WASHINGTON—As a member of Congress, Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) used her final Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference to focus on Black boys lost to violence and unexplained circumstances, and on the parents determined to protect their legacies.
Rep. Wilson convened a brain trust to celebrate the U.S. Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys. Titled “Our Young Black Boys Are Being Murdered, and Nobody Seems to Care,” the session took place during the recent Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 55th Annual Legislative Conference, held September 16–20.
The bipartisan federal commission honored King Carter, Jordan Davis, Trayvon Martin, and Nolan Wells, along with the mothers and fathers who turned grief into advocacy. Rep. Wilson championed the commission legislation in the House, while then-Sen.
Marco Rubio, a Republican, sponsored it in the Senate. Congress passed the measure in 2020, and President Donald Trump signed it into law that August.
“These parents have endured the pain no mother or father should ever have to bear, yet they refused to allow their children’s stories to end with their deaths,” Rep. Wilson said.
“They turned grief into action, heartbreak into advocacy and their children’s names into movements for justice. We honor King, Jordan, Trayvon and Nolan by honoring the parents who carry their legacies forward and by continuing their fight to protect every Black child in America.”
Among those filling the room were 100 Wilson Scholars and Role Models from chapters of the 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project, which Rep. Wilson founded more than three decades ago.
The students represented school districts in Miami-Dade, Broward and Duval counties in Florida, as well as the Los Angeles Unified School District. They attended as ambassadors and witnesses to the institutional history their predecessors helped shape.
Rep. Wilson spoke with visible pride about the commission’s survival amid the Trump administration’s attacks on so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
“That is the epitome of DEI,” she told the audience. “And you’re probably saying, well, did they get rid of it? No. In fact, they strengthened it.”
She said a planned review of the commission was canceled during what she called “Mr. Musk’s tirade,” referring to billionaire Elon Musk, who served as a “Special Government Employee” co-leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) earlier in Mr. Trump’s term.
Rep. Wilson credited the commission’s bipartisan foundation for its longevity. The congresswoman framed her life’s work as an act of faith in Black children, regardless of their circumstances.
“I believe that if you take a young child, and you mold them, and show them the way, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of where they come from, regardless of whether they have to sleep in the bed with two other children, and one of them wets the bed, it’s okay, because you got them, and you can make them into great men,” she said.
Before turning to the panel, Rep. Wilson introduced Oliver G. Gilbert III, the former mayor of Miami Gardens and former Miami-Dade County commissioner. Rep. Wilson endorsed Mr. Gilbert to succeed her, and he won the Democratic primary for Florida’s 24th Congressional District in August. Introduced during the program as “future Congressman Gilbert,” he returned the tribute with emotion.
“What she’s done is not insignificant. What she’s done goes beyond the creation of a program; what she’s done is the creation of life,” Mr. Gilbert said of Rep. Wilson. “She showed them who they could be.
She brought principals into their schools. She brought doctors into their schools, and engineers, and lawyers, and teachers, and she said, what they say about you is not who you are. You are who you say you are and who you work to become.”
Defending Black history
Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump moderated the panel and connected the fight for Black boys to what he described as an emboldened White supremacy.
“This uprising of White supremacy is worse than we’ve ever seen it,” Atty. Crump said, denouncing efforts to remove lessons about slavery and Jim Crow from classrooms and to restore Confederate monuments.
“White supremacy really is having your history be part of the core curriculum, while my history is an elective that you can get rid of at any time. Well, we refuse to let you get rid of our Black history.”
He reminded the audience that beyond the best-known names and hashtags are many other children whose deaths receive little public attention. “There are a hundred more Trayvons and Jordans that we don’t even know,” he said.
Trayvon Martin’s brother, Jahvaris Fulton, stood to be recognized as Atty. Crump recalled Sybrina Fulton’s words after George Zimmerman was acquitted in her son’s killing: “We won’t let them define the legacy of Trayvon. We will define the legacy of Trayvon.”
“We all have to define the legacy of our Black children,” Atty. Crump said. “We never let them define our children’s legacy and existence.”
He also paid tribute to Kristen Clarke, who led the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division from 2021 to 2025 and is now the NAACP’s general counsel. Calling her “a true shero,” Atty. Crump credited the division’s work in federal civil rights cases tied to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.
Parents Carry the Fight Forward
Sybrina Fulton, who has spent more than a decade advancing her son’s legacy through the Trayvon Martin Foundation, spoke directly to the young men in the room. She explained that she has to look at her son who is no longer physically here and also her son who is alive and well. “I have to keep moving,” Ms. Fulton said.
“We’re going to continue to apply pressure. We’re going to continue to fight for you. We’re going to keep letting people know that our children matter. There seems to be some type of disconnect where certain people think their children matter, but ours don’t,” she said.
“Our young Black and Brown boys have a right to walk in peace, without being followed, chased, profiled or murdered,” she said. “If I’m not giving up with everything that I’ve been through, I’m not going to allow you guys to give up on your life.”
The Wells family’s search for answers gained new urgency after the forum. On Sept. 21, a Mississippi grand jury declined to bring charges in the July death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells. (See The Final Call Vol. 45, No. 52). His family continues to press for answers about the circumstances surrounding his death.
Atty. Crump closed by invoking Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s principle that everyone has a role in the struggle for justice. “We have to fight not just in the court of law, but also in the court of public opinion,” he said.
Rep. Wilson is leaving Congress after a public-service career that took her from the classroom to the school board, the Florida Legislature, and the U.S. Capitol. Her closing message emphasized continuation rather than farewell.
“I’m leaving. But I’m not going far,” she said. “I’ll still be working, working with the commission, working with the 5,000 Role Models, still running around,” Rep. Wilson continued.
“For years, these parents cried out for justice while too many people looked away. The Commission exists because America must pay attention to what is happening to Black men and boys. We will say their names.
We will listen to their families. We will tell their stories. Most importantly, we will continue fighting for a country where no parent has to bury a child because of racism, violence, or a system that failed to value his life.”
