The Black Lives Matter movement is the new Civil Rights Movement, said CNN Legal Analyst Sunny Hostin during the (In)Justice For All event on Wednesday night.

During the almost two-hour event, seven panelists discussed topics including police brutality, racial profiling of victims, recent social movements involving young people, law enforcement reactions and how the media has handled these issues. The panel took place in Goldstein Auditorium, which was nearly full for the event.

Panelists Sybrina Fulton and Lesley McSpadden, the mothers of Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown, respectively, discussed how they have dealt with the loss of their sons and their healing process.

Fulton said the death of her son is something that drastically changed her life and is something she carries around with her every single day.

Since the death of her son, Trayvon, Fulton said she has retired and is now traveling around the country to bring awareness to issues of gun violence in America.

“You have to learn to adjust to this new lifestyle, to this heartache, to this pain,” Fulton said. “You have to learn how to channel negative energy into positive energy.”

Fulton also spoke about the day she found out her son had been killed. She asked the audience  if they thought the day she learned of her son’s death — which was a day after Martin actually died — was the worst day of her life.

Everyone raised their hands.

However, Fulton said this was not the worst day of her life. The worst day of her life was when she saw her son dressed in white in a white casket during his funeral.

She added that even though thinking of that day is painful, it helps her heal.

Throughout the event, the panel took questions from audience members. One audience member asked the two mothers to talk about what their sons were like.

Fulton said her son, who was 17 years old when he was shot and killed, was like an average teenager. She said he liked to go skating and to the movies. She recalled fondly about how affectionate Martin was and how he took care of her when she was sick.

McSpadden said Brown loved video games so much that she had to convince him to go outside. She added that as her oldest child, he was a leader and very determined to graduate from high school.

“I miss my son. I was ready to watch him grow into a man,” McSpadden said through tears. “Now I have to go on SoundCloud to hear his voice and I have to look at pictures to see his face. … I hate that I have to sit on this stage.”

Benjamin Crump, the lead attorney for the Trayvon Martin case, spoke about how important it is for people to speak up about these issues and make the media “give a damn.”

Hostin, the CNN legal analyst, and CNN Anchor Fredricka Whitfield talked about what the newsroom atmosphere was like when these stories broke.

Hostin said as a lawyer, woman and person of color, she knew that these events had to be covered. She added that these issues weren’t really covered, however, until they became a movement. Now, she said, newsrooms are taking these stories more seriously.

“We have to be vocal, we have to be willing to hear one another,” Whitfield said. “We’re in the business of news because we’re passionate and we think it’s important to convey this information.”

Fulton also addressed the issue of victim blaming. She said when her son was killed, law enforcement tested her son for drugs and alcohol, but they did not test the officer who shot him.

“They said he had a small amount of marijuana in his system, but who doesn’t?” Fulton said. “… My son did not ask to be killed. He did not ask for his death.”

Department of Public Safety Chief Bobby Maldonado said he is cautious when formulating his own opinions and he tries to do so with all of the information.

He added that police officers are valuable resources and that communicating effectively is key.

“Law enforcement officers should be peacekeepers, not crime fighters,” Maldonado said.

When asked about the support she has received since her son’s death, Fulton said she and McSpadden would much rather have their sons than be in this position, but the support they have received, even from people who never knew their sons, has helped them know that they are not alone.

“The more we talk about these issues, the closer we are to coming to a solution and the better we will be as a country,” Fulton said.

Published on October 29, 2015 at 12:35 am

Contact Sara: smswann@syr.edu | @saramswann