--- title: Obama Meets With Trayvon Martin Parents on 3rd Anniversary of Killing description: Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin – the parents of Trayvon Martin – paid a visit to the White House to honor the third anniversary of... canonical: https://time.com/3725290/obama-trayvon-martin-parents/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-27T00:31:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:46:11.591Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Meets With Trayvon Martin's Parents on Third Anniversary of His Death og:description: Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin – the parents of Trayvon Martin – paid a visit to the White House to honor the third anniversary of... og:url: https://time.com/3725290/obama-trayvon-martin-parents/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Meets With Trayvon Martin's Parents on Third Anniversary of His Death twitter:description: Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin – the parents of Trayvon Martin – paid a visit to the White House to honor the third anniversary of... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Obama Meets With Trayvon Martin's Parents on Third Anniversary of His Death > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8cf0f2d5-7706-4acc-9593-d7b5383c82c6&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Jacqueline Andriakos / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Jacqueline Andriakos / People Contributor Feb 27, 2015 12:31 AM UTC by [Jacqueline Andriakos / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Jacqueline Andriakos / People Contributor Feb 27, 2015 12:31 AM UTC Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin – the parents of Trayvon Martin – paid a visit to the White House to honor the third anniversary of their son’s shooting. They joined President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for a special reception in recognition of African American History Month on Thursday, during which the President thanked the Martins for their attendance “on what’s a very difficult day for them.” “Today, on the third anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s death, showing all of our kids, all of them, every single day, that their lives matter, that’s part of our task,” President Obama said. “Where we are today didn’t come easy. It came through thick and thin.” The couple’s 17-year-old son was shot and killed on Feb. 26, 2012, after a confrontation with George Zimmerman, who was acquitted of second-degree murder charges in the teenager’s death the following year. It was also reported this week that the Department of Justice is set to announce it will not be filing charges against Zimmerman in the shooting of the unarmed teen. Obama also emphasized to the audience in the East Room, including congresswomen Sheila Jackson Lee and Nancy Pelosi, the importance of African American History Month. He explained that annual commemoration is not to “isolate” or “segregate” or to put African-American history “under a glass case.” He continued, “We set \[the month\] aside to illuminate those threads.” In addition to acknowledging Martin’s death, the President also addressed another [topical](http://www.peoplestylewatch.com/people/stylewatch/package/article/0,,20881794%5F20903493,00.html) event, the 1965 march from Selma, Alabama, led by [Martin Luther King Jr.](http://www.people.com/article/martin-luther-king-jr-day-beyonce-lupita-nyongo-common), that is depicted in the Oscar-nominated film [_Selma_](http://www.peoplestylewatch.com/people/stylewatch/package/article/0,,20881794%5F20903302,00.html). “What happened in Selma is quintessentially an American experience, not just an African-American experience,” he said. “It reminds us that the history of America doesn’t belong to one group or another. It belongs to all of us.” Reporting by Sandra Sobieraj [_This article originally appeared on People.com_](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20904554,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3725290/obama-trayvon-martin-parents/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3725290/obama-trayvon-martin-parents/"},"headline":"Obama Meets With Trayvon Martin's Parents on Third Anniversary of His Death","datePublished":"2015-02-27T00:31:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:46:11.591Z","description":"Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin – the parents of Trayvon Martin – paid a visit to the White House to honor the third anniversary of...","url":"https://time.com/3725290/obama-trayvon-martin-parents/","keywords":["White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jacqueline Andriakos / People"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3725290/obama-trayvon-martin-parents/","name":"Obama Meets With Trayvon Martin's Parents on Third Anniversary of His Death"}}]}] ```