Ferguson Activists Are Dying IT’S TIME TO ASK QUESTIONS

by | May 9, 2017 | Opinion | 0 comments

Yes, 3 Ferguson activists are now dead including the latest supposed suicide of Edward Crawford who was found shot in the head in his care.

Crawford was the man in what may be the most iconic photo of the entire black lives matter movement, as he threw a tear gas cannister back at police.

But Crawford apparently killed himself….

The Root thinks it’s time to ask questions and we do too.

Here is an excerpt of what they wrote:

Crawford was found shot to death Thursday night in his car, just like activist Darren Seals in 2016 and protester DeAndre Joshua the night of the Ferguson verdict in 2014. The latter two had gunshot wounds to the head and their cars were lit on fire. Crawford, it is believed by police, shot himself in the back seat of his car either in an attempted suicide or by accident.

Given the justifiable lack of trust between local activists, black residents and the police, however, questions remain about this story. In order to bring justice to Crawford, his family and the entire Black Lives Movement, it’s about time we started asking tough questions about their deaths.

Missouri state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal broke the news on Twitter this morning that Crawford had been killed.

What was striking is not just the anguish in her tweets but also the details she provides.

Edward Crawford screenshot from CNN

And:

It is possible to believe that Crawford’s death was just an accident. It is possible to believe that he decided to take his own life in full view of other people in the car. It is also possible, in a town where police claimed that 19-year-old Michael Brown punched out a cop and then charged into a hail of bullets from 30 feet away in broad daylight, that police could be completely lying to cover up some more nefarious cause of death. There is a long history in America of the police jumping to the conclusion that everything, from shootings to hangings of black people, is a suicide so as not to tug too hard on the strings of violent white supremacy that hold communities together.

We are in an era where the White House considers Black Lives Matter to be a terrorist organization.

Deliberate attacks against black people who are fighting for justice—whether the Rev. Clementa Pinckney of Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., or half a dozen other activists killed by white nationalists in the last decade—are not far-fetched. Regardless of the eventual conclusions about Edward Crawford, St. Louis police have still suggested that the deaths of Joshua and Seals were likely homicides.

Read the full piece here and let us know your opinion.

Keep up to date with everything going on in the Urban Intellectuals Universe.

Blog post opt-in form 2 (#8)

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Categories