Aiyana Jones and Fred Hampton, it an odd series of events that would lead these names in martyrdom. The worlds of Aiyana and Fred are as different as night and day. They were born in different time periods, were different ages, lived in different states BUT BOTH WERE MURDERED BY SWAT MEMBERS as they slept.
Fred Hampton was a leader in the Black Panther Party in Chicago, IL in the 1960s. His position and ideologies made him, an enemy to Chicago Police, the FBI and the federal government. He was drugged by FBI informant William O' Neal before a police raid on his apartment. He was murdered in bed on December 4, 1969.
Aiyana Jones was born on July 20, 2002 in Detroit, MI. She was/is loved! She was 7 years and sleeping when Detroit's SWAT team and cameramen from A&E's 48HRS entered her home on May 16, 2010. Officer Joseph Weekley shot Aiyana in her head while she slept on the family's couch.
In their cases, there are similarities and there differences:
- Both homes were raided
- Both were murdered unjustly by overzealous law official enforcement agents
- Both were people of color
- Both were roses cut too soon
- Law enforcement justified their murders unjustly
The difference was Aiyana was SEVEN YEARS OLD. She never has the opportunity to live life, drive a car, fall in love, become a mother, go to college, buy a home, get marry and graduate from high school. All the milestones that we take for granted, she never got! Look at her face, she looks like an angel. She probably looked like an angel when Officer Joseph Weekley found her sleeping. She was an innocent!
Fred and Aiyana are not alone, there are other African Americans that have been murdered unjustly by police.Sean Bell was killed by plain clothes NYPD officers in Queens, NY
after his bachelor party. A top of 50 shots were fired into Bell’s Vehicle
after his car accidently hit an unarmed police car.
Officers Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon, Kenneth Boss and
Richard Murphy, members of NYPD's tactical street team, of which the focus was on removing illegal handguns from NY streets, stopped Amadou Diallo in front of his Bronx’s
home. They claimed that he fit the description of a rape suspect. The officers fired 41 shots , 19 of which
fatally wounded Diallo. Officers Sean Carroll and Edward McMellon emptied their
weapons, firing 16 shots each, NYPD representatives report.
Every year, there is a new case of an innocent African American that killed by overzealous law enforcement agents. This year, it is Kimani Gray. The NYPD's account of shooting death of Kimani Gray is highly disputed. The officers claim that Gray pointed a .38 caliber gun in their direction but did not fire.
Witnesses claim that Gray did not have a gun and his hands were up, when NYPD officers shot him three times in the back. A total of 11 shots were fired by Officers Mourad and Cordova. Mayor Bloomberg called the murder of Kimani Gray, a justifiable kill by NYPD. It was later revealed that New York City paid more than $215,000 to settle civil right lawsuits brought against Mourad and Cordova.
Police feel safe when they unjustly kill African Americans! It is rare that they suffer anything more than a slap on the wrist. African Americans must united and fight for justice for our TAKEN brothers and sisters. We need to rally, speak and write letters of protest on behalf of our slain brothers and sisters.
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