Trayvon Martin's Mom Makes a Big Announcement

Trayvon Martin's mother is running for political office, the Miami Herald reports. Sybrina Fulton—whose son was infamously shot dead by a neighborhood crime watch captain in 2012—plans to officially announce Monday that she's running for the Miami-Dade County Commission. "Our county must continue moving forward so our families are safe from violence, can afford to live in Miami-Dade, and have access to good paying jobs," she says. "I am ready to take on these issues and many others in county government."

Fulton has already campaigned for Hillary Clinton, advocated for gun-control measures, and helped found the non-profit Trayvon Martin Foundation to increase awareness of gun violence, per Rolling Stone. In May, she told Essence that her son's shooting sparked her activist spirit: "Prior to this, I was just an average mom working an average job living in an average house, taking care of average kids," she said. "It took my son to be shot down before I stood up, because I never expected to be a community activist, to be a spokesperson, to be an author." (More Trayvon Martin stories.)