Say Their Names memorial exhibit honors Black lives lost due to injustice
The new exhibit is put on by the African-American Museum of Fine Arts and features 200 photos of Black people who have died due to racial violence or injustice. Author: Heather Hope (Reporter) Updated: 6:59 PM PDT July 9, 2021
SAN DIEGO Outdoors and next to the Children’s Museum stands 50 pillars of pictures showcasing the names of Black people who lost their lives. All these people have died because of systemic racism or police brutality, and there are a lot,” said Gaidi Finnie, the Executive Director of the African-American Museum of Fine Arts.
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A new memorial exhibit will open in San Diego Saturday that honors dozens of Black Americans who lost their lives interacting with police or who were victims of hate crimes.
People can peruse dozens of pedestals with portraits and short biographies of Black people who were victims of systemic racism, organizers said. The portraits will be decorated with flowers, and lights will shine on each name at night.
Gaidi Finnie, chairman of the African American Museum of Fine Arts’ board of directors, brought the exhibit to San Diego after it had been shown in some 30 cities around the country. He said the exhibit is not a protest but a memorial for the lives lost.
More than 200 pedestals, portraits and lights showcase those who died after encounters with police or in hate crimes.
The new law was authored by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), who said he was concerned that the state Department of Justice had denied requests from some community leaders to undertake independent investigations of several high-profile police shootings.
The state DOJ has traditionally deferred to county prosecutors, who have handled such cases after investigations by the law enforcement agencies involved.
“Police shouldn’t police themselves, and the current system is fraught with conflicts of interest,” McCarty said during debate on the bill. He noted he had first proposed such legislation in 2015 and since then more than 800 people had been shot and killed by police in California.
Updated on June 23, 2021 at 8:15 pm
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Steven Olson, Alfred Olango, Dennis Carolino three local men who were experiencing mental health episodes when they were killed by police. The shootings were followed by protests, calling for change and accountability within police departments.
But years after Alfred Olango’s death, his sister, Lucy, is still struggling with the reality that her call to 911 might have ultimately cost him his life. She didn’t know it, but when Olango showed up at her El Cajon apartment on April 27, 2016, it would be his last visit.
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