Jamie Foxx joins Trayvon Martin's parents for walk, remembrance dinner
Jamie Foxx has been lending his support to the Trayvon Martin family. The 45-year-old Oscar winner made an appearance at two events in Miami this weekend alongside Martin's parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, for the Justice for Trayvon Martin Foundation.
Foxx marched with Martin's parents in Ives Estate Park Saturday for a peace walk held in the slain teen's honor.
The "Ray" star followed that up the next day by attending the We Remember Trayvon Inaugural Remembrance Dinner at the DoubleTree Miami Airport Hotel.
Martin was shot and killed on Feb. 26, 2012, near his father's Sanford, Fla., home during an altercation with neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman. He was 17. His death has sparked fierce debate across the nation over race and the validity of so-called Stand Your Ground Laws.
Zimmerman's trial is expected to begin in mid-June.
"It's a minor, just simply on his way home, to see his father, and we can't be an America, and we can't be a world like that," Foxx said at the remembrance dinner Sunday.
Foxx has attracted criticism lately over his acceptance speech at the NAACP Image Awards Feb. 1, with some calling the actor's remarks "racist."
"Black people are the most talented people in the world," Foxx said as he accepted the Entertainer of the Year honor, according to Radar.
But during his appearance at the Trayvon Martin dinner in Miami, Foxx was quick to point out that his support for the slain teen's foundation "has nothing to do with race, or anything like that."
He said his motivations for supporting the Martin foundation stem from his own experiences as a father.
"You expect [your children] to not only to come home, but to enjoy moments and send them off to college, and all these wonderful things, so that's what I was touched by," Foxx said at the remembrance dinner.
