Akai Gurley was tragically and senselessly killed while walking down the stairwell of his apartment building with his girlfriend. His death, like the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown, helped inspire and propel the Black Lives Matter Movement. Gurley was 28 years of age at the time … Read MoreAkai Kareem Gurley (1986-2014)
The shooting death of nineteen-year-old Timothy DeWayne Thomas, Jr. by Cincinnati, Ohio Police Department Patrolmen Stephen Roach during an attempted arrest for non-violent misdemeanors in April 2001, focused national attention on the deaths of unarmed black men and women at the hands of police and security guards. Thomas’s death … Read MoreTimothy DeWayne Thomas, Jr. (1981-2001)
Image Ownership: Public domain The shooting death of Walter Lamar Scott, an unarmed black man, by Michael Thomas Slager, a white police officer, during a daytime traffic stop, helped fuel the Black Lives Matter movement. Many people viewed the shooting as racially motivated, and the … Read MoreWalter Lamar Scott (1965-2015)
Image Ownership: Public domain Twenty-three-year-old Sean Elijah Bell, the victim of a violent police shooting in 2006, was born on May 18, 1983, to William and Valerie Bell. As a child, Bell was interested in acting and played baseball. According to Bell’s fiancée, Nicole Poultre, … Read MoreSean Elijah Bell (1983-2006)
Image Ownership: Public domain Abner Louima, an activist against police brutality, is unfortunately best known for being brutalized, sexually assaulted, and savagely beaten by New York Police Department officers in 1997. Louima was born in 1966 in Thomassin, Haiti, the oldest of his parents’ four … Read MoreAbner Louima (1966- )
On July 12, 2013, 17 year-old Deion Fludd passed away as a result of complications from blunt-trauma injuries after being attacked by New York Police Department (NYPD) officers. Raised in the Red Hooks projects of Brooklyn, New York, Deion was the middle child of five. His parents were Karen … Read MoreDeion Fludd (1996-2013)
The death of Freddie Gray in 2015 while in police custody brought increased attention to the national debate on interactions between law enforcement and African Americans and inspired the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement. Freddie Gray Jr. was born on August 16, 1989, in Baltimore, … Read MoreFreddie Gray Jr. (1989-2015)
"Image Ownership: Public Domain" The shooting death of twelve-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 brought increased attention to the national debate on interactions between police officers and African Americans. Tamir Elijah Rice was born to Samaria Rice and Leonard Warner on June 15, 2002, in Cleveland, … Read MoreTamir Elijah Rice (2002–2014)
The choking death of Eric Garner on video in 2014 helped bring the debate on interactions between white police officers and unarmed African Americans to the national forefront. Eric Garner was born on September 15, 1970, in New York City, New York. Garner, whose mother … Read MoreEric Garner (1970–2014)
"Image Ownership: Public Domain" With his death in 2014, eighteen-year-old Michael Brown’s name became synonymous with the growing Black Lives Matter movement and a nationwide debate about unarmed black men being fatally shot by law enforcement. Michael Brown Jr. was born on May 20, 1996, … Read MoreMichael Brown Jr. (1996–2014)