Protesters promise their outrage will continue until justice in Fort Worth is served
Since the Jacqueline Craig incident, African-American residents of Fort Worth have been incensed about the treatment women of color have received from police.
That’s according to Cory Hughes, who helped organize a Fort Worth protest being replicated nationwide. Monday was designated “A National Day of Outrage” in order to highlight the injustice of the fatal shooting of Atatiana Jefferson.
Craig stood on the stairs at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center with her attorney, Lee Merritt, and Jefferson’s sister, Amber Carr. The event was designed to bring together people in 32 cities across the nation, all who were disadvantaged and feeling the sting of unequal justice in their communities.
“I’m grateful and hope it makes a positive impact,” Carr said. “It’s amazing that it’s all over, in cities everywhere.”
Merritt, who said he was restricted in what he could say because the judge had placed a gag order on attorneys connected with the Jefferson case, said black and white communities together are instinctively incensed when it comes to the mistreatment of women and children.
The anger generated by the treatment of the Craig family resonates in the Fort Worth African-American community nearly three years later.
“I don’t think the two communities are different in that respect,” Merritt said. “There is something about the senseless murder of women and children that strikes a chord.”
Jefferson was shot and killed by Aaron Dean, one of two officers responding to what the caller said was supposed to be a welfare check. Jefferson, who thought there was a prowler in her back yard, stood in front of a window in her home while holding a gun, and Dean shot her through the window, police have said.
A few days after the shooting, Dean resigned from the Fort Worth Police Department and was arrested on a murder warrant. Dean has yet to be indicted and was released from jail just hours after his arrest.
The same moral outrage was felt in Fort Worth’s black community during the arrest of the Craig family and during the arrest of Dorshay Morris, according to some protesters who stood on the steps of the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center.
Craig called the police in December 2016 because her elementary school age son told a relative that he had been assaulted by an adult neighbor. Craig and two of her daughters were arrested, but ultimately, no charges were filed against Craig or William Martin, the arresting officer.
Martin was later suspended 10 days for his inappropriate behavior and handling of the situation. The incident led to protests and increased racial tension. Some members of the community called for Martin and former Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald to be fired, and the city established a task force on race and culture in the wake of the incident.
Craig’s civil case is pending.
A few months later in August 2017, Morris was arrested and shocked by a Taser during the arrest. Morris called police because she had been dealing with a domestic situation with her boyfriend, who was drunk.
The two responding officers arrested the man, charging him with public intoxication, before turning their attention to the caller, Morris.
Sgt. Kenneth Pierce, a 22-year veteran of the department, and rookie officer Maria Bayona asked Morris for her ID, as shown in the officers’ body camera recordings, her civil lawsuit says.
When she hesitated to provide her ID, Pierce forcefully grabbed Morris near her throat, and she began complaining she was being choked. Bayona, at the direction of Pierce, stunned her with a Taser.
Pierce was fired but was later reinstated.
Morris’ lawsuit is also pending.
The power structure first made it hard for black men to support their families, using Section 8 rules and regulations to make it hard for men to stay with their families and then put them in prison to complete the separation process, Hughes said.
Now that women of color have been isolated, they are being attacked, Hughes said.
“When you attack the woman, you are striking at the very heart of the community,” Hughes said. “What we are saying is that we are not defenseless.”
The shooting that ended the life of Jefferson has caused a lot of agony nationwide, said Angelo Pinto, co-founder of the New York-based group Until Freedom. Pinto said the group has been organizing and supporting efforts to end disparate police treatment of people of color and mass incarceration for decades.
Jefferson’s case came quickly on the heels of the Botham Jean shooting trial and because the two cases are so difficult for police to justify, they have garnered a lot of attention nationwide, Pinto said.
“It opened a lot of wounds among our folks,” Pinto said.
Jean was shot and killed by Amber Guyger, an off-duty Dallas police officer who believed he was an intruder in her apartment. Guyger realized after she shot Jean that she had entered the wrong apartment.
Guyger was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but her attorneys have filed notice that they might appeal her sentence.
Another factor in the national attention the Jefferson case has garnered has to do with the idea that both Jean and Jefferson were in their homes, obeying the law when they were shot and killed, according to Pinto.
“When police deal with blacks, they fire first and fire fast,” Pinto said. “We are seeing this happening everywhere. We are wondering why police are not responding in a way that preserves life.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2019 at 9:19 PM.
