Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin by Sybrina Fulton, Tracy Martin

This book took me three full days and a few hours to read. I started it late on a Sunday night and ugly cried through the introduction before going to bed. I finished it very early on Thursday morning, pre-7AM. It is important to tell you this because the reason this book took me this long to read had zero to do with the length and everything to do with the emotional impact and the need to catch my breath.  I made the mistake of taking it with me to read in the waiting room while my teenager was in the dentist chair and ugly cried in public.
 My heart ached with every word I read for Sybrina and Tracy. I was overwhelmed with their open and honest sharing of how they felt and what they went through in the immediate aftermath of the brutal murder of their 17 year old son Trayvon. I was angry for them in how awfully the law enforcement officials and the legal system mishandled this case. I was furious all over again when I read the pages about the verdict, feeling again the shock and horror I felt on the day I watched Lisa Bloom talk about it as it happened on MSNBC.


I am going to suggest this book to every parent I know, every high school english teacher, every person interested in social justice, and every person who thinks we live in a post racial society. We all need to outraged and work for change. But if you are a white parent of white children you have a responsibility to parents of color or parents of children of color to step out from behind the privilege your skin affords you and speak out about the injustices parents of children of color face.

I tell you all this as the white mother of a young black man and young white boy. My oldest is 25 and is the child from my first marriage, an interracial marriage. And until the day I don't have to have two different conversations with my sons about how the world sees them and the rules they must follow I will shout this from the roof types. My oldest boy isn't worth less because he has black skin. My youngest boy isn't worth more because he has white skin.

READ THIS BOOK!!!

Thank you Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin for sharing your hearts with us.

(Finished March 9, 2017)