--- title: Trayvon Martin, 3 Years Later: Touré's Advice to Young Black Boys description: "You could be a Trayvon," the columnist wrote in 2012 canonical: https://time.com/3715224/trayvon-martin-2012-anniversary-toure/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-26T12:00:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:33:07.350Z article:section: History og:title: Trayvon Martin, 3 Years Later: Touré's Advice to Young Black Boys og:description: "You could be a Trayvon," the columnist wrote in 2012 og:url: https://time.com/3715224/trayvon-martin-2012-anniversary-toure/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt770d42a6c370836c/698780172dce019fd99dda4c/trayvon.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A Million Hoodies March Protests Death Of Trayvon Martin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trayvon Martin, 3 Years Later: Touré's Advice to Young Black Boys twitter:description: "You could be a Trayvon," the columnist wrote in 2012 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt770d42a6c370836c/698780172dce019fd99dda4c/trayvon.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Advice for Young Black Boys, 3 Years After Trayvon Martin's Death  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 26, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  A Million Hoodies March protests the death Of Trayvon Martin on Mar. 21, 2012, in New York City. A Million Hoodies March protests the death Of Trayvon Martin on Mar. 21, 2012, in New York City.Mario Tama—Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 26, 2015 12:00 PM UTC It was three years ago — on Feb. 26, 2012 — that unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin was shot by George Zimmerman. It would be months before Zimmerman, who had said the shooting was in self-defense, was [found not guilty](http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/13/justice/zimmerman-trial/index.html?hpt=hp%5Ft1), a decision that inspired a new wave of debate about racism and the law. Following the verdict, TIME devoted [a cover story](http://time.com/vault/issue/2013-07-29/page/1/) to the way the case had shaken the country, as well as its reverberations on a more intimate scale. As a columnist for TIME, Touré addressed the situation in the [Apr. 2, 2012, issue of TIME.](http://time.com/vault/issue/2012-04-02/page/19/) He responded to the news with a list of eight pieces of advice for people who “could be a Trayvon”: --- > “” --- **_Read the rest of his advice, here in the TIME Vault:_** [How to Stay Alive While Being Black](http://time.com/vault/issue/2012-04-02/page/19/) **_Read the cover story from 2013_** **_, here in the TIME Vault:_** [After Trayvon](http://time.com/vault/issue/2013-07-29/page/1/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3715224/trayvon-martin-2012-anniversary-toure/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3715224/trayvon-martin-2012-anniversary-toure/"},"headline":"Advice for Young Black Boys, 3 Years After Trayvon Martin's Death","datePublished":"2015-02-26T12:00:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:33:07.350Z","description":"\"You could be a Trayvon,\" columnist Touré wrote in 2012","url":"https://time.com/3715224/trayvon-martin-2012-anniversary-toure/","keywords":["Race","Trayvon Martin","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt770d42a6c370836c/698780172dce019fd99dda4c/trayvon.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt770d42a6c370836c/698780172dce019fd99dda4c/trayvon.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A Million Hoodies March Protests Death Of Trayvon Martin","caption":"A Million Hoodies March Protests Death Of Trayvon Martin","creditText":"Mario Tama—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"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/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/race/","name":"Race"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3715224/trayvon-martin-2012-anniversary-toure/","name":"Advice for Young Black Boys, 3 Years After Trayvon Martin's Death"}}]}] ```