Him graduate from high school or go to prom or go to college so i think he would have married 22 is fairly young but graduating from college. I think of all the good things we shared in those memories cannot be taken away from us. As parents you always want to see your children do something productive we would have been hoping for another College Graduate just to see his life progress to see him raise his own family those are the things we think about. So that question you got so many times who was trey von martin . Treyvon martin . We get Little Details so much has been written and said that your son but what did we miss when we were digging through the School Records . That is one of the reasons we wrote the book we wanted the parents point of view. A lot of times the books that were written they did not even know who treyvon was. We wanted a name with a person or the teenager. Treyvon was very affectionate. It could have been in the Grocery Store if you wanted a hug and a kiss he got one. He didnt mind the people that were around him like when we were little we would always kiss them but as he got older it did not faze him that people were around so he was very affectionate he wanted to do everything for me he was a good kid and was a good person to be around, kind of funny but really affectionate. Walking through what this experience must be those cases that have boiled up but having built relationships some of what that experience must be to be there that first day to get the phone call but if you tell the story what about a grieving parent . Not just those killed by police but i know in your book people were killed by street gun violence so to be the elder statesman what it is like for you with a unique experience. So the one thing you find yog people are. So it really does something to you emotionally. So we invested 17 years into treyvon and not to see that life progress any further is hurtful. But in conversation with other parents, i personally always tell them i know what you are going through but i dont understand your hurt because every parent has a different relationship with their child. Mike brown i understand what they go through but i dont understand their hurt because of that relationship. I know the relationship i had with treyvon and sabrina so i understand her hurt but it is a fraternity sort of speak nobody wants to be a part of. We did not sign up for this but it was thrust on us so we understand there is a Bigger Picture something more important than just the death of our son there are others that we try to impact so with that elder statesman we understand the rol role. What is fascinating going back and forth chronologically to tell the story with the story of his death but to be partners in raising children that were still functionally close so tell me the relationship to be the load speaks people for your seven with justice and the work with the foundation. To have this bond together as the parent. The common focus we have with the children even though our relationship did not work out we just a focus on being parents that made it easy for us to raise them because we got along he did not have a problem picking them up so it kind of worked out. People think it is strange we get along so well but i think we have always been civilized but for the most part we come together for the betterment and we managed to do that. You were still in miami and tracy were in sanford at the time. So the piece of the book where you arrive talks about an emotional moment not even necessarily wanting to go. And you can imagine any mother or my mother what she would think to be struck by the passage and for the first time in the community where my son was killed i saw something that shook me which was a memorial but it was a memorial for my son. With the letters of treyvon. That memorial touched me deeply a crime scene but the memorial was a gift. But they knew the body on the ground was a boy it was a human and a life. Was that the moment you realized so what did it feel like to see that memorial and that support that you start to gain. That was the first public sign that people were supporting us but it didnt give a gauge at how many people were in support i wasnt expecting that so just to pull in the gate to see the memorial that this is the area the surroundings he was in. But what really hit me hard at the 1,000,030 rally we actually saw the amount of people that came out to support. The memorial touched my heart that million 30 rally for how many other people this happened to and nobody heard about their name. To know who treyvon was that all black and brown boys and some girls that have been killed and nobody has been held accountable. To be an important part of the movement and i just have so much respect for people who supported it. With this inside view of what it might be like to see the players over time. The first conversation from these cases or if you were a casual reader knowing the name treyvon knowing the case loosel loosely, they dont necessarily see all the pieces that come into play. They see a rally they dont know who was involved. Can you talk about some of these people . They play the roles to turn the death of the young man to a name that still rings out across the nation. The majority of the recognition that treyvon received from a Family Member named Patricia Jones because without her we would not be in contact with an attorney that brings light to our case. So when i first talked to the attorney to tell me that when i explained the case that treyvon was killed walking home with a can of iced tea and skittles the first thing he said it would be an arrest and i continued to call and call and call and he finally answered the phone and i told him they didnt make an arrest yet. He stopped he was doing and started to put things into place. Kind of threw me for a minute and then the conversation began as we will do everything we can to assist you guys and he will be coming down and speaking with us. So jasmine played an important part and they still play a huge part in the things we do. Ryan played a huge part and with all of the opponents working together to. They are major components to our strategy to get justice and get an arrest. Host you almost have to campaign for justice and its easy to consolidate its now years later but we have seen in campaign after campaign starti starting. One of the first things you were pushing for publicly lets hear this interaction. The public hasnt heard of these yet in that moment you are trying to figure out some evidence that might help us figure out what happened to our son. What were you thinking the first few days. We automatically just went to the notion that there is a coverup if something going on because they are fighting so hard not to release the tapes. We have to file an injunction. Theres a fight to get the tapes released and we knew that there was something on the tapes that kind of characterized what happened that night. At the sanford city hall ascending to the tapes of the 911 callers who were witnesses to the altercation and you write about listening to ourselves. You heard these tapes and is that about what your relationship was with elected officials i think there is an assumption that there must be a full adversarial relationship and when you were calling for certain actions i was also struck by the moments of humanity people wouldnt necessarily assume he is an ally of yours. I think that a lot of people were torn between if they stand up for the community or support whats right with the mayor even though he seemed to be this strong governing body for sanford, hes still the father and he probably thought about him being his own son and so that touched him a great deal and not only him, but when we went to the trial there were also Court Deputies and Police Officers we want people to stand on the right side and we want people to see him as an unarmed 17yearold which are facts. He wasnt carrying a weapon even though they said that this is the weapon that he used. That is just simply ridiculous. With everything that went on it may make people want to choose a side if you look at the facts he wasnt paying attention to his surroundings. He was on his own and its clear the killer was told not to pursue him or follow him but you could hear he was clearly following him and at some point in time he even ran into this person ran after him so to me i would feel like im being stalked like why are you following me, what is it about me that you are following me. We know in hindsight that it was because of the color of his skin. Even though they couldnt bring it in in th and the trial we knt is clear that this would happen. It sends a bad message to our men and women on the street you dont know whether to walk fast or slow, whether you should speak or not to speak, there are so many things they have to go through and they dont feel safe in their own community or country. Host theres a moment where they say the hoodie is the problem. He could have taken it off but he couldnt have taken his skin off. I think that is one of the things that is compelling about the story and people identified with at the time. I remember sitting at my College Newspaper reading these columns or articles being written and thinking to myself i grew up in the suburbs thinking to myself how many times in the middle of the night was i going t like goe corner store always wearing a hoodie constantly and how this could have easily happened. Ive heard you talk about this as well, this idea that our children can do everything right and in this instance there may still be this person who is working and will be suspicious of them. You both talk about in the book the evolution of your thinking and how you say is this a race thing and how does it factor in the terms by the end i appreciate this because you walk us through as you are seeing the parts of the case come together you start to say what else could it have been. But what do you think that this played in the death of her son . Guest i think it played a major role in it goes back to the 911 tapes. They thought it was one thing that he said and it was another and they had the processiona pe. He said hes up to no good, how can you beat up to no good when you were just walkinyoure justm the store. We knew that race played a part. We want this to be a case where it was an unjust killing so they try to look at it from the dual lens to say maybe it didnt play a part when w but when we went n the trial, we saw it come out in the jury pool and some of the things the defense attorney was saying so by the end of the trial we knew that it was about race and that it played a huge part in our sons death and anybody thats a dividend play a part, didnt even watch the trial. Host ura blackfin as well and there is an experience when black men and women talk about their experiences and white people just dont understand, they dont know what its like to be followed around in a store or have people suspicious of you just by your presence. Had you had conversations about that and what were your feelings when you were watching him go through this thing even after his death being cast in certain ways and stereotyped what was your feeling . Guest it was hurtful. Just the thought of how people think of us and how they think that we are less than 100 human is crazy to know i work with you, i pay the same taxes that you pay, i shop at the same stores that your perception of me is that i am not good enough to stand in line with you so it is hurtful especially when you have a 17yearold unit you invested a lot in and you know youve taught him everything, the dos and donts in the laws of the land but to have a person that doesnt know him make comments about him and sort of demoralized him it was hurtful to the samsame time we know thes they were saying are not true because we knew who he was not only as our son that as an africanamerican young man we knew who he was. Host the second phase of is the first was his death and the push for the tapes after the tapes without now it is arrest George Zimmerman, hes killed your son and hes been allowed to go sleep in his own bed and be free with this ongoing question are they going to file charges, are they going to bring in a special prosecutor, can you walk through what that was in this idea here you are the parents of a young man killed essentially having to campaign for justice for your child. Guest the whole time as grieving parents that was our focus was to try to get justice. All of these obstacles placed in our path what parents do you know that has a 17yearold that if something happened to them if they wouldnt want answers so we were not asking for anything any otheother parents wouldnt have wanted for their own child but people dont see that. A lot of times people dont see things because they are not going through things. They would rather sit behind a computer screen and complain about something they dont know about. But i just feel like everything was a struggle. Getting the information about what happened, but there were only two people that were actually there and one of them is that so the other person is unbelievable and you cant believe what this person says because of course they want to stay out of jail so we had to challenge was getting answers from the Police Department and the medical examiners just to get the body released. We had to work with the state of florida to try to get them to pursue the case even higher once the special prosecutor was assigned to the case. It was a constant struggle. The arrest was a struggle. Everything weve gone through was a complete struggle and this is during the time that we were grieving because this happened fairly soon after he was shot and killed so while we were trying to get answers all of these things played a part, but i think the most important thing that places the fact that we had good legal representation that gave us the guidance that we need it because we didnt know anything about this or what to do next and the kin we kind of a guideline to show us what we needed to do and then some things we didnt listen to them on because we were so passionate about trying to get justice. Host what was the feeling when the charges were finally announced . Youve gone through this so quickly as you see when you find out about your son has been killed and the person hasnt been arrested, you get a special prosecutor and finally a press conference has been called a. Guest it felt good that there would be an arrest and at that particular time we still had faith in the florida judicial system because they did make an arrest. Had it not been for the special prosecutor i dont think that it would have been made a so when the announcement came a, an arrest was made in favor of a place that we were hopeful, but that was just an arrest and one part of the process but of course we were looking for a conviction. If he had been 18 and killed a white young men we know that there would have been an arrest without going through everything we went through. There would have been an arrest that night, that kid would have went to the morgue and our son would have went to someones prison. We know that for sure. That is just how the Justice System worked. Then its whats giv get the bet of the doubt to the killers with others killing minorities, so the charges, the announcement of the charges were huge for us and we are still hopeful. Host when did you lose some of that hope . One of the things in the book reading through to parents sitting in a trial every day i appreciate you sharing with us the notes you had and your reaction in realtime to the pieces of dialogue and the transcripts and you both present specific things when you said i wish they would have asked more specifically about this on the idea that you thought you could get charged with manslaughter and now hes not being pressed on that. The last young lady to speak with him before his death in this kinandthis kind of intervid crossexamination goes on for hours and you can see her getting frustrated. What was it like to be in that courtroom with both the person that killed your son and the ministry around you and that feeling and was there a moment where it feels like youve come so close to achieving justice because this person charged, was their momenthere a moment that w were felt he is not going to be convicted . Guest there were times. It was my first trial so im not familiar. I just dont have the process. There were times i listened and noticed when you have a private attorney they can say and do almost anything but the state of florida prosecuting the case they do things by the book. With me sitting there witnessing the whole thing it seemed they were able to do and say almost anything but the state of florida had a process. They have procedures that they have to follow. Like okaclick okay these are the parameters that they would stay and they wouldnt do anything outside of that and so i dont know if it has anything to do with how much money you have and who is prosecuting the case but i know that it seems so unfair just sitting there listening to everything and one of the things that has always brought out is they never brought in any character witnesses. Nobody got the chance to know who he really was. Well be listened to the painted picture of who this person was that was shot and killed, somebody that they never saw before or met and debated and no. Their job is to get their client off and that is what they did. By any means necessary. They didnt really care about who he was. They didnt really care about this. You have to be careful when you have your own children especially. Host one thing you talk about is the media focus. They have the School Records and all of a sudden theres questions was he on drugs. What did it feel like i can remember the time someone discovered his twitter page and so theres always questions. I was a College Student with two younger brothers and i knew what their pages look like. What did it feel like with him as it seemed sometimes on trial with a public grappling was he a thug or was he an angel, what did you like to have your son go through this publicly in all anl these people that do not know him talking about him in this way . Guest we never proclaimed him to be an angel until after his death. He was an average teenager and they have their ups and downs, they have good days and bad days, times they are hanging with a bad crowd and times they are hanging with their family. The stories that we heard were kind of hit and miss. Some were a little true in some were not true at all. There were pictures going around that were not keeping him. It is upsetting to have to go through that as a parent and hear all these negative things people say. But the reason all of that was said is to try to justify why somebody shot and killed an unarmed teenager. You cant justify that. I dont care what he did or if he stole something out of a st