Pictured are Samaria Rice, the mother of slain 12-year-old Cleveland police shooting victim Tamir Rice, and Tamir Rice himself (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com |
By Editor-in-Chief Kathy Wray Coleman, a-24-year journalist who trained at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio for 17 years, and who interviewed now President Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS. (Note: A former biology teacher and longtime Cleveland activist, Coleman is the most read reporter in Ohio on Google Plus with some 3.2 million views).
CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, Cleveland, Ohio- Activists and community members on Tuesday joined the family and friends of 12-year-old Cleveland police killing victim Tamir Rice, including Rice's mother, Samaria Rice, to remember Tamir relative to the second-year anniversary of the tragic fatal police shooting of the Black kid.
Supporters, led by Black Lives Matter Cleveland Chapter, gathered at the First District Police Station on Cleveland's largely White west side at 5 pm to address the unprecedented police killing, and its backlash, which has created racial unrest that is ongoing regarding heightened police murders in the majority Black major American city.
Activists actually began protesting at 6 am Tuesday morning for a day-long sit-in with first district police subsequently bolting the doors to keep out eight protesters that sought to secure the lobby.
Tamir Rice was playing with a toy gun at the Cudell Recreation Center, also on Cleveland's west side, when he was gunned down on Nov. 22, 2014 by Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann in less than two seconds, and following a 9-1-1 call of a child with a toy gun.
A county grand jury declined to indict Loehmann or his partner at the deadly scene, veteran police officer Frank Garmback. This was per lobbying by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty, who is White, and who lost reelection this year as some 70 percent of the Blacks of the 29 percent Black county voted against him in favor of Michael O'Malley, who takes office in January.
Samaria Rice, at a press conference with dozens of supporters who had blocked traffic in front of the first district police station where Loehmann and Garmback work, called for incoming county prosecutor O'Malley to push for indictments on criminal charges against the two White police officers, as well as three other demands.
The grieving Black mother, who attended the sit-in as early as 6 am, wants the cops that killed her son charged with aggravated murder.
"The people voted you in and the people will vote you out," said Samaria Rice of prosecutor O'Malley. "That stands for all public officials that fail to give the people of Cleveland accountability."
At least one area public official offered a response.
"There are two measurements of a public official, one is responsibility and how deeply he or she cares for the people, and the other is that without justice there is no real representation," state Rep. Bill Patmon (D-10), a Cleveland Democrat and former city councilman.
The remaining three demands, said Samaria Rice, are for the cops at issue to be immediately fired, for outgoing U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to prosecute the killer cops, and for some half million dollars in police resources recently allocated by Cleveland City Council to be reallocated to the majority Black and impoverished Cleveland school district.
"Our tax dollars are paying these killer pigs," said Samaria Rice of Cleveland police officers that gun down innocent people, including officers Loehmann and Garmback, both of whom have full support from the largely White Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, which is led by its president. the controversial Steve Loomis, who led union members in endorsing now President-elect Donald Trump.
Also targeted was Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, the city's three-term Black mayor, whom Samaria Rice said will be voted out of office next year unless he stands up.
The younger Rice joins a long line of Blacks killed by Cleveland police in the last five years, including Malissa Williams, Timothy Russell, Kenneth Smith, Tanisha Anderson, and Brandon Jones.
In 2015 the U.S. Department of Justice found systemic problems in the largely White Cleveland Police Department which culminated in a court monitored consent decree for police reforms.
The city of Cleveland settled an excessive force and wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Rice family for $6 million shortly before the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland this past summer.
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
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