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Trayvon Martin’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, spoke out this morning for the first time about last weekend’s George Zimmerman verdict.

Tracy Martin told Today‘s Matt Lauer:

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"We felt in our hearts that we were going to get a conviction. We thought that the killer of our unarmed child was going to be convicted of the crime that he committed."

Added Fulton, "I think (the legal system) failed Trayvon to a certain degree. I think we let the process take its course. We didn’t get the verdict that we were looking for."

"Our focus has continued to change. First it was for the arrest, then it was for a conviction. So now we’ve moved on to a different focus, but yes, I think we were disappointed."

 

Martin then added, "I just didn’t understand how can you let the killer of an unarmed child go free. What would your verdict have been had it been your child?"

"There’s no winners in this case. It’s just I want them to put themselves in our shoes."

Fulton noted that the verdict sends "a terrible message to other little black and brown boys that you can’t walk fast, you can’t walk slow, so what do they do?"

"How do you get home without people knowing or either assuming that you’re doing something wrong? Trayvon wasn’t doing anything wrong."

As for whether or not Trayvon’s parents can ever forgive Zimmerman, Martin simply said, "I think that the forgiveness is like a healing process."

"Forgiveness takes time. The Bible says that you have to forgive and forget, but the healing process is a long process and the forgiving process is a long process."

What do you think of the Zimmerman verdict? Did the jury get it right?