Trayvon Martin’s family meets Doreen Lawrence

The parents of murdered American teenager Trayvon Martin met with the mother of Stephen Lawrence, Doreen in London over the weekend. In an emotionally charged meeting, the two families consoled one another and demanding that both sides of the Atlantic, the police abandon the racist practice of racial profiling.

Doreen Lawrence had said as soon as she had heard about what happened to Trayvon, she wanted to ‘meet the family and share the pain’ that only a parent who has lost a loved in this way can:

It’s the way in which we have lost our children. They didn’t die of an illness or an accident but because someone deliberately when out to take their lives.

Trayvon was shot by an armed local volunteer George Zimmerman, as he walked through a gated community in Stanford, Florida. Trayvon was unarmed visiting his father’s girlfriend at the time of his death.

Civil Rights activist such as Rev Al Sharpton and Rev Jesse Jackson brought the issue to an international audience demanding that Zimmerman be arrested and charged with murder. His excuse for murdering the young man was that he looked like ‘he was up to no good’, and under Florida State Law, you can legally kill a person if you feel your life is in danger.

Speaking at the central London event organized by BARAC Trayvon mother Ms Fulton said:

It’s an issue in the US and also here in London, We recognise that. We are communicating with different groups right now so that we can try and raise the issue of profiling. I should not be looked at differently because of the colour of my skin. You also have to look at my character and my education as well. This is something we must try to get resolved.

A spokesperson for the Society of Black Lawyers said:

This issue of profiling is one that has affected our country in so many ways. It's been very insightful to be able to talk to Great Britain and have an opportunity to have a dialogue with people here – all in the name of justice. The issue is profiling. Profiling of any type of person is wrong, wrong, wrong.

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Simon Woolley