The story of Trayvon Martin sends chills up Black Americans’ spines, especially on the 13th anniversary of his death (Feb. 26, 2012). And when George Zimmerman was acquitted of killing the then-17 year old, no one would have known the verdict would give birth to the Black Lives Matter movement, an international revolution.
Shane Cameron grew up just hours away from where Martin was killed in Sanford, Fla. Cameron was in elementary school when Martin’s killing broke national news. “I was very upset,” he told The Root. “It’s given me a general anxiety about certain situations— especially when I’m somewhere like Florida.”
As a Black boy growing up in Broward County, Cameron said his parents made sure he was aware of the case and others like it. “They kind of taught me to be aware of how unfortunately, situations like [Martin’s] are very common,” he said. “While a lot of people know about what happened with Trayvon Martin, there’s a lot of cases very similar to that. They just don’t get the same kind of news coverage.”
Martin’s death began to hit closer to home for Phoenix Williams after he was targeted while riding a Detroit school bus in 2015. Then, a group of white students called Williams the n-word at least 20 times, his mother told Detroit Free Press. Ten years later, Williams revealed to The Root another hurtful attack he experienced that day.
“One of the things the white boys had called me was Trayvon Martin,” Williams told The Root. “That’s when I feel like I grew a very large distrust for people of that background.” Williams was only 10 when Martin was targeted holding a bag of skittles and an Arizona tea. “To go through that at 10 and then to be 13, 14 years old and to be called Trayvon Martin as like a slur? It was like ‘man I could be him.’”
Located just one state away from Florida, Jada Wilson was an eighth grader during the 2012 incident. Still, she remembers the complexities of being raised in Metro Atlanta— a liberal city in a conservative state. She said it was difficult for her southern community to explain what exactly was going on. “Everyone was definitely alert and understanding of what the situation was [but] just not what to do about it,” Wilson told The Root. “Or how to go forward with what we were witnessing and what this meant for our community.”
Zimmerman went to trial in 2013 as the entire country held it’s breath while a Florida jury deliberated. Ultimately, he was acquitted citing the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law. Now in 2025, Wilson says we haven’t made much progress. “I believe we’ve regressed,” Wilson said. “It is still a fight to get everyone on the same team or just willing to fight because of the false hope— because of the disappointment in believing that America will never change.”
But for the Georgia native, that doesn’t mean the work stops. “It’s about doing what’s in your power to shape at least your community to be a safe space for our people,” she continued.