. the death of trayvon martin spurred a movement that is building around the country. ut didn't happen on its own. we were not for the love and courage of his parents sabrina fulton and tracy martin, trayvon's story would not be the catalyst for change that it is today. they join us now discuss their

new memoirs called "rest in power: the enduring life of trayvon martin." good to see you. >> glad to you have here. >> wish it was under different circumstances which leads me to ask whether or not you ever get tired of doing this? do you ever just -- >> it drains you. it drains you. but we know that there's a long road ahead of us. and we know that our fight just ended in one day. we have a life long fight. uphill battle. we vow to continue this fight until the day we take our land. so our work isn't done. >> how much more difficult is it? no one ever closed on the death of a loved one like you close on a house or some other deal. you don't close on it. i suspect it is made more difficult to come to terms with it when you can't avoid talking about it day in and day out. >> well, we can't -- i can't stop thinking about it.

i mean, it has left a permanent hole in my heart. and so i think about it every single day. and then i have people come up to me and they talk about it. and i'm like, you know, i'm probably the last person you need to tell about trayvon martin. but, you know, they just showing their support. they want to let us know they lift us up and praying for us. so, you know, it's kind of hard. and sometimes i'm not able, i'm not emotionally able to come out. so sometimes i have to stay home. i can't go to the mall or i can't go to the grocery store sometimes because my spirit is low at times. and so only when i know that i'm going to be able to handle somebody talking about trayvon is when i actually come out. >> how much do you find yourself -- you said something that made me think about. this how much do you find yourselves now, not just being comforted by other people, but having to comfort other people? because they know you know what they're going through. they come you to and they tell

you stories. and looking for comfort. >> it's definitely a day in and day out situation where certainly we're at the foundation and we receive calls of grieving parents trying to figure out how we us is stained, how we kept our sanity through all our tragedy. and for us to just be able to comfort someone and give them encouraging words on how to live their day to day lives after the loss of a loved one is, it helps us kind of deal with what we're going through. just being able to comfort other parents. >> how have you sustained since you went -- how you have sustained your sanity throughout this? >> tried to just pick up pieces of our regular life, of our old life. a lot -- sbenlt a lot of time with family, with friends, in the church. you know, just try to get -- i've been really just trying to get my life back in order.

it was just disrupted and interrupted by this tragedy. but i just vounld myself with positive people. and i try lift myself up when there is nobody around. but it's hard. we seem to be doing okay. >> i don't ever use this show as a platform. i have my own personal tradition and the audience knows. that i don't use the show as a platform. but since you went, there i want to follow up. this for me is the reason why i believe in that first named jesus. in a moment like this ain't nobody else can you turn. to. >> absolutely. >> this is my personal testimony. i am a person of faith because there are moments in my life where my momma can't help me, my daddy can't help me. you got to have some place else to turn. i understand you're comment, sabrina, about getting your life together. about finding some normalcy and about finding a linkage in the church.

what has this tragedy done for your faith? has it tested your faith? has it grown your faith? do you question your faith? >> probably a little bit of all of those. i mean, at some point in time i was questioning god. and i was asking yshgs did this happen to my family? why now? i have all those type of questions. and then my favorite bible verse is in the book also is proverbs, trust the lord with all of your heart and lean not in your own understanding and acknowledge him and he will lead you on your path. do not lean on your own understanding. we don't understand what happened. i don't think anybody understand what's happened. seen we have to lean on god. that is the only explanation as to why thing occur the way they do. >> your faith journey has been impacted in what way? >> it made me actually bring -- get a closer relationship to god. i've always had a great

relationship with god. my father was a minister. my family's background has always been in the church. and so when your faith gets tested, you find your snefl a deep, dark corner. and so once you get in that corner, we question god and then we ask ourselves why do we question him? and so i just think all of the lonely nights by yourself, missing your loved ones, it makes you understand that there is a higher power that the relationship that you build with god is between you and god and nobody else can come in between that space. and so just knowing that i leaned on god every day and i continuously lean on him, it actually brought me closer to god. >> both of you, i'm asking for a reason. i won't give out your home address. but both of you still live in florida? >> yes. >> i ask if you both still live in florida, i thought you dshgs

because not that i expect you to pack up and move and go some place else. there are some people that can't stay in the place where the pain and agony s i think dr. king's only living sib ling who still lives in atlanta. to this day, she has not been able to go back to memphis. it's billion almost 50 years since they killed her brother and she still has not been able to go back to the city of memphis. i don't know you about. i was so angry at the state of florida for the way they handled this initially, when they mishand ld it, for letting this guy off the hook, for the way the law is written. i've been mad at the state of florida. that's my own personal assessment. but how you have processed continuing to live in this place that has brought you so much pain? >> what i actually think is that florida started this mess withstand your ground. and so i don't think we should just pack up and leave and run. i never been a person to run

from a good fight. and so what i think that is worth fighting for. it's worth fighting for not only trayvon martin but other trayvon martins as well. and so florida took a while to get in this mess. it's going to take time to get out of this mess. but we truly know that trayvon is in heaven. i'm not going to let just a specific location define where i go and where i cannot go. even though in the beginning i said i would never going to that area again. but i'm a mom. i'm a human being just like anybody else. i felt that my son was being mistreated. i felt that he was murdered. he was profiled. he was chased. and he was killed. and i felt that i needed to be there because i needed to be his spokesperson. i needed to be his voice. >> so you feel similarly. you haven't left either. >> definitely. it's -- we're not going to run from the fight. definitely. and in order to make a change, you have to be part of the

change. that's why we stay in florida. we know we can make a change right there. we definitely trying to work hard to change some of the laws that apply to us directly and indirectly. and so if we packed up and left, that would be -- we really be saying that we have no interest in making a change. so standing there on the battle grounldz right there in florida. florida has been known for so many different, whether it's from the elections to all the injustice that's are happening in our community, florida is just known for bad things happening. and so we feel that as though we have a platform. we have a voice to stand up and be the spokesmen for those people that can't speak up. and so we know that there is a lot of work to be done in florida. and so that's why we're staying there. >> it's the right place to be then. >> right. let me just say this. where we would go that violence is not happening in the united states? >> that's write was about to go next. and you're right about. that that's a powerful

statement. and the question want to ask in that vain, sabrina, is whether or not you feel a sense of helplessness, whether or not you have felt and/or feel a sense of hopelessness or helplessness every time you see another story like this happening? it's one thing if they killed your son five years ago and it had stopped. you know, we got in the street and froestd like we did and then it stopped. but every other week, every other month. is there ever a feeling of helplessness or hopelessness? no matter what you can can't stop the assault that trayvon mart ins are experiencing? >> it is a sense of hopelessness when it first happened. we know things can change. the fight we're seeing in front of us, we know things can change. seen we try to lift the families up. we try tone courage the families. but the finger still points back to our justice system and allowing people to be shot and killed and the person who shoots and kills them walks away and goes to sleep, you know, in

their bed. seen that's an awful thing. it sends an awful message to african-americans to brown and black, young men and women who can you be killed and nobody really cares. and that's where the whole black lives matter came from. because we wanted people to know that our lives care -- we care about our lives just as much as anybody else. >> i think one of the biggest problems we're having is the criminal justice system really needs to be reformed. and the perception of black people needs to, you know, we need to reshape how people view us as men and women of color. you can get -- it's been proven that can you get killed just by what you wear or just by how you walk or just by what you're listening to. it's been proven time and time again. so it's time for us to sort of change that narrative or ship

th shift that paradigm so people start looking at us as equal value. people start looking at us as the tax paying citizens that we are. people start looking at us is the god fearing people that we are and we helped build this country. we helped get this country to the status that it is now and so we should be treated as fair. >> want to debate whether president obama did enough or didn't do enough on this particular issue. you speak out forcefully enough did he press the issue? i want to debate that all day long. that is retro grade. i can ask this? the last president took the issues seriously. but this guy is taught incessantly about law and order, law and order. law and order. criminal justice. criminal justice. how did it feel for you just having to hear that and see that sort of attitude that was sort of lax dckcy daysical? >> it is disapoijt mainly

because our young people. our young people who don't know what to do. and they actually don't feel safe in their own community. and now we have someone in the white house that is not even standing up for our young people. not even standing up for our children which we know are our future. and so it's very disappointing. >> yeah. i think the comments of this administration definitely have been disappointing. and the way that they talk is like this is a 1776 instead of 2017. and so we just have to take a closer look at the things that are being said, how they're trying to write out the policies, the procedures. how they are looking at our communities and what the view is overall. i just think that we really took a step backwards. and it's going to be an uphill battle to get back on track. >> if i'm raising an issue too sensitive, tell me. i've been dying to ask this question. personally, i'll ask it now

since you're here. every time i got another news alert on my phone that george zimmerman got himself in trouble again, i ask myself every time, how does tracy process this? how does sabrina process this? not that you needed to be, you know, in any way proven to be right about who we thought this man was, you don't need to be affirmed in that way. but every time he got in trouble i would ask myself how do they process this? this guy is just walking -- i mean anyway, i'll shut up. how do you process that? >> for me, it's always aggravating. it's always been -- it gets you positive the point that you want to really say something or react. but then we look at all pot things that we've been doing and all of the lives that we've been

turning and say why waste negative energy towards the individual that killed our son. as a man, woib less of a father and less than a man to say it doesn't anger me. does it anger me. but at the same time, we know that there is a greater mission in what we're trying to do. the more we talk about him, the more relevant he becomes. so the less we talk about him, you know, knees he's no -- >> that requires maturity and wisdom and conviction and courage. i don't think -- i don't know that i'm cut out to do. that every time he got in trouble i just wanted to -- and you have been so gracious about just the way you handled this. >> i think one of the things for me is i decide what i give my attention to. and i decided that i won't allow limb to get any of my attention. so just because does he something that is ridiculous does not require my attention. so some of the things i just

take a look at and i'm like, i mean, just ridiculous. but we just keep moving forward. we try to stay focused on what we're doing. and whenever something happens such as, you know, something ridiculous that he's doing, it kind of zrakts you from what you're doing if you take time out from it and address it. and so we just don't address it. we let whoever wants to address it, i mean, of course they call the foundation. they want comments. they want to keep the fire fueled. but we don't allow it. >> i mean, i just -- i bow down. i bow down. every time it happens, just seems like another i told you so moment. if you didn't believe this was the guy we tried to tell you about in the courtroom time after time after time you see this is who he is. and so anyway. i wanted to ask you how you handle. that the foundation, you referenced it a few times. tell me about the foundation and what you want to do with this foundation.

>> one thing that we do with the foundation is we reach out to families that are victims of senseless gun violence. not only that, we also -- that's our target group. but we also reach out to families who lost a child to an illness or maybe a car accident or maybe suicide. and so we reach out to those families. we kind of empower the families. we try to educate those families. we have events that we schedule for those families. we have one big event like in may and tracy does his also. but it's called circle of mothers. and we bring all the mothers together for a bonding for healing. i mean, of course, there is crying but there is also a time that we rejoice in the life that we have. and so we also have mentoring programs for our young people. scholarship program. we have a scholarship program where we help two students a year go to -- from high school transition to college. and so that's basically what we

do. it's about bringing awareness to senseless gun violence. >> yeah. when you think of trayvon martin, we know how his life ended tragically and far too soon. but when you think about him and you want to put yourself in a place of joy and thanksgiving, and make yourself smile, what do you go to? >> there are so many things. there are so many things. you know, it's memories. it's just a memory and, you know, how tall he was, how affectionate he was. and he felt like he had to do everything for me. i really enjoyed it. you know? so i just think about him hugging and kissing me and, you know, he didn't want people to sit next to me. he wanted to sit next to mechlt he was a momma's boy. so i just think about all those things. i mean, i remember calling him, i would be upstairs and he would be down stairs and i would yell for him, trayvon! and when he came i would tell him can you get the remote that

is right there and he would say, mom! he didn't mind. i don't care how many times i did it, he didn't mind. he is just one of those mild manner mannered, you know, just get along with everybody kind of kid. >> yeah. real laid back, man. he was really a jokester. the thing about it, when you think about teenage boys, we know that they go through growing pains. and just seeing him going through his growing pains and coming out of his growing pains and just, you know, ready to find a 15, 16, 17-year-old boy that wants to baby sit his little cousins and hang out with his little cousins and make cookies for them. >> wow. >> that was his personality. he loved being the big cousin to the younger cousins. and so just holding on to his memories keep us going, man. >> there is another son here. how has he navigated through

this? and i've done enough of the conversations over the years to know that when a child is lost tragically, it impacts the parents, obviously. it impacts the siblings as well and then there are all kinds of process swrez to go through to make sure that you don't alienate this one or squeeze this other one two tight. >> we squeeze too tight. we definitely squeeze too tight. >> tell me how that is coming along. >> well, he graduated from college. he has an i.t. degree. he's in new york. he's doing really well. he has his own place. he's very concerned about paying his bills. you know? so we know he is growing up. but we try to keep him way from the spotlight. he's a little shy. but we try to keep him away from the spotlight. he can have some kind of normalcy in his life. but real cool dude. you know, kind of reminds me of a tall, thin model. you know? and i mess with him all the time.

i mess with him all the time. you know, we're very proud of him. >> speaking of spotlight, i mean, you've been doing this for five years now. but i mean some of us are professionally trained to do this. you lose a child and then all of a sudden you have on the news every night. then you are writing books and out speaking. how -- how have you found the journey of becoming a spokesperson? >> well, it actually harder than it looks. even writing the book, it took us about a year and a half to write the book. it's hard to write about your own life. and then it's even harder to read about your own life. and so it took us a while. we started and we stopped. we started again. but it was really hard. i think the whole thing is we stayed focused. we stayed focused on bringing trayvon back home so we can have the home going service. we stayed focused on trying to get an arrest, i mean with the rallies and supporters we h we just pretty much stayed focus.

and now our focus is on the foundation. we won't let anything deter us from what we're focused on. we'll see it as a distraction. >> it's about getting yourself in the space where you comfortable with. and you know that you're doing progressive things, you know, that you're being positive. you know, that your voice alone carries a lot of weight and african-american communities and abroad. and that just goes to show, i mean, we didn't ask for this. but we felt as though our doors to our home have been opened up to the public since like day two. and so since our doors of our home have been opened, we knew that we had to protect our home. and so this was a way of protecting our home and being strong and not let this just go by as another killing. so that alone, it taught us a lot of things. we didn't -- we never had to rehearse for this. this is always something that -- i'm a firm believer.

when you speak from the heart, when you talk from your heart, then everything just comes natural. >> that's right. they say what comes from the heart reaches the heart. i believe. that i lot of title of the book, "rest in power." i love when you wrote the book. so you go back basically -- you'll see this at home, it's -- i love the structure of it. the framework. so they go back over the five years since the death of their son. and each of them tells their own story. so sabrina writes a chapter, tracy writes a chapter. it's really -- it's like this confidence was tonight. you weave in and out and get both of your journeys and both of your perspectives on how you navigated the five years. thank you for the book. thank you for coming to see us. thank you most importantly for the work that you're doing. i hate that -- to your point, tracy, you didn't ask for this. but you stepped into it. and you stepped into it with grace and with dignity and thank

you. that's all i can say. >> thank you. >> all right. the book again is called "rest in power: a parents story of love and injustice and the birth of a movement. the enduring live of trayvon martin" written by his parents. that's our show tonight. good night from los angeles. thank you for watching. and as always, keep the faith. >> hir, i'm tavis smily. join us for our academy awards preview show. that's next time. we'll see you then.

good evening from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. a conversation one of the world's most renowned architects, frank garrett. just days before celebrating his 88th birthday, he joins us to talk about his online master class and what he's doing to help children have access to art and creativity in school. we're glad you joined us. frank gary in just a moment.