Friday, March 29, 2024

Black Lives Matter Los Angeles Shut it Down for ‘Black Memorial Day’ Protest

Mother of Ezell Ford Joined Black Lives Matter Black Memorial Day Protest

 

Tritobia Ford joined activists on Memorial Day to remember unarmed Blacks killed by the police and sheriff’s in Los Angeles County

LOS ANGELES, CA – Tritobia Ford, 43, the mother of Ezell Ford joined Black Lives Matter Los Angeles on Mon., May 25 to remember the lives of unarmed African-Americans killed by the police and sheriffs. Ford’s son Ezell, 25, was killed on Aug. 11, 2014 in South Los Angeles after officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Newton Area Division alleged he reached for one of the officer’s weapons.

Ford was shot by LAPD officers three times, including once in the back according to an autopsy report that came four months after he was killed. Ford was said to have been complying with officers’ demands and was on the ground when he was shot several times in the back. In the area of the gunshot wound to Ford’s back, the surrounding skin had a “muzzle imprint,” the autopsy report stated. The cause of death, described as a homicide, was listed as multiple gunshot wounds.

Black Lives Matter activists in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Pasadena used the Memorial Day holiday to call attention to the numerous killings of unarmed Black people by the police and sheriffs dubbing it Black Memorial Day.

Events were held throughout Los Angeles County, including in front of the LAPD’s Newton Area Division where Tritobia Ford was met by dozens of supporters.

Rarely heard from publicly, Mrs. Ford told supporters and the media that she has not received condolences from the LAPD for killing her son and that she wants to see the two officers responsible for killing Ezell, Officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas, arrested and charged with murder. She challenged Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck to provide the answers that he said he would.

In addition to Newton Area Division, protests were held at the LAPD’s Pacific, Southeast and Central Divisions and at the Pasadena and Long Beach Police Departments. Protestors caravanned to Cerritos to the site of the May 7 killing of 21-year-old Nephi Arreguin where they briefly stopped traffic during a march to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department in Cerritos.

Black Lives Matter activists have vowed to provide widespread disruptions of everyday life in Southern California.

Speaking to the media, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles organizer Melina Abdullah said, “Black communities will not be systematically assaulted and allow other communities—mainly affluent communities—to be quiet and tucked away. Your communities will be constantly disrupted as long as ours are targeted for assault.”

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