Trayvon Martin slaying sparks racial profiling discussions on Capitol Hill

Erika Bolstad
McClatchy Newspapers
March 27, 2012

WASHINGTON — As Trayvon Martin’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, entered a crowded congressional hearing room Tuesday, time stood nearly still.

A Justice Department witness speaking to a panel went silent, yielding to the clicks of dozens of photographers focused on the parents of the 17-year-old whose Feb. 26 death has sparked a national conversation about injustice and how people see young black men in America.

Trayvon Martin’s parents spoke only briefly at the event, sponsored by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee and billed as a briefing on racial profiling and hate crimes. But they thanked the panel for a forum, so that as Trayvon’s father said, his son “did not die in vain.”

Read more

This article was posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 at 5:39 pm

---

---

---

---