DETROIT—Dozens of families impacted
by police violence convened the first
Families United 4 Justice (FU4J) gathering
at St. Andrews Church at Wayne State University
in Detroit.
Wearing t-shirts and caps depicting images
of their loved ones killed in police,
vigilante, and systematic violence, some 50
families traveled from cities including Houston,
Los Angeles, St. Louis, New York, Las
Vegas, and Phoenix to attend the June 15-18
event.
Their collective vision is to build a united
nationwide movement of families affected
by police violence and work at the forefront
of the anti-police brutality movement.
Kenneth Chamberlain, Jr., whose father,
a 68-year-old retired Marine veteran and
correction officer, was killed by police in
White Plains, New York, opened in prayer.
Akubundu Amazu of Oakland, Calif.,
poured libations during a traditional African
ceremony honoring their ancestors.
“This is organized for families, by families.
This is for us, by us,” said Beatrice X,
co-founder of the Love Not Blood Campaign.
She applauded the families for making
the journey for their loved ones.
Her husband and gathering co-organizer,
Cephus “Uncle Bobby” X Johnson represented
for his nephew, Oscar Grant, III., and
families from the West Coast.
After a Bay Area Rapid Transit officer
killed his nephew on New Year’s Day 2009,
he promised to work to develop a vehicle of
support for families, so no one would have to
ever experience what his sister Wanda, and
their family endured again.
“No one wants to be a part of this club,
but when you become a part of it, it’s traumatizing.
It’s crippling, and you just don’t
know what to do, where to go for help, and
this will be an opportunity for families to
have some direction, from families that have
already experienced it—not just from some
clinical psychologist or some activist that’s
been involved in the campaign, but from
families that personally have been through
it,” Mr. Johnson continued.
Each participant was given a Families
Affected by Police Violence Workbook to
complete throughout the day. It represented
the future toolkit that would be made available
to individuals facing similar ordeals
throughout the country.
It was a collaborative effort between advocates
Mr. Johnson, Yolanda McNair, Ms.
Vanissa “Nissa” Chan, Karintha Tervalon,
and Oja Vincent.
Ms. McNair, president of Protect Our
Stolen Treasures (P.O.S.T.), attended in the
name of her daughter Adaisha. According
to Ms. McNair, she was shot by an off-duty
police officer, at his home, while celebrating
at a party the day before her 25th birthday.
The case “was suspended, because the
city went into bankruptcy, and then the prosecutor
closed the case while it was suspended,”
Ms. McNair told The Final Call.
“I’m going to keep fighting for my daughter.
There was no clean investigation done.
They didn’t follow protocol, procedures, or
policy when it came to the officer. They gave
him preferential treatment. They put him on
the desk for 2-1/2 months, and put him right
back out on the street, before they even finished
the investigation that they were calling
themselves conducting,” she continued.
Ms. Chan, co-organizer of Families United,
embraced families during her welcome
address. She told them that the workbook
and future toolkit they were helping to formulate
by telling their stories, along with
best practices, and skills to navigate the
criminal justice system, is dedicated to Cynthia
“Moses” Ruth Howell, the niece of a police
violence victim, Alberta Spruill.
She died of cardiac arrest on May 16,
2003, after 12 police officers broke down her
door, threw a stun-grenade at her, and handcuffed
her. When they realized they had the
wrong apartment, she was dead.
“I’ve been supporting families for the last
eight to 10 years, so this is something I care
very much about in terms of advocacy. … I
just believe that it’s my duty as a citizen to
care for other human beings, and make other
people aware that if we don’t talk about this,
it’s just going to keep happening,” said Ms.
Chan.
Atty. Angel Harris of the NAACP Legal
Defense Fund and civil rights attorney
Adante Pointer of Oakland gave the families
guidance, which included information on
how to change legal standards, the importance
of having community members on jury
pools, and how to ensure special prosecutors
can cover their cases.
Atty. Pointer encouraged families to take
the lead and get to the scene, but also counter
all of the bad things—true or not—that
police and media may say about their loved
ones.
“As soon as they identify who was injured,
killed, murdered by the police, as soon
as that name comes out, the next thing that’s
going to come out is any type of criminal
record they have, whether or not they were
intoxicated, whether or not they hung with
somebody in fifth grade and did something
bad, those are going to be the first things that
come out,” Atty. Pointer said.
The conference included workshops on
issues on racial justice, community organizing,
legal strategies, addressing shock, and
how to deal with the media. Later, participants
broke into healing sessions, which included
yoga, and healing techniques, including
reiki, acupuncture, and massages.
People wept in another session focused
on community organizing as they told and
heard stories of how police killings have and
continue to impact them and their families.
They pled for communities to stay with them
after the initial incidents, through court appearances
and other processes they called
lonely.
Hawa Bah shared that her son Mohamad,
a college student, got sick in 2012.
She called for an ambulance, but the police
responded first. She said they knocked on
the door; Mohamad answered, and told them
they knocked on the wrong door, and to go
away.
“They told me don’t worry, we’ll take
care of it,” she said. “They broke the door.
Three people shot up my son,” she continued.
Ms. Bah said she was so glad to meet
the other families, and asked them to come
and support her for an upcoming June 29
hearing.
Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr. was killed by
police in his home after he inadvertently
triggered the emergency alert pendant worn
around his neck. He suffered from a pulmonary
disease, his son, Kenneth, Jr. said.
According to Mr. Chamberlain, Jr., his father
told them he didn’t call them, and closed
the door, but for 93 minutes, they banged on
the door, and mocked his military service.
“At one point he says, ‘I tell you I’m
okay.’ You hear a police officer say, “I
don’t give a f—k, n——r. Open the door.’
At that point, the people try to cancel the
call,” he said. But the police refused, took
the door off the hinges, knocked it down, and
fired an electronic taser at his father. They
shot him after hitting him with a bean bag
shotgun three times, claiming he attacked an
officer with a knife, he stated.
There was no outrage from public officials,
and no indictment, he said. “So, I’ve
become a target, walking down the street,”
he said, as he wept openly.
Allen Kwabena Frimpong of Movement
Net Lab, a consulting cooperative in Brooklyn
and organizer with Black Lives Matter
New York spearheaded the campaign to
raise money to bring the families to Detroit.
“What we’re able to create here with the
$38,000 plus dollars that we were able to
raise was the experience for families to be
able to heal, connect with one other, build
solutions and strategies around how they’re
organizing together, and building mutual aid
and support for each other,” Mr. Frimpong
said.
Mothers with Protect Our Stolen Treasures welcomes
families to Detroit.
Several families with sketches of their loved ones during the Families United 4 Justice Network gathering
in Detroit, June 15-18.
Photos: Charlene Muhammad