The tiny body of baby #KohenWiley is being laid to rest this weekend. Police murdered the one-year-old in his mother’s arms on June 14 after she was falsely accused of failing to pay for a pack of diapers at Walmart.
Uprisings, protests, and actions are being organized by Building Bridges and Black Lives Matter Grassroots in partnership with Movement 4 Black Lives, and community groups.
Along with Baby Kohen’s family, Building Bridges and Black Lives Matter Grassroots demand the following:
The murder of Baby Kohen is one of the most profane examples of police violence in human history. It is also part of a surge in the killings of Black people by police that stem from white-supremacist capitalist interests, which utilize police as protectors of profit at the expense of Black life.
Community is mobilizing on the ground in Mississippi and across the nation to ensure that there are political and economic consequences. There has been a call issued for a nationwide boycott of Walmart in the name of Baby Kohen (as well as #JohnCrawford, #StevenTyler, and many more before him and #DeandreaRobertson just two days after). Uprisings in Senatobia will continue. As we pray for and hold Baby Kohen’s family in their time of unimaginable grief, our commitment is to transform the world. Black babies deserve to live and grow into their fullest selves and their parents, caregivers, and communities have a right to the resources they need to survive and thrive. Until there is justice in Baby Kohen’s name, and in honor of all of our martyrs – especially our children, there will be no peace.
With his wife of 28 years and partner in all things, Deanna Joseph, he founded the Florida chapter of Black Lives Matter Grassroots and serves as the founding Rapid Response Coordinator and on-the-ground lead for the worldwide organization.
We also know that the San Diego killers did not act in isolation, but in the context of a city, county, and country that has long criminalized people of color through so-called gang documentation and enhancements, white nativism, ICE raids, police violence, and racism and xenophobia writ large.
Charleston, SC – Black Lives Matter Grassroots stands in full solidarity with the Charleston Reparations Taskforce and the Gullah Geechee community in demanding the immediate transfer of over 7,000 acres of plantation land, including Middleton Place, Boone Hall, and Magnolia Plantation, to permanent Gullah Geechee stewardship.
