Protesters in D.C. Display Outrage over Recent Homicides

Commentary By Annette Crosby-Wright
The Truth Contributor

The latest protest march, organized in large part by Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network, took place this past Saturday in our nation's capital. I attended the event along with at least 50,000 other people. 

This particular march has been called by many names such as: The March for Justice, The March Against Police Brutality and the National Day of Resistance, to name a few. Similar protests took place in many other locales across the country. The murder of unarmed black men and children by white police officers has sparked the national outrage. 

I noticed a marked difference at Saturday's protest march that took place in Washington, DC. There were just as many people of other races as there were black people actively participating. I wondered if the major media outlets would show the diversity of this huge crowd. 

But in the next instance, I realized that there was really no way for any media to not show the racial diversity of the protestors. I asked one white gentleman why he was attending the march and he simply responded "Black lives matter, all lives matter." 

The march began at Freedom Plaza and proceeded onto Capitol Hill. Once the protestors arrived at the Capitol, they were told that members of Congress were on break but that their message about police brutality and a broken judicial system was nonetheless being heard.  However, some members of Congress were indeed on Capitol Hill voting on the passage of a $1.1 trillion spending bill. 

One could wonder...how much money was allocated to police training/community policing, youth employment, or financial assistance for education or other residual factors that could only help decrease violence in all communities?  But I digress.

There were many speakers at the protest march. However, a few were markedly more effective in communicating their pain, frustration and utter disappointment in the what, when, why and how's that caused the murders of their loved ones. 

The mother of Amadou Diallo, Kadiatou Diallo, spoke quite clearly and very passionately about the murder of her son who was struck with 19 of the 41 bullets officers shot at him, "mistaking him for a rapist" back in February 1999. 

Her remarks not only critiqued the insanity of her son's murder but she reminded everyone of the injustice of the judicial system by displaying a Time Magazine cover from the year 2000 which read "Cops, Brutality, and Race? published after the officers who murdered her son were acquitted.  

Acquitted.! Just like George Zimmerman who murdered Trayvon Martin.  Acquitted! Just like Darren Wilson who murdered Michael Brown. Acquitted! Just like Daniel Pantaleo who murdered Eric Gardner. Acquitted! Just like Paul Headly, Michael Carey, Marc Cooper, Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver who fired a total of 50 shots killing Shaun Bell and injuring two of his friends.  Acquitted like_________________ you can fill in the blank yourself.

John Crawford, Jr.'s son, John Crawford III was killed by police officers while in Walmart. The senior Mr. Crawford spoke as someone who works within the criminal justice system. A system that has caused him great shame and a pain that no parent should ever endure. 

His remarks left a lasting echo in the minds of many of those in attendance when he stated and restated that his son was murdered in "Walmart - WALMART!"  And that Walmart had not offered even a simple condolence, nor would Walmart release the store's surveillance footage. 

The youth of the movement, known as Millennials, played a large and noteworthy role in Saturday's rally. Although a few Millennial groups seemed fed up with peaceful demonstrations and protests, their passion and conviction to effect social and judicial change could not be ignored. 

Leighton Watson, president of the Howard University Student Association, delivered a powerful message that encompassed a wide range of the obvious fears and disappointments felt by young Americans. He concluded his remarks with a quote from Malcolm X "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it."

There was one lone, elected official who spoke Saturday.  Democratic Texas Congressman Al Green listed a number of actions that would be taken up by the Congressional Black Caucus, including mandating police body cameras: 

"I have introduced H.R. 5407, the Transparency in Policing Act (TIP) of 2014, which would require state and local law enforcement agencies that receive funds from the Department of Justice to acquire body cameras for use by their law enforcement officers,” said Green. “Although this bill is not a panacea, it is a significant step in the right direction. I believe that having our officers wear body cameras can bring much-needed additional transparency to communities in many future controversial police/civilian actions." 

The irony of this legislation is that cameras had indeed captured some of these murders and still no indictments were brought. 

After the march, many participants spoke of economic boycotts and pressuring the White House and Congress to change the judicial process that allows what some people feel is a "too close for rationale relationship" between state prosecutors, grand juries and police officers to decide whether or not to indict police officers.

  Others suggested that no change in the system would be necessary if the races in these cases were reversed, i.e. black police officers shooting unarmed white people. 

Fifty-one years ago, in August 1963, a black man sat in a Birmingham jail and there he penned a letter. In that letter he made a number of observations. One that readily comes to mind, in light of these countless strings of non-indictments against white police officers who murder unarmed black people is this: "I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice."

In the prophetic and immortal words of Marvin Gaye "Make's me wanna holler, throw up both my hands...what's going on?"

Copyright © 2014 by [The Sojourner's Truth]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 08/16/18 14:12:29 -0700.

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