as well as the impact his killer's trial had on the civil rights movement.

In 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was kidnapped and murdered while visiting relatives in Mississippi. He was accused of whistling at and making sexual advances toward Carolyn Bryant, a white woman who later remarried and is now known as Carolyn Bryant Donham.

Till's mother, Till-Mobley, insisted on an open-casket funeral and allowed Jet Magazine to take photos of Till, so the public could see his badly beaten body.

Common, a rapper and actor from Chicago, where Till was born and raised, recalled seeing those photos of Till decades later.

"I couldn't believe a human body had become that and the hatred that caused that," he said in the ABC documentary series. "Seeing that picture of Emmett Till was the impetus for me actually feeling like, you gotta do something purposeful."

Rapper, actor and activist Common speaks to ABC News for the documentary series "Let the World See."

Bryant's then-husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, were charged with Till's murder. Their trial began in September 1955, with almost every attorney in Tallahatchie County volunteering to defend them, according to Jack Smith, the son of one of the prosecutors.

Despite fearing for her safety, Till-Mobley traveled from Chicago to Mississippi for the trial. She testified about her son, as did Moses Wright, Till's great-uncle who identified Milam and Bryant as Till's kidnappers.

"She came down here knowing that they were going to get away with it. She had to," Angie Thomas, author of the novel "The Hate U Give," told ABC.

Milam and Bryant were ultimately acquitted by an all-white jury, and a grand jury declined to indict them for kidnapping Till.

For many people, elements of the trial echo today.

"That his wolf whistle could be punishable by death -- yes, absurd, but pretty much what the state of play was, and in some small ways, still with us. You know, when we've seen, in cases like the McMichael father and son who killed Ahmaud Arbery," said Khalil Muhammad, a professor of history, race and public policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School.

Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed in February 2020 while jogging in Brunswick, Georgia. Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and their neighbor William Bryan were convicted of murdering Arbery and were sentenced to life in prison.

Amos Smith, a cousin of Emmett Till, speaks to ABC News for the documentary series "Let the World See."

While the McMichaels argued that they were acting in self-defense, many say Arbery was killed for "jogging while Black."

"It's so similar to me. It's so similar," Wheeler Parker, one of Till's cousins, said on ABC's "Let the World See." "I know we come a long way. We made a lotta progress. Laws make you behave better, but they don't legislate the heart."

For Thomas -- whose book centers around a fatal police shooting of the main character's young friend -- the public outcry around the verdict in Till's murder trial reminded her of the protests that happened after 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain in 2012. George Zimmerman was acquitted of his murder a year later.

"I think if we look at Emmett and his death and the way things turned out and we compare it to the death of Trayvon Martin, Black people then had nowhere to turn to," Thomas told ABC. "Their goal was to try to hold people accountable for these things. But it's almost impossible in a place like Mississippi."

After being acquitted of Till's murder, Milam and Bryant confessed to the killing in a paid interview for Look Magazine. Decades later, the FBI opened an investigation into Till's killing, giving his family hope that they would find justice. The investigation was closed in December 2021.

ABC News' Jeanmarie Condon and Fatima Curry contributed to this report.

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Family of Emmett Till and more reflect on his funeral, killers' trial - ABC News