Adrienne Hood, Aramis Malachi-Ture Sundiata and Kiara Yakita on the internal and external shifts that have taken place since the Floyd uprisings hit the city in May 2020
A woman who was charged with protesting at St. Joseph Cathedral during a Respect Life Mass in January was specifically targeted because of her anti-police stance, according to her attorney.
Brian Bardwell, a first amendment attorney in Cleveland, filed a motion to dismiss the charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct against his client, Michelle M. Davis, on April 29 on the grounds of selective prosecution. The motion will be heard on Tuesday morning in Franklin County Municipal Court.
Bardwell alleges that the Columbus Division of Police pursued charges against Davis who was part of a group of four protesters charged following their actions at a Jan. 22 protest at the Respect Life Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral Downtown because she also protested against police misconduct. Others charged include Jordyn Close, 24; Mason Hickman, 24; and Anne Morrice, 35.
It’s happened with such regularity that by now the reaction seems routine: police shoot and kill a Black person, and protesters gather in the streets of Columbus.
Twice in April, protests formed within hours of the news that police had first shot and killed 27-year-old Miles Jackson on April 12 at Mount Carmel St. Ann s medical center after he fired a gun in the emergency department, and then again when a Columbus officer shot 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant on April 20 in response to Bryant wielding a knife against a young woman.
But while the responses to fatal police shootings are swift, James Wynn contends that each killing of a Black person reopens wounds in communities of color that have been allowed to fester for much longer than any one protest can last.