Quanice's little brother

This child is the little brother of Quanice Hayes, an unarmed Black teenager who was shot in the head and torso as he knelt in front of a group of five Portland Police officers, all fully armed and suited in bullet-proof vests, February 9th. Quanice was the eldest of Venus Hayes’ five children, and this child is her youngest. 

I see the fear in this child’s eyes, and I see it in his three other siblings, in his grandmother and great-grandmother (see Extra for today), in his aunts and cousins. They have all been forced to learn: if the police come at one of our children, he’s as good as dead. Keeping his hands visible will not save him. Speaking quietly and respectfully will not save him. Knowing his rights will not save him. Running will not save him. Being innocent will not save him. 

Just walking while Black, just being alive and vulnerable when the police come looking for someone, can kill him. 

The police have had nearly two months to perfect their story and to plant whatever “evidence” they need to support their story. They say someone resembling Quanice was accused of robbing a man in a car. They say Quanice may have stolen things from other cars. They say Quanice ran from them. And they say that when they had him on his knees in front of them, and they demanded that he keep his hands high in the air, he moved his hands towards his waistband and pockets. So they killed him. That’s their story, and that story exonerated them in the investigation. Now that the investigation is over, the family have been given their child's body for burial. The funeral will be held on Friday.

Quanice’s mother said, in her press conference today, “We will never know if Quanice had a toy gun, because Quanice is not here to tell us what happened. We will never know if he did something wrong--if he took something from a man in a car. Quanice is not here to tell us. The only story we have is the police story. But even if their story, which I don’t believe, is true--I know that he didn’t deserve to die.”

We failed to keep Quanice alive, but we want justice for him, and we want to see the policeman who killed him and another person, taken off our streets. Our job now is to make the world safe for this child and children like him and his sisters. How can we do that? Given the power of white supremacy with the current government, given the militarization of the police, given the demonic power of racism and guns, how do we make the world safe for all the children? We must find an answer.