A portion of one Miami-Dade County road was renamed Thursday in honor of Trayvon Martin, whose death by a neighborhood watch volunteer in 2012 catalyzed a movement for racial justice.
Officials, including County Commissioner Barbara Jordan and Mayor-elect Daniella Levine Cava, took part in the event renaming a section of Northeast 16th Avenue from Ives Dairy Road to 209th Street as Trayvon Martin Avenue.
“We live in America but there’s still some issues we have in the country that we need to overcome such as racism, such as racial profiling and things like that and just know that brighter days are coming,” said Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton.
Members of the Miami-Dade County Commission approved the motion unanimously in early October. Jordan, who sponsored the resolution, said the teen had mechanical skills, knowing how to build and fix dirt bikes and wanted to go to college.
Fulton and other members of Martin’s family were given street signs for the road – which leads to his former school, Dr. Michael Krop High School.
Martin, a Miami native, was shot dead in Sanford at 17 while on a visit with his father. The teen was unarmed and walking back from a convenience store with candy when he was shot by George Zimmerman.
Zimmerman was acquitted under Florida’s controversial self-defense law. The Black Lives Matter movement emerged after a Florida jury decided to clear Zimmerman in the shooting death in July 2013.
