It’s been ten years since the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson. In Dayton, local activists marked the anniversary with a discussion about police reform and racial discrimination.
It was hosted on Aug. 27 at the Dayton Metro Library, in partnership with the University of Dayton’s Center for Human Rights.
The discussion comes after the recent police shooting in Dayton of 16-year-old Brian Moody. Officers claim the boy was holding a gun at the time of his death.
"The trauma is so real,” said Carlos Bufford of Black Lives Matter Dayton. “As a Black man living in this country, in this city, I don't think anyone understands the magnitude of what it is to have a state not look at you as a human.”
This month also marked the ten year anniversary of the death of John Crawford III, who was killed by a Beavercreek police officer while shopping in Walmart at Fairfield Crossing. No one was charged in Crawford's death.
Buford is working with other Ohio activists on a ballot initiative to end qualified immunity, which isa legal protection for government officials, including police officers, when they violate someone's rights.
“We do the marches. and we do other things to try to mobilize the people to do something. But legislatively, it haunts the community when they get back up the next day, and there's nothing been done. No accountability.” Buford said.
Johneessa Boston was a student at Wright State University when John Crawford and Michael Brown were killed. She went to Ferguson with other student activists to be part of the protests. Boston wants avoiding harm in communities to be a priority for the police.
“I don't think they( the police) realize that the implicit bias that they are taught and that the lack of training in de-escalation makes their job harder as well,” Boston said. “Real policing takes a major amount of social work”.
The panel discussion was part of an exhibit at Dayton Metro Library about the aftermath of the shooting.
The exhibition, Ferguson Voices, features interviews and photographs of people who responded to the police-shooting of Brown.
