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Thelma: my son, he got shot in that backyard over there with his hands in the air. we endured this pain for 30 years. now we re back here again. christine: i was in eighth grade when phillip pannell was murdered, and a lot of my friends knew phillip pannell. so i try every year to teach the students about phillip pannell, because too often they come to school and they don t know his story. so i m always trying to make sure that his name is remembered and we never forget what happened. protestor: (shouting) 30 years. not again. natacha: i ve been fighting for 31 years because even now, today, teaneck is trying to sweep it under the rug. jim: hall meeting, all right. that is the black lives matter mural, council member rice. gervonn: i know that we did discuss it at our last council meeting and just wanted to make sure that it was brought up again. ....
Caused people to finally realize that it didn t matter where you went in america. it was in the suburbs. it was in the place that america had deemed to be safe spaces. so, for me, it s part and parcel why this story is so important, because it was teaneck in 1990. it could be your community tomorrow. (music) natacha: some people in teaneck, i believe, are on the right side of history. when the teaneck board of education said, we re going to have a mural, i was like, okay, finally, after all these years, teaneck, new jersey is going to honor phillip pannell. (music) his name is not going to be in a parking lot on a mural. ....
I just couldn t understand. like, if a man or a person getting shot in the back and you don t see no wrong with that, you know. i don t understand that. natacha: as we were leaving, it was such a crazy feeling and so bizarre. we had to get out of there. our chests were tight. like, you know, we couldn t breathe. reporter: to the family and friends of phillip pannell, this verdict, according to them, shows that a black person cannot get justice in america. they criticized the fact that in a racially sensitive case like this one, there never should have been an all white jury hearing the evidence. reporter2: spath said he thought his life was being threatened. the jury sided with the police officer. male: to have a jury return a verdict in 9 hours. it s almost as though the jury said, let s hurry up and do this thing and so we can get home for dinner. ....
It s going to be at teaneck high school, the high school that he loved, the high school that he should have been able to graduate from. today is a positive day. thelma: yes, it is. natacha: today is a good day. because today teaneck, new jersey, has acknowledged that phillip pannell s life mattered. thelma: life mattered. (clapping) natacha: i was thinking like, i m just happy that this is finally happening and that i can go on with my life and move on to the next step. i don t want to live with that hate. i want to live with the memories and the good times that clint and i shared (music) the mural at teaneck high school, it did give my mother and i a great deal of peace and relief. but there was one more way that we wanted to honor my brother. and that was the tree of healing. ....
I don t know how it d be to lose a child. and, and, and i can only imagine the horror you ve lived through over the last, uh, what is it? 30 years now. i certainly, you know, certainly don t understand how it is to lose a sibling either as i speak to your daughter as well. but i will not support a mural that has phillip pannell s name on it anywhere. if you re asking me for my vote, you know, because i won t vote for something that i don t fully support. and there s certain aspects that right now i can t support. but i do support the concept. during the rioting back in 1990 as a 15 year old, i was working on the ambulance corps. i transported a photographer who had his camera smacked over his head to the hospital. i do remember going into the e.r., i remember seeing three or four teaneck police officers holding a different arm or a packet somewhere else where they were injured. i couldn t believe that this was my town and i couldn t believe the damage that was done. ....