The death of Trayvon Martin

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In February 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot dead by a member of a Neighbourhood Watch group who claimed he was acting suspiciously. The unarmed black teenager was returning to a gated community in Florida after buying some snacks from a nearby convenience store His death sparked national outrage in the US over racial profiling and the first use of the slogan "Black Lives Matter". Rachel Naylor talks to Trayvon Martin's high school friend, Ashley Burch.

PHOTO: A protest demanding justice for Trayvon Martin in 2013 (Getty Images)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. Welcome to the Witness History Podcast with me Rachel Niella. Today I'm going to take
0:46.3	you back 10 years to the death of the black teenager Trayvon Martin in the
0:50.3	United States. His shooting sparked a debate about America's self-defense laws
0:55.6	and also launched the Black Lives Matter movement. I've been speaking to one of
1:00.0	Traver Martin's best friends.
1:01.6	Is the 26th of February 2012.
1:05.0	Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old high school student from Miami,
1:10.0	is chatting on the phone to Ashley Birch while watching a film.
1:13.0	He wasn't really paying me any attention because he was really into the movie.
1:16.4	So it wasn't much conversation.
1:18.4	It was just me saying, hey, you're not even paying attention to me,
1:21.4	talk to me.
1:22.4	He was like, I'm going to just call you back on the movie over.
1:24.8	And I was like, okay. And that was the last time I heard from him.
1:28.4	The next morning, Ashley was woken by frantic calls on her best friend.
1:32.3	So when I finally answered the phone, she was like, what? was woken by frantic calls on her best friend.
1:32.8	So when I finally answered the phone,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.