LITTLE ROCK — The parents of Trayvon Martin, a Florida teen shot and killed earlier this year by a neighborhood watch member, will speak at the national conference of black law enforcement executives meeting in Little Rock next week.
Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton are scheduled to attend the Civil Rights Award Breakfast at the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives’ 36th Annual Conference & Exhibition on July 24 at the Peabody Hotel, according to a news release.
Lottie Shackelford, the first woman to serve as Little Rock mayor and a longtime national official in the Democrat Party, will be thekeynote speaker at the breakfast, which will be held from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. in Salon B of the Peabody’s Grand Ballroom.
Trayvon Martin was 17 when he was killed on Feb. 26 during a confrontation in a Sanford, Fla., gated apartment community. George Zimmerman, a member of the community’s neighborhood watch program, has been charged with second-degreemurder for fatally shooting the unarmed teen. Zimmerman has pleaded innocent and claims the shooting was self-defense under the state’s “stand your ground” law.
Martin’s parents and supporters claim the teenager was targeted because he was black, and Zimmerman started the confrontation that led to the shooting. Zimmerman’s father is white and hismother is Hispanic.
Zimmerman told investigators that Martin punched him in the face, pushed him to the ground and repeatedly slammed his head against the pavement before Zimmerman retrieved his gun and shot him.
Several Arkansans will be honored at the breakfast.
Dr. Joycelyn Elders, U.S. surgeon general under former President Bill Clinton, will receive one of the organization’s top civil rights awards. Keith Jackson, former college and professional football player, will be honored as founder of the organization Positive Atmosphere Reaches Kids, or P.A.R.K. Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, will receive an awardon behalf of the group of black students who first integrated Central High School in Little Rock in 1957. William “Sonny” Walker also will be honored for his work on behalf of civil rights.
Tickets to the breakfast are $40 and can be obtained by contacting the organization’s national office at (703)658-1529.
The non-profit has 3,500 members who primarily are chief executive and command-level off icials for federal, state, county and municipal law enforcement agencies, as well as criminal justice educators and others “interested in furthering the goals and objectives of the organization.” Information for this article was contributed by The Associated Press.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 07/17/2012