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WASHINGTON — Several hundred protesters joined two dozen mothers of young men killed by police across the country to march to the Justice Department May 9, waiting nearly an hour until officials came out to speak with leaders of the action, then rallied in a nearby park.
“My son Joseph N. Cooper Jr., who was 21 years old, was killed here by an off-duty police officer in 1995,” Lorita Geddie, who carried a photo of her son, told the Militant. A large contingent came from Milwaukee, including Maria Hamilton, organizer of the event, whose son Dontre was killed by cops there April 30, 2014; Andrea Irwin, whose son Tony Robinson was shot seven times and killed by Madison cop Matthew Kenny March 6; and Sonya Moore, whose son Derek Williams was killed by a Milwaukee cop in the back of a squad car in 2010. On May 12 hundreds protested in Madison, Wisconsin, after Dane County district attorney Ismael Ozanne announced no charges would be filed against Kenny. “This is not over,” Irwin told the crowd. Protesters yelled back, “This is not over!” Comfort Oludipe held a large photo of her son Emmanuel Okutuga, killed by Montgomery County, Maryland, police in 2011. Iris Baez, Hawa Bah and Juanita Young, mothers of men killed by the New York police, drove here for the two days of activity. Heidi Keilbaugh came from Salt Lake City to protest the police killing of her partner James Barker while he was shoveling snow Jan. 8. Other contingents came from St. Louis and Silver Spring and Prince Georges County, Maryland. |
| — MAGGIE TROWE |