VIDEOS ARE LINKED AND NOT EMBEDDED DUE TO THEIR GRAPHIC CONTENT. VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED.
Remember Their Names
This page is dedicated to those killed by the police and failed by the justice system. We must continue to remember their names and fight for the justice they deserve. Their lives mattered. When you try to make excuses for why police kill unarmed black individuals, you take part in obstructing justice- you bury their stories.
"There are very few African American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me. There are very few African American men who haven’t had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me—at least before I was a senator."
-Barack Obama
George Floyd
George was at a shop buying cigarettes when the clerk called 911 because he had allegedly paid with a counterfeit $20 bill. At 8:08pm officer Derek Chauvin arrived on scene with 3 other officers. They drew a gun on him and pulled him from his car- with claims that he resisted arrest. (There is video evidence that proves this is false) .Then the police claim he fell to the ground and refused to get up. When he eventually gets in the car, they immediately pull him handcuffed from his seat face first into the concrete. This is when officer Chauvin proceeded to place his knee on George’s head and neck- for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. George repeatedly yelled out “I can’t breathe” and he called for his “Mama” the whole time. Only after Mr. Floyd was dead, did they call for an ambulance.
Derek Chauvin, has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. The three other officers at the scene - Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao - were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
"Daddy changed the world"- Gianna Floyd, his daughter.
October 14 1973- May 25 2020
Trayvon Martin
17 year old Trayvon Martin left his house one day in February to walk to the corner store and get skittles and iced tea. As he was leaving his house, George Zimmerman, a man apart of the neighborhood watch noticed Trayvon and called the police reporting a "suspicious" guy. Dispatch told Zimmerman not to pursue, and to leave him alone. He didn't listen. Moments later shots rang out and the confrontation ended with the unarmed Trayvon dead less than a hundred yards away from his house. When the police arrived, Zimmerman claimed it was self defense- and was allowed to leave. Only when protests were held nationwide and when President Obama said “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.” was anything done about the murder of this child.
Zimmerman was charged with second degree murder on April 11, 2012. On July 13, after deliberating for 16 hours over two days, a jury of six women found Zimmerman not guilty.
"My child was profiled,He was stereotyped. We aren’t letting our son die in vain.”- Trayvon's Father
February 5, 1995- February 25, 2012
​​
Breonna Taylor
Breonna Taylor was a 26 year old EMT asleep in her bed with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker when the police entered her apartment with a battering ram. The police were investigating two men who they believed were selling drugs out of a house that was far from Ms. Taylor’s home. But a judge had also signed a warrant allowing the police to search Ms. Taylor’s residence because the police said they believed that one of the two men had used her apartment to receive packages. The judge’s order was a so-called no-knock warrant, which allowed the police to enter without warning or without identifying themselves as law enforcement.Since they did not announce themselves, Kenneth Walker grabbed his registered firearm to defend his home from who he thought was invaders. Shots were fired from both Walker and the police, and in the chaos Breonna was shot 8 times while she laid in her bed. One officer was shot in the leg, but is expected to make a full recovery. In a 911 call just after the shots were fired, Mr. Walker told a dispatcher that “somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend." They found no drugs in her house after the dust settled
​
The police tried to charge Kenneth Walker with attempted murder of a police officer, but the charge was cleared last month. The police who murdered Breonna have not been charged.
​
“She had a whole plan on becoming a nurse and buying a house and then starting a family.... Breonna had her head on straight, and she was a very decent person. She didn’t deserve this. She wasn’t that type of person.” - Breonna's mother, Tamika Palmer
June 5, 1993- March 13, 2020
Philando Castile
Philando was a 26 year old man driving with his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds and her four-year-old daughter when at 9:00 p.m. their vehicle was pulled over by Officer Jeronimo Yanez and another officer. After being asked for his license and registration, Castile told Officer Yanez that he had a firearm- he was licensed to carry. To which Yanez replied, "Don't reach for it then", and Castile said "I'm, I, I was reaching for..." Yanez said "Don't pull it out", Castile replied "I'm not pulling it out". After going back in forth, Yanez then shot at Castile at close range seven times, hitting him five times. Castile died at 9:37 p.m. at Hennepin County Medical Center, about 20 minutes after being shot. Reynolds recorded the interaction after on facebook live.
​
Yanez was charged with second-degree manslaughter and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm.After five days of deliberation, he was acquitted of all charges on June 16, 2017 in a jury trial.
​
"No amount of money can change what happened, bring Philando back, or erase the pain that my daughter and I continue to suffer..." -Diamond Reynolds
July 16, 1983- July 6, 2016
Sandra Bland
Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old black activist, since she was found hanged in a Texas police cell in July 2015 after she was arrested during a traffic stop. She was pulled over by trooper Brian T. Encinia for failing to signal during a lane change. After he took her information he began to question why she looked irritated. She proceeded to tell him, and the situation escalated quickly when Encina told her to get out the car. Ms. Bland refused, and demanded to be told why she was being arrested to which the officer replied "Get out of the car! I will light you up!". She agreed and said "Let's take this to court".
​
Ms. Bland was booked and placed in a housing area for women in the one-story Waller County Jail. Three days later, on July 13, a guard making rounds found her hanging in her 15-by-20-foot cell. It was ruled a suicide- despite Sandra's friends and family proclaiming she would never kill herself. Social Media began to speculate on her death when shown her mug shot- many are convinced she is already dead in her mugshot. They believe this because of her appearance in the picture, her lack of civilian clothes, and the similarities between the background and the color of her cell floor.
​
Encinia was indicted for perjury for making false statements about the circumstances surrounding Bland's arrest and he was subsequently fired by the Texas Department of Public Safety. The case has not been reopened despite the common belief being she was killed by the police and they covered it up.
​
“We can’t help but get pissed off when we see situations where it’s clear that black life didn’t matter.”- Sandra
February 7, 1987- July 13, 2015
​
Freddie Gray
There is speculation about what happened to Freddie Gray when he was arrested. A court document says that Gray had "fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence". It also said that Gray "was arrested without force or incident" when confronted by officers Garrett E. Miller and Edward M. Nero . Yet the state attorney Marilyn Mosby states that Gray was illegally arrested, assaulted and falsely accused of carrying an illegal switchblade. The police stated they found the knife in his pocket after he had be detained, but Mosby also said it was a legal knife, and no means for arrest.
Gray can be heard screaming repeatedly before a police van arrives to take him away. Ms Mosby said his arms had been handcuffed behind his back and that his requests for his inhaler had been ignored. The officers had then loaded him "on his stomach head first into the wagon", without the use of a seatbelt. Officer Miller's document says that Gray "suffered a medical emergency" while he was being transported and that he was "immediately transported to Shock Trauma via medic".He arrived in a critical condition. His spine was 80% severed at his neck. After his death a coroner concluded that it could not be ruled an accident- but instead a homicide.
​
On September 12, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would not bring federal charges against the six Baltimore police officers involved in the arrest and in-custody death of Freddie Gray.
"Running while black is not probable cause"-Billy Murphy, Gray Family lawyer
August 16, 1989- April 19, 2015