By CELESTE M. HART
“We not only make noise when it is a white police officer killing us, unjustly. No, when anybody kills us, unjustly, we make noise. We don’t care if it is a Black hand that kills or a white hand,” said Benjamin Crump, civil rights attorney.
Crump brought the noise to HBCU Livingstone College, in Salisbury, NC, March 23, for justice for Shanquella Robinson, killed in Cabo, Mexico, October 29, 2022. Videos posted on social media showed Robinson brutally attacked by friends, now known as the Cabo 6, that vacayed with Robinson. Mexico issued a warrant, yet no arrests. U.S. Federal prosecutors announced, April 12, 2023, it declined to pursue charges against any of the Cabo 6. The official statement here;
“They murdered that sister. We’re demanding justice for Shanquella. Like Malcolm X said, Black woman been the most neglected, disrespected, most unprotected people in America…Today, we are here to become better informed, empowered, engaged, and educated,” said Crump.
Crump hosted the Equal Justice Now event, a non-profit organization established to fight against false arrest, bail reform, over policing, wrongful convictions, and systemic racism. A panel discussion, moderated by Eric Kowalczyk, Baltimore Police, and Attorney Bakari Sellers, former SC State representative, included, Charlotte Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary McFadden, Germale Black, Salisbury NAACP president, JaPharil Jones, president BLM 757-Virginia, Dr. Latarcia Barnes, chair Livingstone Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology, James Buie, retired Gaston County police chief, Carleena Deonanan, defense attorney, and Melanie Reid, law professor at Tennessee’s Lincoln Memorial College.
“We all have to show up, not just when the national media is around, not just when the hype is there. I’m there 24/7,” said McFadden. “Police have not connected to the community. Have you held us (police) accountable after training? The community demands something, and we want citizens in a better place,” said McFadden.
Justice fighters, from the beginning, came to make noise, including, Sallamondra Robinson, Shanquella’s mother, sister, Quilla Long, Mario Black, founder Million Youth March of Charlotte and Salisbury, Attorney Dominic Calhoun, National Civil rights activists, John C. Barnett, and Elliot Faace Vinson.
“Now, you are well armed to protest the school to prison pipeline, the denied access to health care, being wrongfully convicted, and all the injustice that plague our community. You all are very powerful, and you are our hope. We need your dedication and willingness to speak truth to power,” said Crump.
“There is a need for us to scream a little bit louder. We are here to talk about justice in North Carolina.
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