On What Would've Been Trayvon Martin's 25th Birthday, Black Twitter Celebrates His Life and Legacy

Today is Trayvon Martin’s 25th birthday.

But instead of rallying his boys to grab a drink after work, or scrolling through birthday text after birthday text on his iPhone, the Miami-born, would-be pilot is dead—his life cut short by a murderous coward who spends his evenings roaming the same Earth that his 17-year-old victim was stolen from.

In the time since Trayvon’s murder in 2012, his parents founded the Trayvon Martin Foundation in an effort to transform their tragedy into change. His mother, Sybrina Fulton, is also currently running for Miami-Dade County Commissioner in an effort to be that same change and prevent gun violence from fracturing other families.

Trayvon’s death sowed the seeds that blossomed into the Black Lives Matter movement and, though he’s no longer with us, Black Twitter showed out with an outpouring of love to honor his memory and celebrate his birthday.

Michael Skolnik, founding partner of creative agency We Are Soze, announced his desire to donate $10,000 to the Trayvon Martin Foundation:

Others reminded us why Trayvon continues to inform so much of our collective social justice work:

There’s also Jemele Hill and CNN commentator Keith Boykin, who highlighted Trayvon’s tremendous potential as an aviation student:

While rapper Awkword and others reminded us all what we’re up against and that we’ve still got business to handle in November:

Rest in power, Trayvon.