<strong>January</strong> February 2017 <strong>2018</strong> 12 <strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> <strong>They</strong> <strong>Will</strong> <strong>Not</strong> <strong>Be</strong> <strong>Forgotten</strong>! Philando Castro Shanta Myers and her children, Jeremiah “JJ” Myers, and Shanise Myers and her friend Brandi Mells Mike Brown Members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church
<strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> <strong>January</strong> February <strong>2018</strong> 2017 13 1955 – Emmett Louis Till - On August 28, 1955, a 14 year old boy from <strong>Chicago</strong> was abducted, tortured and killed in Mississippi <strong>for</strong> allegedly making inappropriate gestures at a white woman. His body was shipped back home by Pullman Porters and his mother insisted that his casket be left open, so that the world could witness what had been done to her child. The brutal murder of Mamie Till’s son changed the world and ignited a movement. His original casket is being preserved at the Smithsonian, after being discarded like garbage in a Mississippi cemetery in 2005. <strong>Chicago</strong> <strong>Street</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> (CSJ) dedicates this issue to those who gave their lives, so that we may live. “<strong>They</strong> <strong>Will</strong> <strong>Not</strong> <strong>Be</strong> <strong>Forgotten</strong>.” 1968 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - At risk to himself and his family, he became a profound activist <strong>for</strong> equal rights and brought the plight of the African-American to the world stage. He was in Memphis to show support <strong>for</strong> the striking garbage workers of that city, when he was killed. It was in Tennessee, the night be<strong>for</strong>e his assassination that he gave the infamous “I’ve <strong>Be</strong>en To The Mountaintop” speech. 2014 – LaQuan McDonald - Videos show that CPD Officer Van Dyke was on the scene less than 30 seconds be<strong>for</strong>e he started firing. It wasn’t until November 2015 that the video showing that McDonald was shot 16 times was released to the media and public and only then by court order. 1963 – Medger Evers – In 1954, on behalf of the NAACP, he became their 1st Field Secretary in Mississippi. Thirty years after he was shot in the back, in front of his home, his killer was brought to trial <strong>for</strong> the third time. In 1994, Byron De La <strong>Be</strong>ckwith, a founding member of Mississippi's White Citizens Council was sentenced to life in prison. 2015 – Sandra Bland – It could have your daughter, sister, mother, aunt, cousin, neighborhood or co-worker, stopped <strong>for</strong> a traffic violation and “found” dead in a cell three days later. It could have been you. Instead of “Serve and Protect”, maybe squad cars should carry the following warning… “It has been proven again and again, that driving while Black will lead to your death.” 1969 – Fred Hampton – From TheNation.com, “Ultimately, a federal grand jury determined that the police had fired between eighty-three and ninety shots–the Panthers a maximum of one. The grand jury indicated that, if the Panthers fired at all, it was one shot that Mark Clark fired–apparently after he had been shot in the heart. If the cops had, in fact, demanded a ceasefire on three occasions, they were talking only to themselves. The official explanation amounted to a cover-up, and a massive one.” After almost 60 years and many more cover-ups later, we find that CPD is still in need of a ceasefire on civilians. 1964 – James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner – In the words of Nina Simone “Mississippi Goddam". Three young men volunteered to assist with the voter’s registration campaign in Mississippi that summer and their bodies were found weeks later near a dam. The investigation into their deaths were part of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act <strong>for</strong> which Congress set aside funds to investigate and prosecute racially motivated murders be<strong>for</strong>e 1970. 2017— If you can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, then we can breathe. Eric Gardner’s pleads were heard around the world. His daughter, Erica Gardner, who took up the baton <strong>for</strong> justice past away late year. 2007 – Blair Holt - What happens in your life when someone dies so that you may live? Some of us will never know, but some of us have heroes who step in front of speeding bullets <strong>for</strong> us. The editor of Sister-to-Sister made a statement, after her son was shot, to the affect that simply indicates that your child may not harm anyone, but there are those out there who will harm your child. Blair’s killer was “resentenced” to 75 years in prison, but <strong>for</strong> his family that does not compare to an eternity of loss. 2012 – Trayvon Martin - Doesn’t seem like it was that long ago, does it? So many have been shot down in the street and we continuously see the lives of so many flashing be<strong>for</strong>e our eyes as breaking news and on social media. If you’re Black, you can also die from eating Skittles and drinking iced tea, while walking. 17 year old Trayvon Martin did. 1965 – Malcolm X - Most don’t finish, where they start as they are constantly evolving into who they will become along their journey. Jailed and troubled along the way, he become one of the greatest advocates <strong>for</strong> human rights in our time. Black-on-Black crime is not new. Assassinated by his own kind, because its easier <strong>for</strong> them to get close to you. But, as Fred Hampton said, “You can kill the revolutionary but you can never kill the revolution.” 1991 – Rodney Glen King - Police brutality videos are “old skool” as King’s video made world-wide news and once again showed that the power of “moving” pictures is worth more than a 1000 words. King knew how to start a LA riot. 1944 – Junius Stinney – Executed at age 14. He was accused to killing 11-year-old <strong>Be</strong>tty June Binnicker and 8-year-old Mary Emma Thames in South Carolina. It’s difficult to go back 70 years and ascertain what took place but according to Wiki, “On December 17, 2014, his conviction was posthumously vacated 70 years after his execution, because the circuit court judge ruled that he had not been given a fair trial; he had no effective defense and his Sixth Amendment rights had been violated.[7][8]” But, you can’t vacate that execution, can you? 1885 – It is estimated that 8 million Africans died under the reign of The Butcher of Congo: King Leopold II of <strong>Be</strong>lgium, who controlled the populace from 1885 to 1908. Congonese who did not meet production quotes or who had to be controlled were maimed. 2016 - Philando Castile was shot during a traffic stop in Minnesota with his fiancée and child in the car with him. The world watched this young man, who knew the names of all the children he served in the school cafeteria where he worked, dying in front of their eyes. 1963 - Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, and Cynthia Dianne Wesley were killed and another 20 people were injured in a bombing at The 16th <strong>Street</strong> Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. 1917 – What is known as the East St. Louis Race War has been repeated throughout history of the African in American. 2017 - Shanta Myers and her children, Jeremiah “JJ” Myers, and Shanise Myers and her friend Brandi Mells were found tied up with their throats slashed in Troy, New York. Two Black men have been arrested <strong>for</strong> the crime. The screams and protest against our own self-destruction should be deafening to our own ears and our stand again Black-on-Black crime should send the message, to all that stand against us, that NO CRIME AGAINST OUR PEOPLE IS ACCEPTABLE. 2014 - "Hands up, don't shoot." The shooting death of Michael Brown br ought inter national focus on the events in Ferguson, Missouri, The officer charged was acquitted. But, the "Hands up, don't shoot" slogan has not die with him. 2015 - Dylann Roof mur dered nine African Americans at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. Do we <strong>for</strong>give white supremacist <strong>for</strong> their actions? Maybe. Do we <strong>for</strong>get? NEVER! <strong>They</strong> <strong>Will</strong> <strong>Not</strong> <strong>Be</strong> <strong>Forgotten</strong>!