Trayvon Martin’s Dad: Negative Energy From Death, Trial Can Be A Positive [Video]

Trayvon Martin’s father, Tracy Martin, spoke before a Congressional hearing on Wednesday. Martin said that the negative energy from his son’s death and the trial verdict should be turned into a positive.

Tracy Martin’s statement was given before the first hearing of the Congressional Caucus on Black Men and Boys, reports CNN. Martin says that he will keep fighting for his son and for all young men and boys like him. Speaking to the forum, Martin says his son’s death can result in some good.

Trayvon Martin’s father says he does not want the outcome of the George Zimmerman trial to “sum up who Trayvon was.”

He added that he was touched by President Obama’s comment made after the verdict. Obama said that the trial was important to him because he could see himself in Trayvon’s shoes 35 years ago. Martin said that this comment was “so important to the American people.”

If nothing else, Trayvon Martin’s death and the George Zimmerman trial will lead to discussion about laws and race in the United States, Martin said. He said it is comments like the president’s which “sparks the conversation in every household over the dinner table.”

The topic and question Tracy Martin says he wishes everyone in the United States would ask themselves is “What can we do as parents, what can we do as men … to stop this from happening to your child?”

Tracy Martin says the new Trayvon Martin Foundation will seek to answer some of these questions. He says it will advocate against “senseless crime” and “senseless gun violence.” It will also offer mentoring and education programs.

In his statement, Martin says he must be a voice for his son because he is no longer here. “There’s nothing we do to bring Trayvon back, but if there’s something that we can do … then we’re here.”

Watch the included video for the full speech given before Congress on Wednesday by Trayvon Martin’s father, Tracy Martin.