Post by bistro on Jun 23, 2015 8:04:50 GMT -5
Families of Police Violence Victims Face Trauma Without Support
Jun 07, 2015 By Adam Hudson, Truthout www.truth-out.org/news/item/31197-families-of-murdered-black-men-deal-with-trauma-channel-anger
Ever since the killing of unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson last August, even the mainstream press has paid a significant amount of attention to the deadly police violence inflicted on Black and Brown people across the country. However, while the names of some shooting victims are well known, less attention is paid to the plight their families face. Families of police brutality victims experience a level of suffering that is typically ignored and misunderstood.
In April, a roundtable of families of police brutality victims gathered in Oakland to discuss their experiences. Cephus Johnson (also known as Uncle Bobby), the uncle of Oscar Grant - who was infamously killed by a BART police officer in 2009 - explained some of the tough questions that victims' family members wrestle with.
"We grow politically, as families," Johnson said. "When it first happened, you hear us always say, 'Don't be violent! Be peaceful. We're a peace-loving family. We don't want you to break no windows or burn down the building.' And obviously, that's how we feel. But as we keep getting kicked in the face and kicked in the face and kicked in the face and see a system that just don't care about us, you begin to say, 'I can't tell you how to respond. Respond in a way that you feel you need to get your point across. And I'm not going to condemn you if you break a window.' Because what is a window, a building [in comparison] to a life?"
Angela Naggie, the mother of O'Shaine Evans - a 26-year-old Black male from Oakland who was killed by San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) officers - burst into tears as she spoke about how hard it is to heal after her son's death. "I miss my child," she said as she cried. Evans was the youngest of five children.
"This is what families go through," explained Erica Garner, the daughter of Eric Garner (an unarmed Black man who was killed by New York City police last year by an illegal chokehold caught on tape), at the event. "This is what families go through. We might seem like we're strong but … it hurts." She added, "They exploit their deaths all over the media and we have to relive it everyday. So how can we, as family, heal if we continue to keep seeing our loved one die or the next one die or the next one die and ask for questions?" <more at the link>
Jun 07, 2015 By Adam Hudson, Truthout www.truth-out.org/news/item/31197-families-of-murdered-black-men-deal-with-trauma-channel-anger
Ever since the killing of unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson last August, even the mainstream press has paid a significant amount of attention to the deadly police violence inflicted on Black and Brown people across the country. However, while the names of some shooting victims are well known, less attention is paid to the plight their families face. Families of police brutality victims experience a level of suffering that is typically ignored and misunderstood.
In April, a roundtable of families of police brutality victims gathered in Oakland to discuss their experiences. Cephus Johnson (also known as Uncle Bobby), the uncle of Oscar Grant - who was infamously killed by a BART police officer in 2009 - explained some of the tough questions that victims' family members wrestle with.
"We grow politically, as families," Johnson said. "When it first happened, you hear us always say, 'Don't be violent! Be peaceful. We're a peace-loving family. We don't want you to break no windows or burn down the building.' And obviously, that's how we feel. But as we keep getting kicked in the face and kicked in the face and kicked in the face and see a system that just don't care about us, you begin to say, 'I can't tell you how to respond. Respond in a way that you feel you need to get your point across. And I'm not going to condemn you if you break a window.' Because what is a window, a building [in comparison] to a life?"
Angela Naggie, the mother of O'Shaine Evans - a 26-year-old Black male from Oakland who was killed by San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) officers - burst into tears as she spoke about how hard it is to heal after her son's death. "I miss my child," she said as she cried. Evans was the youngest of five children.
"This is what families go through," explained Erica Garner, the daughter of Eric Garner (an unarmed Black man who was killed by New York City police last year by an illegal chokehold caught on tape), at the event. "This is what families go through. We might seem like we're strong but … it hurts." She added, "They exploit their deaths all over the media and we have to relive it everyday. So how can we, as family, heal if we continue to keep seeing our loved one die or the next one die or the next one die and ask for questions?" <more at the link>