Pictured: Tracy Martin and Anniston City Councilman David E. Reddick (From Facebook)
A September interview with an Anniston city councilman on meeting the father of slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin was released to the public Tuesday.
David E. Reddick, who serves as the city councilman for Anniston's Ward 2, spoke with WLJS News earlier this year on a conversation he says he had with Tracy Martin on September 20 at a Washington D.C. hotel during a Congressional Black Caucus event.
Martin's son's death sparked over a year long national conversation on race, justice and self-defense laws in America. Trayvon Martin, 17, was shot to death on February 26, 2012 during a physical altercation with a neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, inside a gated community in the Orlando suburb of Sanford, Florida.
According to testimony during Zimmerman's second degree murder trial held this summer, Zimmerman followed the 17-year-old before the deadly confrontation began.
Reddick says the 45-minute conversation between he and Martin touched on a number of things, including gun violence affecting America's youth, forgiveness and how to honor Trayvon Martin's legacy.
Here is what Reddick had to say:
"I was at the Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference. it’s an annual conference for minorities and black elected officials, council people, senators, congress people and such.
"When I first went into the restaurant [inside the Grand Hyatt hotel], I sat with my political colleague. Our table was next to [Tracy Martin's]. My colleague [looked over at the table and told me] there was Trayvon Martin’s father. When I looked [at the table], I immediately recognized [Martin.]
"We were both going to the Essence Awards show hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. We were both staying at the same hotel. He was being honored at the Essence Awards show. Somebody that [Martin] was with knew me so they introduced me to him.
"I mentioned to [Tracy Martin] that I lost a cousin in Anniston right before the Trayvon story got really big. (Reddick's cousin is 17-year-old Oliver Jackson, an Anniston teen who was shot to death at Norwood Homes on August 13, 2011.
"I was thinking about how parents lose their kids to gun violence and [the fact that they are going to] have to bury a son prematurely. I went to him and tried to encourage him because I know it is a difficult decision.
"'Fathers should never have to bury their kid.' That’s what he said. The conversation kind of picked up from there. Trayvon Martin’s parents have to deal with this. I appreciate him to be able to stand up and make his son’s loss significant. So many parents try to find a reason to keep on going after something like this.
"The best way to do that, you can honor that child’s life. I told him how he is doing a good job at that. Make the loss of his son mean something to help other people.
"It was kind of a pretty intense conversation.
"[In mentioning Zimmerman], he said whether Trayvon was killed by a Latino or a black man, he says he still would have been fighting the same.
"He mentioned the fact that had there just been an arrest, it would have never gotten national the way it did.
[In regards to race,] basically [two things were said]. One, the situation with his son, they never tried to pull the race card. He also mentioned the fact that black on black violence happens far too often.
"Whether what happened to his son happened by a black man or a white man, he still would have been out fighting for his son.
"The majority of our conversation was about getting passed something that you will never get over.
"When he was talking about the trial, he said the trial wasn’t about race it was about justice. He said that it wasn't over yet.
"[Tracy Martin] said it was never about the spotlight for him. Because his son’s situation has gotten so much notoriety, he has been able to go out and talk to minorities about gun violence and stand your ground. He spoke about the fact that he’s been able to touch a lot of lives in a lot of ways.
"From the conversation, I got how similar the pain is. Whenever someone loses their child to violence, the first thing we do is try to find some meaning as to why it happened as a source of comfort. It made me think about how when things like this happen, we try to find meaning in it. [We try to find] something we can hold on to carry through the storm. Losing your son or daughter, is like being in a shipwreck. It shakes your entire foundation.
"The first thing you do when the ship falls apart, you look for something to grab onto. When it’s the death of a loved one, you grab onto a sense of leaning on purpose. Just like a shipwreck, the first thing you grab or hold onto is a life jacket or something.
"You look for something to hold on to, hoping to fly, to take you to a sound place. He said word for word what I said at my cousin's funeral: 'A parent should not have to bury their child.'
"[At the end of our conversation,] I gave him my business card and he asked me if I was going to be at the Essence Festival. He said 'we'll see you there.' I did see him there, but there was so much going on that we didn’t get [the chance] to reconnect.
"I have no idea if he will call me.
"The last thing I said to [Martin] is that what you are going through is never easy. A lot of people are able to find a sense of purpose in their grief for the loss of their child. Many more people are aware of what’s going on around them and that it affects them. It matters."
This report was made through WLJS News in Jacksonville, Alabama on 12/31/2013 at 5:14 A.M.
