Trayvon Martin was 17 years old when George Zimmerman ended his life in Sanford, Florida, in 2012. And on Tuesday, Feb. 5, a slew of people took to social media to remember Trayvon on what would have been his 24th birthday.
The Twitter account for the NAACP honored Martin in a tweet shared on Tuesday.
“TODAY: We remember Trayvon Martin who would have been 24 years old,” the tweet read. “Just know that you are forever in our hearts. And we will keep fighting for justice.”
Rapper Common remembered “our brother” [Trayvon] on Twitter, writing “RIP” in his post.
Director Ava DuVernay paid tribute to Trayvon, while calling attention to white privilege.
“When people ask me what white privilege is … Imagine if this was a white boy in a hoodie with a bag of skittles who was just trying to walk home,” she wrote.
Trayvon, unarmed, was walking home from a nearby convenience store, carrying a can of Arizona watermelon fruit juice cocktail and a bag of Skittles, when a then-28-year-old Zimmerman approached him. He told police dispatchers at the time that the teen looked suspicious, pursuing Trayvon even after a dispatcher advised him not to, eventually fatally shooting the teen. He would later be acquitted of all charges in the teen’s death.
Protests against Trayvon’s fatal shooting and Zimmerman’s subsequent acquittal have continued in the seven years after the teen’s death.
