A cry from Pensacola: “Black lives matter”


  • December 8, 2014
  • /   Joe Vinson
  • /   community-dashboard
Several hundred demonstrators gathered Sunday afternoon at Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza in downtown Pensacola to protest the killings of unarmed black men and children by law enforcement officers. “Black lives matter,” the protestors chanted. “Hands up, don’t shoot.” “No justice, no peace.” “I can’t breathe.” “No more, no mas.” Dubbed “To Ferguson From Pensacola With Love,” Sunday’s rally was held in solidarity with worldwide protests following the grand jury decisions not to indict Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson for the Aug. 9 killing of teenager Michael Brown, or New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo for the July 17 death of Eric Garner. [caption id="attachment_12349" align="alignright" width="300"]Michael Hansell recites a list of individuals killed by law enforcement officers Michael Hansell recites a list of individuals killed by law enforcement officers[/caption] “We just want justice,” said Michael Hansell as he recited a list of men and children killed by law enforcement officers: 12-year-old Tamir Rice, 13-year-old Andy Lopez, 19-year-old Timothy Stansbury. One of the names was especially familiar to the Pensacola crowd: 17-year-old Victor Steen. In the early morning hours of Oct. 3, 2009, Steen was struck and killed by the vehicle of Pensacola Police Officer Jerald Ard. Ard had seen Steen near a Brownsville construction site and attempted to detain him for questioning. Steen fled on his bicycle, and Ard pursued Steen in his police car, driving into the oncoming traffic lane of West Cervantes Street. As Steen turned into a parking lot, Ard fired his Taser weapon at him through the window of his police cruiser. Steen’s bicycle stumbled on a cement curb in the path of the vehicle, and Ard was unable to stop before running him over. The State Attorney’s Office requested a coroner’s inquest to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against Ard. The ACLU of Florida criticized the inquest as an “arcane practice” intended as “political cover.” Presiding over the inquest, then-Escambia County Judge John Simon concluded that Ard was justified in pursuing Steen for “improper bicycle illumination” and fleeing in a “high-crime area." He recommended that no charges be filed. “Not every fatality, regrettable as it may be, necessitates a finding of probable cause that a criminal offense has occurred,” said Simon, who was appointed a circuit judge in 2011 by Gov. Rick Scott. One of the speakers at Sunday’s rally, Clarissa Farrar, is Steen’s cousin. She said that his death was “disheartening, not just because he’s family, but also because it has happened so many different times.” “It’s been going on too long and been swept under the rug too long,” Farrar said. ferguson-rally-signs Many of those in attendance carried signs with messages like “indict the system.” “The problem is systemic,” said Hansell. “It is not individual. It’s not all cops that are bad, but the system encourages this kind of behavior.” Speaker Katrina Ramos asked attendees to observe four and a half minutes of silence to represent the four and half hours that Michael Brown’s body reportedly laid on the street after his death. “Someone’s child lay in the street for four and a half hours, and no one paid the price,” Ramos said. “Eric Garner, we watched as this man was choked to death and he screamed and he pleaded, ‘I can’t breathe!’ It’s on tape for the world to see, and nothing happens. No indictment happens.” [caption id="attachment_12350" align="aligncenter" width="850"]Katrina Ramos addresses the Katrina Ramos addresses the "To Ferguson From Pensacola With Love" rally[/caption] During the moment of silence, a truck driving south on Palafox honked its horn and a passenger called out the window, “Yeah, hands up, baby! Hands up!” It was unclear whether the sentiment was in support or derision of the rally. Ramos said that the demonstrators were there because “we’re fed up.” “I’m tired of turning on the news and I’m seeing another person being shot and murdered in the street for absolutely no reason,” she said. “Unarmed victims. And the same excuse comes: ‘I saw a gun. I thought I saw a gun.’” “Our children matter, our fathers matter, and we want to see justice for everyone,” Ramos said.
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