Tallahassee, FL – Last weekend, Nia Wilson, an 18-year-old African American woman was brutally murdered by a white man, John Lee Cowell, in an Oakland, California Bay Area Rapid Transit station. Cowell also stabbed Nia’s sister, Malika Harris, who has been released from the hospital.

Cases like this are not unfamiliar to Black women. Black women face disproportionate levels of violence in every avenue. According to the Violence Policy Center, in 2000, Black women were murdered at a rate more than three times higher than white women. Not only do Black women face domestic violence at higher levels compared to other nationalities, but they are often the victims of police crimes – in which the media continually downplays or outright ignores Black women who have been sexually assaulted or killed by the police.

For instance, we can examine cases like former police officer Daniel Holtzclaw, who raped 13 Black women in Oklahoma.

Recently, Cynthia Clements was fatally shot by a white police Lieutenant Christian Jensen in Elgin, Illinois.

Furthermore, this year alone in Florida, four Black trans women have been killed, with the killers still on the loose. Even in death, Black trans women, like Sasha Garden, continue to be misgendered and humiliated by the police and the media.

The media always finds ways to portray Black women in a negative light, again, even in death. Some news outlets have run pictures of Nia Wilson posing with a handgun. This is completely irrelevant, as owning a handgun is a legal right and Nia was not even armed.

Since the founding of the United States, Black women have been brutalized and killed to maintain the white supremacist and capitalist power structure.

We must demand that John Lee Cowell be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Demand that all cops guilty of police crimes, including those against Black women, be arrested and jailed. Demand full and equal rights.

We say her name – Nia Wilson, for all Black women who can no longer speak.

#Tallahassee #TallahasseeFL #AfricanAmerican #Racism #Antiracism #BlackLivesMatter #NiaWilson #sayHerName

Falcon Heights, MN – On Sept. 3, as the family was in Saint Louis to lay Philando Castile to rest, community members gathered at the site where Officer Jeronimo Yanez violently ended Castile’s life. More than 50 people marched to the front gates of the State Fair here, to call attention to the police killings that they say target especially, but not solely, Black people and other people of color. For several hours, thousands of fairgoers had to navigate miles of blocked roads, while protesters demanded justice, carrying 14 coffins, distributing informational flyers and chanting about the police murder of Castile and countless others.

Reflecting the epidemic of police killings across the U.S., Minnesota law enforcement officers have killed 238 people since 2000. Not one officer, in the history of the state of Minnesota, has ever been convicted of a work-related homicide.

“That #AintFair,” organizers say. “We want justice for all stolen lives. We want justice for Philando Castile and Jamar Clark, whose names made international news, as well as those who stories were never told. Their lives matter. Their families matter. We will not forget the recent police homicides of Geno Smith, Map Kong, and Jaffort Smith. We continue to demand justice for Marcus Golden and Fong Lee, both unarmed, Guillermo Canas, Philip Quinn, Michael Kirvelay, Terrance Franklin, Quincy Smith as well as other local and out-of-state police homicide victims such as Alton Sterling, Paul Castaway and Oscar Grant, Yes, we will #SayHerName: Korryn Gaines, Aiyana Jones, Sarah Lee Circle Bear, Sandra Bland and Rekia Boyd to name a few. If we didn’t, that would be not be fair.”

The event was organized by the Twin Cities Coalition for Justices 4 Jamar, Justice for Marcus Golden, the Black Coalition and AR-14 for Justice, and more than a dozen other groups endorsed the action.

#FalconHeightsMn #FalconHeightsMN #PoliceBrutality #JamarClark #PhilandoCastile #StateFair #JusticeForMarcusGolden #BlackCoalition #AR14ForJustice