Militant/Ilona Gersh

Some 5,000 people rally July 5 against the killing of Frederick Finley, a 32-year-old Black man who was choked to death by a mall security guard in a mostly white suburb. Another protest is planned for July 17.

Media estimates of the crowd ranged from 5,000 to 10,000, as the mall parking lots were jammed with vehicles and nearby roads gridlocked. Some people never got to the rally because of the congestion.

Finley, 32, was choked to death by a security guard outside of Lord and Taylor June 22, according to family members and press reports. Finley and his family had just left the store when plainclothes security guards stopped and began to arrest his 11-year-old daughter, accusing her of shoplifting a bracelet she was wearing. Finley, trying to prevent the guards from arresting her, was grabbed in a chokehold, and thrown to the ground, witnesses report.

One guard is said to have put his knee on Finley's neck, while another handcuffed him, rendering him unconscious. While near death, Finley received rough treatment. A Dearborn cop reported that when he arrived on the scene, a security guard was on top of Finley, who was lying face down on the ground, and was handcuffed in the front.

According to the written report, the cop got up, and "then yanked the Black male suspect off the ground, stating 'Get the f--up,' and then dropped him back down on the ground. The Black male suspect on the ground was still unresponsive." The hospital confirmed that Finley died of asphyxiation.  
 
'$4=death'
The family denies that there was an attempt to steal the bracelet. They had just spent more than $200 in the store, and were still carrying more than $600 in cash. They say that they had forgotten about the $4 bracelet the daughter had put on her wrist.

Picket signs at the rally read, "$4 =death," "Finley family--you are not alone," "Justice is not for sale," "No justice, no peace," "No justice, no profits," and "Life is worth more than $4." Two larger-than-life photos of Malcolm X were held high.

A little boy sitting on his father's shoulders wore a sign that said "Death penalty." Speakers at the rally included Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Dick Gregory, Martin Luther King III, Detroit NAACP president Wendall Anthony, Congressman John Conyers, and attorney Geoffrey Fieger, the lawyer representing the Finley family in a $600 million lawsuit against Lord and Taylor and Fairlane Mall. Family members stood on the stage. The speakers reflected the angry reaction in Detroit to the killing of Finley.

Detroit, which is overwhelmingly Black, is surrounded by mostly white suburbs. In recent months the news has reported dozens of incidents of police harassment and brutality directed against Detroit residents who are Black. It is common for drivers who are Black to be pulled over by the cops while passing through the predominantly white suburbs. This has become known as a DWB (driving while Black) incident.

One participant in the rally was Bob Cracchiolo, a retired UAW member who decided to protest such harassment near another suburban mall in Eastpointe. Cracchiolo, who is white, faces numerous charges as a result of his picketing.

"I'm here because this could have been my husband, my son, or my daughter," one woman told this reporter. A young man said, "It could have been me. Security guards are just private cops. There's no telling what they will do when they stop someone who is Black. They can get out of hand."

"The cops are judge, jury, and executioner all in one," said an elderly man who said he was active in the civil rights movement of the late 1950s and 1960s. "They decided he was guilty. Finley got the death penalty. The crime? Shoplifting." "It's time for us all to stand up against racism," said another participant. "This rally shows we can be strong."

Pointing to other cases of police brutality, Jesse Jackson opened the rally by pointing out, "What happened here could have happened anywhere in the country."

"This is not about shoplifting. This is about murder," said Al Sharpton. He announced plans for a second rally, on Monday, July 17 at noon, which will take place at the federal building in downtown Detroit. The rally will demand a federal investigation into the killing of Finley.

U.S. Congressman John Conyers announced that he had called U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to ask for a federal investigation of Lord and Taylor, Fairlane Mall, and the city of Dearborn.  
 
Racist history
Several references by speakers at the rally pointed to the segregationist past practices of city officials in Dearborn to explain the racial profiling that they said led to the deadly attack upon Finley. Mayor Orville Hubbard, who held office from 1942–78, was a staunch anticommunist and racist. The policies of his administration supported the interests of the biggest employer in Dearborn, the Ford Motor Company.

Dearborn, the site of the world headquarters of Ford Motor Company, was built as a segregated city for whites. Ford resisted unionization of it's workforce for longer than all the other big auto manufacturers.

During World War II, the federal government attempted to build housing projects in Dearborn to address a housing shortage. Twelve thousand Blacks worked in war production in Dearborn, but only a few dozen lived in the city.

Besides calling for the prosecution of the guards who killed Finley and a federal investigation, speakers at the rally called for a boycott of Lord and Taylor and the Fairlane Mall.

Store owners there report that sales dropped by up to 50 percent in the week following the killing.

The day after the rally, one of the guards, Dennis Richardson, was arraigned in the 19th District Court in Dearborn and charged with involuntary manslaughter.

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office announced that no one else will be charged.  
 
 
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