KOMPLEXIFY!

Freddie Gray Jr was a funny guy. He and his twin sister were born seven months premature, spending their first few months of life in a Baltimore hospital. They grew up in a poor neighborhood of peeling lead paint and drug violence. By the time they were 2, they tested positive for toxic lead concentrations seven times the safe level, which contributed to their ADD and difficulties in school. As a boy, he moved in and out of Child Protective Services; as an man, in and out of jail over drug arrests. And yet the funny and friendly 25-year-old never let it get him down. He was the neighborhood comedian, always there to help his friends and family laugh.

Freddie Gray Jr was murdered by police for possession of a switchblade. Fleeing from the sight of two cops on patrol on April 12, 2015, they gave chase and quickly pinned him on the sidewalk. When a police van arrived, cops handcuffed Freddie and loaded him into it, but did not seatbelt him in. Though the police station was only down the street four blocks, the police spent forty minutes zig-zagging the van through West Baltimore, making multiple stops. At one stop, they removed Freddie from the van, shackled his legs, and threw him back into the van head first. When the police van finally arrived at the station, Freddie had sustained three fractured vertebrae, an injured voice box, and had his spine 80% severed at the neck. He died from these injuries a week later. Though a grand jury indicted the cops involved for manslaughter or depraved indifference, all had the charges against them dropped.

Black lives matter.

Walter Scott was a 50-year-old forklift operator who studied massage therapy in North Charleston, South Carolina. He was Coast Guard veteran and the father of four children. Though he had had run-ins with the law over missed child-support payments, he was loving dad and a devout Christian who sang in the choir and called his mother every single day.

Walter Scott was murdered by police on April 4, 2015, at a traffic stop. Pulled over for a broken taillight but fearing he would be arrested again for child-support debts, he fled the scene. A cop pursued him and tased him at close range. Walter tried to flee again, and when he was 20 feet away the cop unloaded 8 shots into his back, hitting him 5 times. Though the cop claimed to perform CPR after, later video revealed he instead attempted to stage the scene with his discarded Taser. The cop would be sentenced for murder.

Black lives matter.

Eric Garner was 6-foot-3 and 350 pounds, known to everyone in his Staten Island neighborhood as “The Gentle Giant.” The 43-year-old father of 6 and grandfather of 3 was the neighborhood peacemaker. He had worked as a mechanic and a horticulturalist for years before persistent health problems forced him to quit. Married for 20 years, he doted on his 3-month-old daughter and tried to stick to his diet, although he had weakness for Spanish food.

Eric Garner was murdered by police on July 17, 2014, for selling cigarettes. After five cops threw him to the ground, one choked Eric for 15 seconds before pushing his face into the sidewalk. Handcuffed, face down on the concrete, and unable to move, he cried “I can’t breathe” eleven times before slipping into unconsciousness. The cops were never charged with any crime.

Black lives matter.

Tamir Rice was a 12-year-old kid from Cleveland who loved playing video games, making art, and pranking his friends. Big for his age, he was great at sports like football, soccer, and swimming… but especially at basketball, where he routinely sunk 3-pointers in pick-up games against high-schoolers. He had no fear on the basketball courts… but he would still crawl into his mom’s bed after watching a scary movie.

Tamir Rice was murdered by police on November 22, 2014, while playing by himself at a park. Fooling around with a friend’s pellet gun, another park-goer called 9-1-1 to report that “a guy with a pistol,” adding twice that the gun was “probably fake” and its wielder “probably a juvenile.” Two cops responded. Driving their cruiser directly into the park gazebo where Tamir was sitting, a cop leaped from the still-moving vehicle and shot him twice in the span of two seconds. He was never charged with any crime.

Black lives matter.

John Crawford III, nicknamed “Trey” by his dad, was a 22-year-old Ohioan who worked as a temp, doing odd jobs ranging from telemarketing to manual labor. He regularly visited his dad, a probation officer in Tennessee. After the birth of his second son, Trey decided he needed to go back to school, with dad pestering him to choose his alma mater, Kentucky State.

John Crawford III was murdered by police on August 5, 2014, in a Wal-Mart while talking on a phone. In to buy supplies to make s’mores for a family cook-out, he also picked up a BB gun/air rifle from the sporting goods section. Responding to repeated 9-1-1 calls that John was threatening customers with a gun (claims caller would later recant when store video indicated he was lying), cops turned up, went directly to John, and shot him twice without ever identifying themselves as police. The cops were never charged with any crime.

Black lives matter.