FLINT, MI -- Flint youth and community supporters gathered Thursday, April 15, to speak out against violence across the nation.
Days after another Black man was shot by police just miles from where Goerge Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, a small group of youths and community members gathered at the Church Without Walls on Flint’s North Side.
Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was unarmed and fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic stop Sunday, April 11, in suburban Minneapolis. The shooting happened as the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin over Floyd’s death continued.
As a young Black man, Kameron Motley, 17, of Flint, said he is constantly in fear.
“Recently I had the experience of being followed home by someone early in the morning,” Motley said. “I was followed home after dropping my sister off at the bus stop and he tells me I look funny. In that moment I was scared for my life.”
Heavens Gurrola, 14, of Flint said she is afraid for her 8-year-old brother’s life. He is autistic and biracial.
When Gurrola’s brother doesn’t understand something, he will laugh, she said.
“It is a contagious, beautiful fit of laughter right now,” Gurrola said. “But will the police think that same thing when he’s older? Or will they look at the color of his skin and look at his curly hair and assume that he is a threat?”
Black Americans with disabilities who are suffering a mental health crisis have a history of dying at the hands of police, Gurrola said, listing names like Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Tanisha Anderson, Deborah Danner, Ezell Ford, Alfred Olango and Keith Lamont Scott.
“Judge, jury, executioner, none of these words define the meaning of police officer, none of these words describe an officer’s duty,” Gurrola said. “I’m a kid and I can see there needs to be a change made. I’m a kid and the only thing I have to fight with is my voice, so please hear me.”
Flint community organizer Kenyetta Dotson was approached by the youths who wanted to organize an event where they could speak out and call for a better future.
“We did not see our leaders come on TV to bring us comfort,” Dotson said.
Dotson said it is important to recognize the killing of Black people in the United States is a systematic issue. People cannot act like it’s normal.
“This is not a Minnesota problem, it’s not a Flint problem, it’s not a Baltimore problem -- this is not a city problem alone,” Dotson said. “This is an all of us problem. This is an America problem. We have to address this together as a nation, as a people, as a city, as a family.”
Read more on MLive:
Flint grapples with pandemic-fueled surge in homicides, crime
Kalamazoo activists, officials gather to denounce fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright
Daunte Wright shooting: More clashes in Minnesota after police shoot, kill Black man
Man who exchanged gunfire with Flint police charged with 18 felonies
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