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Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Wichitans rally in solidarity with Ferguson



Shouting "No cameras, no guns," about 100 people came to a Rally in Wichita, Tuesday night, in solidarity with protests in Ferguson MO, after a grand jury decided not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
"If they can't equip with cameras, they can't equip with guns," protesters chanted at the rally. This was in response to efforts to get the Wichita Police to wear body cameras at all times to make the police force more accountable for shootings. Presently, Wichita plans to equip every police officer with a body camera by the end of 2015, according to Rep. Gail Finney, D-Wichita.
Rioting broke out in Ferguson the night before this rally, but the Wichita rally was peaceful.
"They wouldn't act crazy if they would stop the killings," said AJ Bohannon, IGYB (I've Got Your Back), as he spoke to the crowd. "Police brutality is killing us... We don't have to act like animals. There are other ways...."
A Woman in the crowd pointed out that a child, Tamir Rice, with a toy gun was recently killed. Rice died in a Cleveland hospital after a police officers, responding to a 911 emergency call, confronted and shot him when he thought he had a toy gun.
Also in the crowd was Elisa Allen, sister of 26-year-old Icarus Randolph, a mentally ill Marine veteran who was shot in front of his home on July 4. She carried a poster with his picture on it.
"We have more police shootings than cities three to nine times our size," said Djuan Wash, Sunflower Community Action.
He suggested getting the Racial Profiling Advisory Board to get involved to try and stop these killings.
"Do nothing, change nothing," was another chant by the crowd.
Other rallies in solidarity were held in such cities as San Francisco, Denver, St. Louis and Philadelphia. There were several of such rallies in North Carolina.
In Ferguson the protests continued Tuesday night. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) ordered additional National Guard troops into the city.

AJ Bohannon addresses the crowd Tuesday night protesting in solidarity with those in Ferguson, MO.

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