The birthday of Trayvon Martin is today, Feb. 5, and many are remembering the teen who was shot and killed nearly three years ago.
Martin would have been 20 years old. He was shot and killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who was acquitted of murder charges in he killing.
Since his death, Martin has been invoked by scores of protesters to highlight gun violence and racial profiling in the United States.
On Twitter, thousands of people remembered Martin, tweeting “Happy Birthday Trayvon.”
Trayvon Martin (Feb. 5, 1995 – Feb. 26, 2012) would have been 20 years old today. #RIPTrayvonMartin pic.twitter.com/ZEfNLEkk9g
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) February 5, 2015
“@omgitsemma1: “@AbDesignedIt: Happy bday Trayvon Martin! #RIP pic.twitter.com/uc8kbdrAii” happy birthday baby boy “
— Dee (@DivahDeejay) February 5, 2015
happy 20th birthday #TrayvonMartin rip
— melly (@WTF_melissaaa) February 5, 2015
His mother, Sybrina Fulton, spoke this week about gun violence that’s affecting the U.S.
“I think one of the things we need to do is bring awareness to senseless gun violence and let people know how the loss of one life affects so many,” Fulton said, according to LSU Reveille. “I think people don’t realize how many lives it affects by just one person being shot and killed, and they ignore that until it hits their doorstep.”
And she recently talked about the loss of her son.
“What could have been to cause my son to lose his life,” Fulton said to thousands of people two weeks ago in Michigan, per MLive.com. “The very thing that caused my son to lose his life was the color of his skin.”
Zimmerman, meanwhile, was recently accused in a domestic assault case. Last week, it was dropped.
He allegedly threw a wine bottle at a woman who had moved out of his house. Another girlfriend of his last year claimed he pointed a shotgun at her.
