Hello All:
I know you heard me from one side of the US to the other when I read this headline about Tamir Rice's mom being homeless! I was furious! First her son is murdered by a lumox - or ersatz policeman who doesn't know the difference between a toy gun and a real gun; and is stupid enough to think that a 12 year old child would be walking around with an assault weapon that he feels "threatened" and kills him. Now, adding insult to egregious injury, this poor sister is in a homeless shelter?
WHAT????
And for those of you who are asking, yes, I'm definitely yelling!
This news report on Tamir's Mom being homeless is absolutely awful. I'm sure it's all over facebook, but I want to know specifically what the National Action Network and all our other Black leadership organizations are doing to help. I want to know if the Black churches, women's and civic organizations have lost their complete and total minds to allow this woman to come to such a horrible state of affairs.
This is more than just an traumatic turn of events for her, it's an embarrassment to Black people everywhere - it shows lack of caring and concern, insensitivity for a sister in need.
The news reports that she cannot live in the place where her son was gunned down like a dog by a depraved policeman - I think anyone can readily understand that. The vision of seeing your child murdered in cold blood, and then having to continuously live in the crime scene is untenable.
Now that we've paraded this woman and the horror of her son's death throughout the media, on TV, radio, meetings, courtrooms -- we need to think of the aftermath - the way forward - how she is to live from day to day; and where she's going to live. To far too many of us now she is like yesterday's news - cast off to the side to fend for herself. What the Sam Hill is wrong with us as a people - as people who claim to have soul, feelings, heart, compassion - what are we doing?
Therapy, such as post traumatic stress counseling to help her deal with those emotions should also be part of our rescue mission, along with a lot of warm hugs, listening to her pain, some commiserating, and some guidance - preferrably from Black professional, and the ministers who have counseling capacity.
We might not be able to do everything, but we can each do something - and we'd better be about doing something in her behalf right now. This has to be dealt with in a loving, compassionate way - this sister may actually be in a walking state of shock - she may be trying to figure out what her next step is in a world that suddenly seems to have turned its back on her.
I know there's a home, an apartment, a vacant unit she can live in while she gets her bearings and gets back on her feet. There are thousands of people in the Cleveland area "warehousing" homes and apartments, waiting for the property values to rise, while a human being (several human beings, actually) have no place decent to live. I know someone somewhere has a part or full time job opportunity, or some form of income for that lady in Cleveland - even if it's just public assistance. There is absolutely no way she should end up on the streets and no one do anything to help her. It's unconsciounable!!!
Adding insult to even further injury is the fact that her son has not been buried - but is being held in some sort of crime scene limbo because they don't want to disturb the evidence.
WTF!!!!
What kind of whacky weed are they smoking? What's in the water they're drinking? Are they all boneheads like Boehner? Who does that kind of crazy ish? Are the police and forensics stuck on stupid? Makes you wonder - are they trying to torture this woman because she stood up to them. If by now they haven't done their investigation, there should be malpractice and dereliction of justice suits flying all over the place. And for those of you who are from Ohio, who live in Cleveland, I challenge you to reach out to and help this sister. In the meantime, perhaps we need to contact our new Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, and have have the police department and forensics investigated to determine if there is any foul play .
I'm the unconventional Black person - or at least I think I am - I come from a town where no one was allowed to go homeless for very long. I can remember when my mom used to help people who were going through it by helping them stay in their homes. She would say it doesn't benefit anybody for a person to be forced onto the street - people come before things and money.
I'm putting out my prayers for her and for the souls of Black people - the brothers and sisters of Cleveland, OH - Brother Don King, a Cleveland Native - we have to surround her mentally, physically & spiritually with our love - NOW!
It's one of the reasons I say that we have to stand for ourselves, and for each other. We have to own and build our own communities as well - back each other up...when we can't help each other but we can make a lot of noise blaming others for our plight, it's all just a lot of hooey; it' like spitting in the wind - all the so call militant words and words of protest mean nothing if we can't and don't build and resurrect while we're marching and praying.
We have to walk our talk - or just shut up and let them run over us. Samaria Rice needs our help folks. NOW THAT YOU KNOW, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria
Breaking News
Tamir Rice’s mother is now homeless
The mother of a 12 year old who was gunned down by Cleveland cops says she is now living in a homeless shelter. Tamir Rice was fatally shot by police within two seconds of arriving on the scene. Rice was carrying a toy airsoft gun when he was fatally shot by officer Timothy Loehmann.
According to a lawsuit brought by the Rice family, the boy’s mother, Samaria Rice, moved out of her home because she couldn’t bear living near where her son was killed.
“Samaria Rice, Rice’s mother, has since been forced to move into a homeless shelter because she could no longer live next door to the killing field of her son,” the motion read. Mother of 12 Year Old Who Was Gunned Down While Playing With Toy Gun Now Lives in Homeless Shelter Dan Williams, a spokesman for the Cleveland mayor’s office, said in a statement that the mayor was unaware of Rice’s situation.
“We had not heard from her asking for any assistance on that, if she is looking for that we can certainly try to provide help for her,” Williams said.
The documents also reveal that Tamir Rice hasn’t been buried for fear that evidence will be destroyed.
“Plaintiffs are incurring expense daily and are unsure if they can finally rest Tamir Rice due to the pending investigation,” the motion reads, according to the Washington Post. “A stay would exacerbate this expense and emotional distress.”
“It is so sad that the face of police brutality in America is going to be the 12-year-old face of Tamir Rice,” said attorney Benjamin Crump during a Monday press conference. He continued, adding that “after five months and counting, no one has been charged, no one has been held accountable for the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.”
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