#rekia boyd

[bossymarmalade]

Installation view of Freedom Square: The Black Girlhood Altar at the Chicago Cultural Center

The exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center opens with the installation “Homegoing.” The work is a suspended image depicting a screenshot from Ma’Khia Bryant’s personal TikTok. In the photo she’s laying her edges, her jet-black hair shining, her baby face clean and free of makeup. Below the printed photo is a collection of candles, stuffed animals, and a bouquet. On April 20, 2021, Ma’Khia was killed by an Ohio police officer in what was later determined a justifiable homicide. She was 16 years old. 

In the gallery titled Rest and Recess: The Courtyard, the exhibition transports the viewer to the Caribbean where Black girls play together unburdened and hopeful. A tree, sculpted by Robert Narciso and made from branches from Rekia Boyd’s family home, sits in the center of the room casting a protective shadow over everything. From its branches hang yellow paper hearts scribed with the hopes and dreams of little Black girls. The sound of their joyful cacophony activates the space.

[ x ]

[lboogie1906]

Rekia Boyd November 5, 1989 - March 21, 2012) a woman was murdered by Dante Servin, a white off-duty Chicago police detective, who contributed to the Black Lives Matter Movement. Her death came under questionable circumstances.

She was born in Chicago. She moved with her family to Dolton, Illinois. On March 21, 2012, she was hanging out with friends at Douglas Park on Chicago’s West Side at a party, listening to music while having a few drinks. Around 1:00 am, she and some of her friends walked to a nearby liquor store. Servin was just finishing his shift at his second job. He was off duty, heading to a fast food restaurant for a hamburger, but Servin drove to Douglas Park after a citizen called police about a noise complaint. Servin saw her and her friends and claimed they were arguing in an alley. Whether Servin calmly approached her and her friends or was rude and aggressive is still debated. One of her friends, Antonio Cross, claimed that Servin attempted to buy drugs from the group. When Cross told Servin to “get his crackhead ass out of here,” Servin pulled a gun, stuck it out of the window of his car, and fired into the group, hitting her in the head. She was instantly killed, and Cross was shot in the hand.

After the shooting, the Chicago Police Department defended Servin’s actions and arrested Cross. The police department claimed that Servin had discharged his weapon after Cross had approached him with a gun. Upon investigation, it was discovered that Cross was holding a cell phone.

In November 2013, Servin was charged with involuntary manslaughter. On April 20, 2015, he was cleared of all charges following a bench trial by Judge Dennis J. Porter. On November 24, 2015, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy called for Dante Servin to be fired by the Chicago Police Board. On May 17, 2016, Servin resigned from the police force. The city of Chicago also paid $4.5 million to her family. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #blm

[ablackwomansurvivingrape]

Silence on Black Female Victims Weakens Fight Against Police Brutality

Acknowledging black female victims also demonstrates criminal profiling isn’t just happening to black men, and it isn’t only occurring during police stops. A recent African American Policy Forum report showed black girls who were late or absent from school ended up with criminal warrants. Black girls were also arrested for things like having a tantrum in school at age six.

Even as victims, black girls run the risk of incarceration — such was the case for an 11-year-old rape victim in D.C. Police failed to believe her despite corroborating evidence from the rape kit. Instead she was imprisoned for making a false report. These violations are motivated by the same brand of sexism and misogyny that keeps the brutality against black women and girls hidden in the fight for criminal justice reform.

Sexual violence in police custody is brought into high relief when black women are included. The alleged rape and sexual assault of at least 13 black women by former Oklahoma City Police Officer, Daniel Holtzclaw, serves as the most recent, heinous instance.

The politicized nature of protection also becomes visible, black women’s cases can explicitly show how the justice system fails to protect us at the same time that it egregiously condemns black women. Marissa Alexander‘s case is a recent example, but so, too, is the case of CeCe McDonald, 24. As an African-American trans woman, McDonald served 19 months in solitary in a male facility for fighting back against a racist, transphobic attack in Minneapolis in 2011.

These outcomes showcase a pattern of bias that is not localized to places like South Carolina, Alabama, and New York, but we need to get past the patriarchy and misogyny to put these nationwide systemic inequalities on display.

[chucksrus84]

Do #BlackLivesMatter only when Black men are murdered by police? I need an answer to this question and I need it now.

Did #BlackLivesMatter when Breonna Taylor (an emergency medical technician) was murdered while she slept, by three plainclothes police officers who executed a no-knock search warrant?

Did #BlackLivesMatter when Oluwatoyin Salau (a BLM activist) was assaulted, kidnapped and murdered by a 49 year Black man?

Did #BlackLivesMatter when Ashanti Carmon (a beautiful soul that was not listed in that tweet) was shot multiple times at Fairmont Heights?

When do our lives matter? Why is it that we are told to keep SILENT and not to trust the police or our own family members or even the men in our own community, because to do so would put them at jeopardy. Why are we taught to protect other people at OUR EXPENSE? What is wrong with that picture and why is another generation doing it AGAIN. 

So yes, I want an answer. Do Black women’s lives MATTER? Do we matter to YOU?  

[sprmint-bkgsoda]

[tiarrahill]

REOPEN REKIA BOYD'S CASE

[thesociologicalcinema]

At some point our country must meaningfully acknowledge that the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Sean Reed, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Erick Garner, Rekia Boyd, Tanisha Anderson, and countless others are not isolated incidents or "bad apples." It is systemic violence.

~ @AOC

[bonediggercharleston]

Remember Rekia Boyd

Murdered by off-duty Chicago cop Dante Sevin after he approached a bunch of black teenagers, complained about their noise, tried to buy drugs off of them to probably arrest them for possession, pulled a gun because according to him “Antonio Cross had a gun” which was just a cellphone.

He was charged with involuntary man-slaughter and got acquitted because he very much intended to kill, and judge directed the jury to acquit.

Sevin quit before he could be fired, securing a fat retirement package.

[silentauthor96]

John Irons, aka Man of Steel; Action Comics (1938-) #689

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Yesterday I started having an anxiety attack at the thought of my Black, 16 year old little brother riding his bike in our white suburban neighborhood, so these panels just seemed really timely to share.

Unnecessary force and violence against black people isn't new. The fact that it's wrong isn't news either.

Heroes save lives. Not end them.

[maxineshawsdaughter]

#Rekia Boyd 💜👑

[saturngirrrl]

it has gotten to a point where it is clear this is not a bad apple problem, this is a product of structural racism that exists in every precinct in america that will continue to exist until we do something about it. innocent, unarmed black people are being murdered by police and have been for decades. peacefull protesters are being arrested and shot by police. they have shown us time after time they will not change. so we must force them to change.

[xineohp18]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sʟɪɴᴋ Jᴏʜɴsᴏɴ (@slinkjohnson) on Jun 12, 2020 at 10:54am PDT

[protectblackchildren]

A white former Chicago police officer who was acquitted of fatally shooting an unarmed black woman failed Tuesday to get his record expunged by a judge. Dante Servin had asked that his records tied to the 2012 death of Rekia Boyd be stricken from police and court databases. In rejecting the request

[intangible-dream]

Last night, no one showed up to march for Rekia Boyd. Rekia, was shot dead in the head by cops in Chicago on Monday. A Cook County judge acquitted police of killing Rekia. Dante Servin, charged of manslaughter, went jailbird free. Rekia Boyd, was a 22 year old unarmed black woman living on the Southside of Chicago and last night, no one showed up to march at her rally. I guess all the protesters got tied up. I guess all the black folks were busy making signs saying “stop killing our black boys.” I guess no one hears the howling of a black girl ghost in the night time. We stay unheard. Blotted out. Buried. Dead.

Porsha Olayiwola - “Rekia Boyd”

[ilikemylifegrande]

horrified doesn’t even begin to cover it. my heart and prayers with philando’s family. (second photo should also include Alton Sterling, Terrance Crutcher and more) 😔🙏🏻