Rest In Power examines Trayvon Martin’s shooting

The killing of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager who went to a Florida store and was shot dead by a neighbourhood watch volunteer, inflamed the US in 2012.

Six years later, a new television series, Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story,  relives what happened and forces viewers to confront the gut-wrenching agony of losing a child. The docu-series crystallises human loss, showing up close Trayvon’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, having to choose between grief and fighting for justice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7WUse497ZQ

The series premiered on the Paramount Network and BET on Monday, and was produced by Jay-Z.

The viewer sees father Tracy Martin recalling a nine-year-old Trayvon saving him from a burning kitchen, but heartbroken at not being able to protect his 17-year-old son in a gated Florida community.

“I want people to use what happened with Trayvon as an example – that you need to get busy now,” Fulton told a screening in Harlem.

“Don’t wait until something happens to your child or to your loved one in order to say ‘ok, I need to do something’.”

Executive producer Chachi Seniorn said: “The hope really is that America watches this, looks at itself, reflects and changes for the better.”