People have taken to social media on Tuesday to remember Trayvon Martin on what would have been his 24th birthday.
The Twitter account for the NAACP honored Martin in a tweet shared on Tuesday.
“TODAY: We remember Trayvon Martin who would have been 24 years old,” the tweet read. “Just know that you are forever in our hearts. And we will keep fighting for justice.”
Rapper Common remembered “our brother” Martin on Twitter, writing “RIP” in his post.
Director Ava DuVernay paid tribute to Martin, while calling attention to white privilege.
“When people ask me what white privilege is.... Imagine if this was a white boy in a hoodie with a bag of skittles who was just trying to walk home,” she wrote.
Martin was 17 years old when he was shot and killed by former neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, in 2012. The unarmed teen was walking home from a nearby convenience store, carrying a can of Arizona Watermelon Fruit Juice Cocktail and a bag of Skittles, when a then-28-year-old Zimmerman approached him.
Zimmerman told police dispatchers at the time that the teen looked suspicious. He pursued Martin despite a dispatcher advising him not to do so before fatally shooting the teen. He was later acquitted of all charges in the death of Martin.
Martin’s parents Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, founders of the Trayvon Martin Foundation, released a book titled Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin, in 2017. The book follows the parents’ intimate account of Martin’s life and their journey through grief and activism following his death.
Protests against Martin’s fatal shooting, and Zimmerman’s subsequent acquittal have continued in the seven years after the teen’s death.
Other Twitter users joined in to honor Martin on Tuesday: