The mother of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was shot and killed by Cleveland police last month, made a public statement on Tuesday calling for renewed, peaceful demonstrations against police killings.
Samaria Rice and the family’s attorney Walter Madison thanked those who had reached out with messages of support but stressed that violent protesters were not welcome in their search for justice. “For those who support peaceful protestation, as a community I say come and join us, there is work to do,” Madison said.
Rice echoed Madison’s statement, saying “I’m against all violence.”
Samaria Rice’s statement came as others, including New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, called for protests to be put on hold until after the burial of two New York City police department officers who were killed over the weekend.
“Organizations planning events or gatherings about politics or protests, that could be for another day,” de Blasio said on Monday. “Let’s see them through the funerals, then debate can begin again. But until that time, it is our obligation to respect [the families].”
Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who killed officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos before killing himself on Saturday, had expressed anti-police statements on Instagram before shooting both officers. Police also said Brinsley had a history of mental problems.
Demonstrations began in Ferguson, Missouri, after white police officer Darren Wilson fatally shot unarmed black teenager Michael Brown this summer. In November, a Missouri grand jury decided not to indict Wilson, setting off global protests that intensified a week later, when a New York City grand jury voted not to indict a white police officer who put Eric Garner, a 43-year-old African American man, in a chokehold that led to his death.
These tensions were further exacerbated by Rice’s death on 22 November. Cleveland police are conducting an internal investigation into the killing. Once it concludes, the results will be given to a prosecutor, who will present the information to a grand jury.
Previously, Rice’s mother has said that she had “The Talk” with her kids about being careful and compliant when interacting with police, especially because they are black.
The necessity of this conversation, which is less urgent for parents of white children, is one of the many elements of race relations in the US underlying demonstrations that began in August.
The former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and recently retired NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly are just a few of the prominent officials who have connected the killings of officers Liu and Ramos to demonstrations in New York City. Kelly said on Sunday that he thinks de Blasio ran an “anti-police campaign” to get into office and “set off this firestorm” with comments he made about his biracial son.
