M artin L uther K ing J r .
2021 special edition
January 13, 2021
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Page 19
O PINION
Tamir Rice Decision Fails at Justice
Protecting the
powerful at expense
of powerless
M aRc h. M oRial
“Anyone with decent
vision can see from the
parking-lot video of the
shooting that the claim
that Loehmann was able
to repeatedly warn Tamir
warrants incredulity. In
less than two seconds,
Garmback screeches to a halt in the cold
mud, Loehmann pops out of the passen-
ger door, and he fires the shot that even-
tually killed Tamir. He’d have had to be
speaking like one of those speed readers
dictating legal disclaimers on radio ad-
vertisements. However, despite that com-
mon-sense view of things, Fishman and
Reddick reportedly encountered tension
within the DOJ. You see, they had to write
a memo requesting a grand jury to sub-
poena documents and testimony from wit-
nesses, and that memo needed approval
from a deputy assistant attorney general
who works alongside Trump political ap-
pointees within the DOJ. And no one re-
sponded. … Quite simply, the DOJ let the
clock run out on accountability for two
by
cops involved in killing an unarmed black
child.” – Jamil Smith, Rolling Stone
The decision not to charge the officers
who shot and killed a Black child on sight
encapsulates everything that is wrong
with the Department of Justice under the
current administration. Once again, it has
protected the powerful at the expense of
the powerless. Once again, it has failed to
seek justice for a Black life.
Tamir Rice was a child playing with a
toy. It would have taken Timothy Loeh-
mann and Frank Garmback only a few
seconds to ascertain that he posed no
threat to anyone. But they didn’t bother
to spend even those few seconds because
all they needed to see was the color of
Tamir’s skin to decide he was a threat.
They didn’t even bother to stop their car
completely. As Judge Ronald B. Adrine
wrote in his ruling that probable cause ex-
isted to charge the officers, “This court is
thunderstruck by how quickly this event
turned deadly … the Zone Car containing
Patrol Officers Loehmann and Garmback
is still in the process of stopping when
Rice is shot.”
The toy gun wasn’t even in Tamir’s
hands when the officers shot him. The
video “does not appear to show him mak-
ing any furtive movement prior to or at the
moment he is shot,” Judge Adrine wrote.
Tamir’s arms “do not appear to be raised
Letter to the Editor
As past President of Portland
NAACP Branch 1120, I extend my
congratulations to new NAACP
Board volunteers for their recent
appointments.
The NAACP is known for its
fearless leadership in advocating
and building platforms that ad-
vance the civil and human rights
of Black people. I am confident
that during your administration,
Portland Branch 1120 will contin-
ue this important legacy.
I believe fresh perspectives and
valuable insight are crucial as we
navigate turbulent waters in these
most unprecedented times. My
commitment to justice is what has
guided my work, and I hope this
will be the compass for the work
you’ll do in black and brown com-
munities.
I am proud to leave you with an
organization that is thriving. After
over four decades of not having a
home, The NAACP Branch 1120
now inhabits a new home in Lloyd
Center Mall, located in Portland’s
historic Black community. In only
three years, revenues for the orga-
nization have increased by 2,900%.
Membership has flourished from
under 300 to over 1,000.
As co-petitioner of the Portland
Clean Energy Fund (an idea orig-
inated by our past NAACP Presi-
dent JoAnn Hardesty), the NAACP
is now on the frontlines of climate
change. This measure passed in
November 2018 with 65% support
from Portland voters, creating up
to $61 million in brand new annu-
al funding for clean energy homes
and jobs in Portland targeted for
black and brown communities.
Early in 2019, Portland
NAACP led a coalition opposing
or outstretched.”
A grand jury declined to indict the
officers in 2015, calling the killing a
“perfect storm of human error, mis-
takes, and communications by all in-
volved.” However, because grand jury
proceedings are shrouded in secrecy it’s
unknown what evidence the grand ju-
rors heard or what recommendations the
prosecutors made. After a judge granted
grand jurors in the Breonna Taylor case
permission to speak publicly, the public
learned that prosecutors had not given
them the opportunity to bring homi-
cide charges against the officers. Ken-
tucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron
falsely claimed the grand jury “agreed”
that the shooting was justified.
The city of Cleveland last year settled
a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Tamir’s
family for $6 million.
This brutal year of COVID-19 has seen
armed protesters storm state capitols,
threatening lawmakers and even menac-
ing police, and not one was harmed. The
armed protesters were white.
In Kenosha in August, police noncha-
lantly allowed accused killer Kyle Ritten-
house, armed with an AR-15 style rifle, to
walk by them even as witnesses shouted
that he had just shot someone. Ritten-
house is white.
The same week as the Kenosha killings,
police in Utah arrested an unharmed Rich-
ard Grant Lees after he fired shots at the
officers with assault rifle. Lees is white.
Time and again, Black people are con-
sidered a threat just for existing, while vi-
olent white men are cosseted.
A Justice Department that does not
consider Tamir’s death a crime is a Justice
Department that has decided that white
officers must never be held accountable
for taking Black lives, under any circum-
stances. Among those recently pardoned
by President Trump were a white police
officer who unlawfully ordered her police
dog to attack people of color; a Border
Patrol agent who brutalized a Latino man
trying to cross the border; an immigration
agent who illegally harassed Latino store
owners, and a sheriff who defied a court
order to stop racial profiling and who once
said it was “an honor” to be compared to
the Ku Klux Klan.
It may be too late for the incoming
Biden Administration to re-examine this
case. But we expect the new Attorney
General to be committed to police ac-
countability, and to pursue such cases
with a sincere motivation to seek justice
for the victims rather than to protect their
killers.
Marc H. Morial is president and chief
executive officer of the National Urban
League.
Supporting New NAACP Leaders
a regressive unreinforced mason-
ry ordinance designed to displace
tenants, demolish buildings, and
devalue property in favor of de-
velopers. This ordinance target-
ed facilities in historically Black
neighborhoods, promoting fur-
ther gentrification and continuing
a long history of systemic and
structural betrayals of our black
community. In October 2019, the
NAACP was proud to have led a
coalition that played an essential
role in supporting the Portland
City Council to overturn the toxic
and unjust policy unanimously.
These are just a few examples
chronicling the NAACP Branch
1120 accomplishments in only
three short years. I en-
courage the incumbent
leadership to be bold in
its advocacy for black
and brown people’s
rights. I also want to re-
mind us all, civil rights
are human rights, and there is yet
much work necessary to build a
coalition that fights for justice
concerning all people.
Once again, I applaud and con-
gratulate the incumbent
NAACP Board and ex-
tend my support whenever
needed.
E.D. Mondaine, former
Portland NAACP presi-
dent
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