Nearly three years after her son’s death and six days before what would have been Trayvon Martin’s 20th birthday, Sybrina Fulton stood before a Baton Rouge crowd, encouraging attendees to take a stance against gun violence and racial profiling.
Former gang member and rapper Arthur “Silky Slim” Reed organized the community gathering, called “A Mother’s Cry,” through his non-profit organization, Stop The Killing Inc.
“I think one of the things we need to do is bring awareness to senseless gun violence and let people know how the loss of one life affects so many,” Fulton said before Friday’s event. “I think people don’t realize how many lives it affects by just one person being shot and killed, and they ignore that until it hits their doorstep.”
Fulton founded the Trayvon Martin Foundation in 2012 to create awareness of violent crimes’ effect on families and offer support to those who have suffered the loss of loved ones to violence.
After the event’s host, R&B artist LaTangela Fay Sherman, sang a rendition of The Lord’s Prayer, Reed and others took the stage to speak about putting an end to gun violence, police brutality and racial attitudes in the black community.
Communication studies senior Kelby Bell said she went to “A Mother’s Cry” because her boyfriend is working on a police watchdog app to keep an eye on communities.
“I thought it was kind of sad because the only people who went to the event were the people who wanted to create change,” Bell said. “And the people who maybe really needed to be there weren’t.”
Reed said stopping violence and creating change needs to start within the black community.
“Black lives matter,” Reed said. “Black lives have to start mattering to black people, too.”
Though there were few open seats in the theater, the room grew quiet as Reed presented a film produced by Stop The Killing Inc, titled “A Mother’s Cry.”
Faces of young men who lost their lives in the last year flashed on the screen. Each face hung before the audience just long enough for the crowd to read their names and hometowns.
Last year 32 unarmed men were killed by police. Eight of the police officers were not charged, 17 are under investigation and five were indicted, said a voiceover of Reed on the film.
The film ended with a scene of a mother crying over a casket.
“I did this because I see mothers hurting everywhere I go,” Reed said. “It’s not just police killing us ­— it’s us killing us.”
Former LSU basketball coach Dale Brown, a friend of Reed’s, stood and addressed the group of activists and guests during the event. Brown spoke of the time he and his wife visited Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. He saw a sign reading “the road to Auschwitz was built by hatred, but it was paved with indifference and apathy.”
“When we leave here tonight, is this just going to evaporate like the air?” Brown said. “We can’t be indifferent and apathetic. These women have lost children, and we’ve got to bring this senseless thing ­­— this senseless killing ­— to an end.”
After the film, several performers took the stage, including David Augustin — known as rapper Dee 1 —­ who performed at the 2013 Groovin’ on the Grounds.
Dee 1 used to teach middle school in Baton Rouge and performed “My Student Got Murdered (Both Sides of the Gun),” about the murder of one of his former students by another.
Social injustice activist Deric Muhammad addressed the crowd as well, speaking about the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.
“If a 12-year-old boy is not safe in a city park with a toy gun, what makes you think you’re safe?” Muhammad said.
Muhammad went on to talk about police brutality. He referenced the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the choking death of Eric Garner by a New York police officer.
As he called out the phrases “Hands up” and “I can’t,” the crowd chanted back to him “don’t shoot” and “breathe.”
Muhammad said the members of the black community should show more value for their own lives by taking a stand and working to keep young people out of danger.
A panel of mothers who lost their children sat on stage and answered questions about how they dealt with the grief of losing their children and how to keep working for change.
Reed said Stop The Killing seeks to offer a solution for problems and create a way to help mothers connect with grief counselors and begin healing.
“What we need to do is take that anger at our highest point and use that to keep us doing something,” Fulton said. “Because these events that we see on the news, it’s not news for me. It’s my life.”
Bell said even though she hasn’t lost a loved one to violence, she could empathize with those who had. She said she understands the pain, even if she couldn’t specifically identify with them.
Fulton said she thinks of her son every day, and what happened to her has made her a better person.
“I think about him every day, and that’s just by simply being a mother that has lost a child,” Fulton said. “But I have two children. I have one in heaven and one on Earth. His birthday is an extra sad time for me, but at the same time, I think about him 365 days a year.”