Tampa FL – On Tuesday, February 4, over 40 people came out to listen to a panel hosted by Tampa Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (TAARPR) and led by the families who survived police crimes.

The event was part of a weeklong series of events that honor the life of Andrew Joseph III – a 14-year-old boy who was killed in traffic after he was kidnapped by Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies in February 2014 – and the struggle for justice and accountability being fought in his name.

The panelists speaking were Deanna Joseph of Tampa, mother of Andrew Joseph III and board member of the Andrew Joseph Foundation; Kieanna Garrett of Lakeland, who is currently fighting her charges after being stalked for months then brutalized by Lakeland PD; and Jasmine Smith, a member of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) , who flew from Chicago for the panel, and has been fighting to free her family and others who were wrongly incarcerated.

During the panel Joseph said “You don’t want to wait to be in the shoes that I’m in before you get involved. You don’t want it to knock on your door before you say, ‘enough is enough.’ You want to be at the forefront of whatever your passion is. Everybody should be doing something.”

One of the main fights of the Andrew Joseph Foundation is to end qualified immunity, which grants police and the officials surrounding them protection from the rule of law whenever they harm people in our communities.

“They are the criminals. The state attorneys and the judges and the police officers all have qualified immunity. They’re all protected by some type of qualified immunity where if they are to be caught up in corruption, they’re not being held accountable.” said Joseph.

In her time in CAARPR, Joseph played a role in helping pass the legislation which created a democratically elected board that is able to help decide police policy and leadership in the city of Chicago.

The panelists presented a message for greater police accountability and uniting to make that accountability a reality.

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