Consider This from NPR - The Lasting Impact Of Police Brutality On Black Families

Episode Date: April 5, 2023

Black Americans are killed by police at more than twice the rate of White Americans. And there's a growing number of Black families who have to live with the pain of losing a loved one at the hands of police.NPR's Juana Summers speaks with two women who have been living that reality for years.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for NPR and the following message come from the Kauffman Foundation, providing access to opportunities that help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity, regardless of race, gender, or geography. Kauffman.org Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, was shot down by a white neighborhood watchman who claimed self-defense. This one involves the video seen around the world by now, showing a man named Eric Garner being taken down by mostly plainclothes police officers while being placed under arrest. One of the officers employed a chokehold. Latest on Sandra Bland, the woman who was found dead in a Texas jail cell three days after being arrested during a traffic stop.

It's a story that is unfortunately familiar to many Americans. We turn now to yet another police-involved killing. 16-year-old Micaiah Bryant shot dead by Columbus, Ohio, police officer... New developments about the killing of a man in his own apartment by an off-duty Dallas police officer who thought she was at her own apartment. First responders in Colorado are facing 32 combined charges in the death of Elijah McClain. The 23-year-old died in police custody. Case after case showing how police brutality has disproportionately affected black people in this country. Black Americans make up less than 14% of the U.S. population, yet make up about 27% of the people killed by police. To put it another

way, Black Americans are killed by police at more than twice the rate of white Americans. It's a pattern that has sparked countless protests in recent years here in the U.S. and globally. One of the latest victims of police brutality was Ivo Otieno. The 28-year-old black man was killed in custody at a Virginia psychiatric hospital in March. Otieno died after 10 people piled on top of him for more than 11 minutes during the hospital intake process. This boy wasn't hurting nobody. He had a sickness, an illness. And if you were not equipped or trained to deal with the illness, then you should not have showed up to answer the call. The Reverend Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy at Otieno's funeral. He is by now a familiar voice at funerals and standing beside the families of Black

people killed in police custody. We try to give them full services because I think that people don't realize nobody signed up to be the next victim or the next family member of a victim. I chose to do what I do and been doing it all my life. They didn't choose this. I am talking to families now that I've worked on their situations 30 years ago, and the media is gone. And then sometimes the community has calmed down, but they will never be the same. You might not come back from a situation like this mentally, spiritually, physically. Police terrorism, it destroys families. For me, I get strength by speaking out, by fighting.

Consider this. When individual cases of police brutality fade out of the news, families who lost their loved ones are left to pick up the pieces. Coming up, I speak with two women who have been living that reality. From NPR, I'm Juana Summers. It's Wednesday, April 5th. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today, or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply.

It's Consider This from NPR. I spoke with two women who know the heartbreak of losing a loved one to police brutality. And now, they know each other. Before we get started, I don't think I had the pleasure of meeting Princess, and if I do, I don't remember. Yes, Ms. Price, I'm sending much love to you and positive energy and support to you and your family. Thank you. You as well. That's Samaria Rice and Princess Blanding. In 2014, police in Cleveland shot and killed Rice's 12-year-old son, Tamir.

He'd been playing with a toy pistol. The officers involved in the shooting avoided federal charges in a case that made national headlines. Princess Blanding is the sister of Marcus David Peters. Officers shot and killed him in Richmond, Virginia during a mental health crisis in 2018. Blanding helped pass a state law named after Marcus, even though she says it doesn't do enough to push her police accountability. She remains an outspoken activist. We brought both women together on Zoom and over the phone to reflect on this moment and what it's been like since their lives were torn apart. I started with Samaria Rice, and I asked her how she's feeling eight years after

her son Tamir was shot and killed. A lot of sadness and disappointment, heartache and pain. A lot of rage and very emotional. Nobody in America could tell me why I don't have an indictment for my 12-year-old son that was murdered by a Cleveland police officer. So that's kind of how I'm doing these days. I have my good and bad days. It's not easy. And Princess, May will mark five years since Marcus was killed. What's on your mind when you think about that? You know, I must echo some of the things that Ms. Rice said, you

know, the pain will never go away. It will never go away. That day is ingrained in my brain and May is coming up again. So every birthday, every May, it's that void being put in your face that your loved one, in this case, that my brother Marcus David Peters will never come back again. And I am very unapologetically a mad Black woman. The system has given me and quite frankly, all Black people reasons to be mad Black men and women. And to make matters worse, last January, I lost yet another brother at the hand of police, but this time in New Jersey. So it's like the pain doesn't end, whether it's my loved ones, you know, or it's, you know, Tamir Rice, you know, whether it's Tyree other names that are often invoked when it comes to the deaths of Black Americans at the hands of police. What has that experience been like for you? Same question and the same feelings over the past, you know, couple of weeks after the other young man, Mr. Ivo, was killed here in Virginia.

And the reason why that came back to mind is because this young man was experiencing a mental health crisis as well. The little attention that my brother's case did get was because we didn't back down, you know, because the media put out the message, crazy black man, you know, and tried to make immediately the victim the criminal. And what I'll say is that, you know, from the lack of coverage, you know, from me kind of getting into the frying pan with these players, I understand how this political system works. So it doesn't surprise me anymore. Samaria, your son's death garnered a good deal of national attention. It is a story that many of us have heard and sat with. I wonder if you can share a little bit about what it was like to be thrust into this incredibly massive spotlight while you were grieving your loss? It was horrific. It was horrible. I had two children still in school in this process. And I was given ultimatums to do this and do that and

very overwhelming because I'm still a mom and I still have two children and I just had a new grandbaby and my oldest daughter. So again, to be thrust in the limelight, it wasn't easy. It was not easy. It's never going to be easy. You might not come back from a situation like this mentally, spiritually, physically. Police terrorism, it destroys families. Me and my family have PTSD to this day, and America should be ashamed of themselves. There's no liberty and justice for no one that's Black in this country or Brown. I'd like to invite both of you to weigh in on what's happened nationally since you lost Tamir and Marcus. As we sit here, there has still not been federal police reform passed. To each of you,

what do you want federal authorities to know? Samaria, I'll start with you. I think the DOJ is very cowardly and the whole administration up there, they have blood on their hands. And if they're okay with that, God be with them. They should cease fire on black and brown people in this country. That's what they can do. That's the first and most important thing that they can do. And Princess, what about you? What do you think that federal officials need to understand? We the people have a lot of power when we unite. When the people come together, we move mountains. I am a strong believer that we must take some steps to include

ending qualified immunity. I am a very strong supporter of defunding the police, but I also understand what it means. When we say defund the police, we mean allocate funds to systems of community care and service. Police officers shouldn't be the ones responding to a mental health crisis. I also very strongly believe that we must abolish the police. Policing, if you go back to its inception, was never designed to ensure liberty and justice for all. So we can't expect for that soil to produce flowers that were never planted there. So we must abolish the system. And I'm not oblivious. That scares people as well. We abolish it, but we have to put together, we have to build a system that works for us all,

that prioritizes community care and safety. So that's where I believe that we must go as a people to force the government to take those actions. Princess Blanding is the sister of Marcus David Peters. She's also an activist and former candidate for governor in Virginia. Samaria Rice is the mother of Tamir Rice. She's also founder and CEO of the Tamir Rice Foundation, an Afrocentric cultural center in Cleveland, Ohio. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Juana Summers.