Paramount's 'Rest in Power' explores 'The Trayvon Martin Story'

A documentary series premiering this week on Paramount Network recalls a tragic shooting that gave rise to a national rallying cry that still resonates today.

In “Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story,” premiering with the first of six parts Monday, July 30, filmmakers Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason look back at the 2012 shooting death of Martin, an unarmed African-American 17-year-old, by George Zimmerman, a mixed-race neighborhood watch member in a gated Sanford, Florida, community. That fatal encounter and the subsequent trial polarized the country, sparked outrage and protests and brought issues of race, politics, money, power and gun control into the cold light of day.

Zimmerman eventually would be acquitted of a second-degree murder charge because of Florida's Stand Your Ground Law, as he claimed that he shot Martin in self-defense. But that didn't put the case to rest, as the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement would attest.

“The fact that Stand Your Ground Law exists put a whole shadow over the entire investigation and the case,” explains co-director Nason. “Stand Your Ground basically allows shooters to use fear as a justification for murder. It broadly defines self-defense laws in this country. ...

“It's a complicated law, Stand Your Ground, but actually in a sense it's simple,” she continues. “The complication of it is the way it's interpreted for what type of person, I think. And I think that people of color statistically claim it as a defense as much as white people. So this is a complication and a nuance and really the injustice we're trying to highlight.”

The series brings together many moving parts, using interviews with Martin's parents Tracy and Sybrina, law enforcement officials, politicians, lawyers, civil rights activists and others, along with home videos, family photos and news footage to give an intimate look at a life cut tragically short and dissect a case that would give way to a national uproar.

“People were very polarized and very stubborn about their opinions of this case,” Nason says of some of the interviewees, “and I think that through our in-depth reporting we really got to have time with people to examine the stiffness in people's consciousness and get into the more vulnerability part of really why somebody has such a black-and-white point of view. And I think through our interviews, we got to see more of a sensitivity to people owning up to certain aspects that they actually keep as a facade from themselves even.”

“We want viewers to see how vulnerable people of color in this country are,” she continues, “and we need to examine how these systems of racism and oppression are disguised in everyday life. ... We hope that the series can touch a lot of people.”

“Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story”

Premieres at 9 p.m. Monday, July 31, on Paramount Network