There is no love like the undying love of a mother. The kind of love that nurtures, protects and offers guidance and personal wisdom. The love that everyone is deserving of. The love that approaches situations with compassion and empathy. There is no loss as great as that of a child. All hopes for that life become replaced with crestfallen realization that all of the dreams and potential that person had will forever remain that, potential. Never getting the benefit of coming to fruition.  The sorrow in knowing that nothing can be done to bring them back is deep. But the work of those left behind serves as a testimony to the lives lost and with that work with we have renewed hope.

Sybrina Fulton, mother of slain teenager Trayvon Martin, came to Pittsburgh and sat down with 1Hood’s Jasiri X to have an open conversation about violence and the rise of police brutality. In the years since the death of her son, Dr. Fulton has organized and advocated for victims of violence and their families. Her major push currently is around work to get stand-your-ground laws changed. It was the interpretation of this controversial law that let her son’s killer walk free and she has vowed to do everything in her power to ensure another mother experiences what she did.

Dr. Fulton’s message was clear, we need to put an end to not only all the senseless violence plaguing our community from one another, but we also need to put an immediate end to state sanctioned violence, ie police brutality and the myth of the “justified murder.” While others choose mother of slain teenager Trayvon Martin, came to Pittsburgh and sat down with 1Hood’s Jasiri X to have an open conversation about violence and the rise of police brutality. In the years since the death of her son, Dr. Fulton has organized and advocated for victims of violence and their families. Her major push currently is around work to get stand-your-ground laws changed. It was the interpretation of this controversial law that let her son’s killer walk free and she has vowed to do everything in her power to ensure another mother does not suffer from racial and social injustice.