Headline Surfer videos produced by Multimedia Editor Serafina Frederick / Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, parents of slain teen Trayvon Martin, attend Thursday's annual MLK banquet where they present an inaugural scholarship to a local student, Sylvester Covington, III, shown in the photo. Among the speakers were Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry and County Chair Jason Davis.
DAYTONA BEACH -- Mourning the loss of their 17-year-old son, Trayvon Martin slain 11 months ago, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, presented an inaugural scholarship in his memory to Sylvester Covington III, an Atlantic High School senior who plans to attend the University of Central Florida with career plans to become a psychologist.
The scholarship highlighted the annual tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by the local NAACP earlier tonight at the Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort.
The keynote speaker, Tallahassee attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the legal interests of Trayvon's parents, said with so much violence and far too many senseless deaths, "Now more than ever we have to remember Dr. King's message of peace, equality and above all love."
Some 300 guests attended the gala evening to pay homage to the civil rights leader rights leader, who would have ben 84 had he not been cut down by an assassin's bullet at the age of 39 while standing on a Memphis balcony in 1968.
"We pray that the message of Martin Luther King will resonate now more than ever," Crump said.
"We pray that the message of Martin Luther King will resonate now more than ever," Crump said.
After the scholarship presentation, Crump made a point of presenting each of Trayvon's parents a copy of the Florida Press Club Award that Headline Surfer won in October for its exclusive interview with them in Miami just weeks after he was shot and killed in a Sanford neighborhood.
Headline Surfer videos produced by Multimedia Editor Serafina Frederick / At left, Headline Surfer is recognized for its award-winning interview with Trayvon Martin's parents last year in Miami. At right, Tracy Marttn and Sybrina Fulton speak with Headline Surfer at the banquet.
The 24/7 internet newspaper had the plaques copied for this very occasion. As Crump gave each parent their individual plaque, he asked Headline Surfer's publisher to stand and be recognized for driving from New Smyrna Beach to Miami the same day with no guarantee of an interview that had eluded so many other reporters.
It took 44 days before the authorities charged the alleged gunman, neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman with second-degree murder. He is expected to stand trial in June at the Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford. If convicted, Zimmerman, 28, could get life in prison.
Zimmerman said there was a confrontation between the two and that he shot the unarmed teen in self-defense, asserting his right to deadly force under Florida's controversial "Stand Your Ground" law. The state has countered that Zimmerman was the actual aggressor, pursuing Martin, even as he was cautioned by a 9-1-1 dispatcher not to do so.
Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry, an African-American, who campaigned under the mantra of "One City - One Vision," leading to his win in November, was stoic in his remarks to the slain teen's parents, saying in part, "As a city we cried with you, we wept for you, we stood with you when you demanded justice and tonight we stand with you again. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
As for the teenager given the scholarship, in her son's honor, Sybrina Fulton encouraged the Port Orange teen to "keep your mind clear and keep your heart on God."
Both parents told Headline Surfer at the end of the banquet they were committed to seeing justice served: "We have our faith and we have to believe," Tracy Martin said.