An Open Letter From Trayvon's Mom to the Browns

Trayvon Martin's mother is sending words of support to the family of Michael Brown in an open letter. "I wish that all of the pain that I have endured could possibly ease some of yours, but it won’t," Sybrina Fulton writes in Time. "What I can do for you is what has been done for me: pray for you then share my continuing journey as you begin yours." She continues: "I hate that you and your family must join this exclusive yet growing group of parents and relatives who have lost loved ones to senseless gun violence." Her pain, she says, is "never-ending" and "unlike anything I could have imagined."

Given that "the killer of your son is alive, known, and currently free … your own feelings will bounce between sorrow and anger." But there is hope: Alongside insults and character attacks, "you will experience a swell of support from all corners of the world." And neither Michael's nor Trayvon's life "shall be in vain. The galvanizations of our communities must be continued beyond the tragedies … If they refuse to hear us, we will make them feel us," and that "means feeling our pain; imagining our plight as parents of slain children. We will no longer be ignored." Finally, she notes, "I would hate to think that our lawmakers and leaders would need to lose a child before protecting the rest of them and making the necessary changes NOW." Click for Fulton's full piece. (More Trayvon Martin stories.)