A crowd of about 100 people rallied downtown Tuesday to remember George Floyd, killed a year ago by a since fired and convicted former Minneapolis police officer. The gathering also focused attention on people who have died following police shootings in metro Atlanta.
“Prosecute the police,” activists chanted.
Speakers included the Rev. James Woodall, state NAACP president.
“This is about understanding it’s deeper than one case,” he said. “We’re committed to this long term because lives are being taken from us every single day. Enough is enough. We’re done dying.”
Former NBA player Stephen Jackson, who grew up with Floyd in the Houston area, said his friend’s death changed him in substantial ways.
“He changed the world but the world hasn’t changed,” Jackson said. “They’re still killing us in the streets.”
Three other ex-Minneapolis police officers face charges of aiding and abetting unintentional second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, charges that carry up to 40 years in prison. Their trial starts Aug. 23.
Locally, Monteria Robinson and Tyvonna Phillips have been waiting for years for resolutions in their sons’ cases. Both are pushing for criminal charges to be filed against the officers who fired fatal shots.
Robinson’s son, Jamarion, was shot at least 76 times inside his girlfriend’s East Point apartment in August 2016 by a fugitive task force made up of local law enforcement and federal authorities. Former Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard has said his investigation was hampered by officers who wouldn’t cooperate and the absence of body cam footage.
“I wake up every day with anxiety,” Monteria Robinson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last September. “I’ve been in fight mode ever since my son was killed.”
She was unable to attend Tuesday’s rally.
Phillips’ son, DeAundre, was shot and killed in January 2017 outside an Atlanta police annex by a plainclothes officer who had questioned him about allegedly smoking marijuana.
A small amount of marijuana was subsequently found in the vehicle Phillips tried to flee in after Officer Yasin Abdulahad approached him. Surveillance video of the encounter contradicted some of Abdulahad’s claims.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis inherited a backlog of roughly 11,000 cases from her predecessor, Paul Howard. Of those, 43 involved officers shooting civilians. Willis has has pledged to resolve the cases by the end of this year.
During Tuesday’s rally, protesters repeated the names of people fatally shot by police in local incidents.
Activist Oscar Cain, 31, died in April 2019. He led officers on a foot chase through a wooded area where, police said, he brandished a gun.
In April, Matthew Zadok Williams was shot inside his condominium by DeKalb County police. Bodycam footage appeared to show him chasing after an officer outside his home with the knife in his hand.
“Let me see you throw (the knife) down. You throw it down, we’ll put our stuff down,” the officer can be heard saying on the footage. “I’m begging you. You’re a Black man. I’m a Black man. You don’t have to die today.”
After viewing the video, family attorney Mawuli Davis said it was clear Williams was experiencing a “mental health crisis.”
