The family of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy who was killed on November 22, 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio, called for a national day of action on the anniversary of this vicious act of terrorism.
Community members concerned about police brutality in Sacramento came out to stand in solidarity with Cleveland and to call for justice for all victims of state terror.
Tamir Rice will not be forgotten, as his death is a prime example of the particularly heavy hand used by police when dealing with youth. Many of the people who spoke with Liberation News noted that his is not just something that happens in bigger cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, or San Francisco.
Smaller cities in California’s Central Valley such as Sacramento, Stockton, and Merced also face rampant police corruption and abuse of authority.
Earlier this year in Stockton a Black teenager was put in a chokehold and brutalized simply for crossing the street to catch his bus.
In Sacramento, two boys who were playing around chasing each other with
sticks at the light rail station were treated with unnecessary force prompting community outrage. On a daily basis Black and Brown youth are harassed by Sacramento PD and Sheriff who act with impunity on our streets.
When confronted about the level of disrespect shown by officers to the community, those in charge advocate for better communication and cooperation with the same law enforcement agencies responsible for these injustices. This is just another attempt to ignore the problem, which is racism and white supremacy, in order to continue strengthening the institutions of mass incarceration and occupation.
What we need is community control, not cooperation, with police forces who for decades have been responsible for the systematic murder of our people. Only when killer cops are held in the same cages they place us in on a daily basis will there begin to be a change in police conduct. This pressure is possible as a mass movement against police brutality and mass incarceration is growing in response to the intensified militarization of law enforcement.
Jail killer cops! Fire racist cops! No more police terror and occupation! End mass incarceration!
STOP CRIMINALIZING OUR YOUTH!
