On Monday, September 22nd, more than 100 men and women set off from a Walmart in Beavercreek, Ohio--a predominantly white suburb of Dayton--and walked 11 miles to the Greene County Courthouse in Xenia, OH. On August 5th, a 22 year old black man named John Crawford was gunned down and killed by white police officers at that Beavercreek Walmart for the crime of holding an unloaded BB gun in the store's toy aisle. Protesters and concerned citizens honored the life of John Crawford and called for the release of the surveillance tapes that are being held by Ohio attorney general Mike Dewine so that the truth of this young man's murder can see the light of day. The march, which was led by the Ohio Student Association, a progressive youth organizing group based out of Columbus, was conducted today to coincide with the convening of a grand jury at the Greene County Courthouse to determine if there's enough evidence to indict the officers for Crawford's murder (spoiler alert: there is).
If you haven't heard about John Crawford's death, you are not alone. For reasons I can't properly explain, it has yet to get much traction in the national media and has flown so far under the radar that almost everyone I've spoken to in my hometown of Cincinnati--a 1 hour drive away from Beavercreek--have never heard about it. I aim to change that, in whatever way I can, and will have a extensive article on Crawford's murder and the movement that has risen as the result of it in the coming weeks. For now, all I can offer are some photos from today's march as a promissory note for more substantive coverage later on.
Before I get to the photos, I have to say that it really was incredible to see so many young people taking charge and speaking out against injustice in their own way and in their own words.
Getting ready...
...to speak truth.
The protesters held a "die-in" while a young woman recited some spoken word poetry
This is America's youth...This is their movement
"It's Not Real" -- John Crawford's last words