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His mother, Sybrina
Fulton, has spent the years since – once she got up off the
floor – talking to other mothers in communities around the
nation, and ultimately forming a “Circle of Mothers” to help
those devastated by the tragic loss of a child.
Fulton was in town last
weekend, courtesy of the Neighborhood Health Association and
its CEO, Doni Miller, to speak to mothers along with a wide
range of other interested listeners.
“This is a wonderful woman
who has lived a treacherous journey to get to us,” said
Miller introducing her guest at the Seagate Convention
Center on Saturday afternoon.
Fulton captivated the
audience during her speech – a speech delivered without
notes and, at turns, humorous, sorrowful, inspiring.
She spoke of her life
prior to the tragedy, an unremarkable life, she said,
notable for being completely average.
“I am an average mother.
I had an average life growing up,” she recounted. A Miami
native, Fulton graduated from Florida Memorial University
and earned a bachelor’s degree in English. She worked for 25
years for the Miami-Dade County Housing Development Agency
for over 25 years.
“Then my average life was
interrupted.”
She spoke of her saddest
day, not the day when she learned of Trayvon’s death from
her ex-husband, but the day of his funeral.
“The worst day of my life
happened at my church the day Trayvon was laid to rest,” she
recalled. She also recalled her difficulty trying to relate
to others – to family, friends, and the host of well-wishers
who offered condolences and sympathy.
“Nobody will understand
you unless it’s a mother who has lost a child; you are
speaking a foreign language.” Saturday’s event at the
SeaGate had a number of mothers in attendance who had lost
children, particularly to violence. Many of Fulton’s remarks
were directed at those mothers in an offering of
understanding and sympathy.
In the days and weeks
following Trayvon’s death, Fulton fell into despair. “I
thought I would never be happy again; I felt myself sinking
into depression. I took myself away from my family, my
friends. I struggled with God; I told God ‘you picked the
wrong mother, it’s no way Sybrina can come back from losing
a child.’ I had no idea how to make it to the next step, to
the next chapter.”
But then, the vision came
and slowly Fulton got off the floor in her “purple room” and
gradually reconnected with the world and set about trying to
reach out to other survivors of tragic loss of children. She
comes to that purpose with words of advice. There is the
“Circle of Mothers” for those directly affected by such
tragic incidents, and she reaches out to those who feel the
social and political environment should be changed and
improved
“First, connect to a
non-profit organization that has some of your goals,” she
advised. “Give time, talent and a few dollars.”
She also urged her
audience to vote and to be aware of the obstacles that need
to be overcome to stay on the voters’ rolls. Third, she
highlighted the importance of accepting the call to serve on
juries.
As Fulton has traveled the
nation bringing her message of hope, faith and recovery, she
has taken the time to co-author a book titled Rest in
Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin. Most
recently, she has become convinced that her public life
should intersect with a political life. Just last week, she
announced that she will be taking on a new challenge. She
has decided to run for a Miami-Dade County Board of
Commissioners in her hometown.
“Talk about issues in
order to address them,” she told her audience during the
question and answer session. “We have to get really serious
because it’s a matter of life and death.”
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