'Stop Killing Us!' Pleads Young Black Man With Sign Under Joe Louis Fist
DETROIT (WWJ) - "Stop Killing Us!"
People honked their horns and snapped photos, Thursday afternoon, as a young Detroit man stood alone under The Fist holding a sign with that message in red.
Wayne State University student Jakhari Tolbert, 21, said after the fatal shootings of black men by police in Louisianan and Minnesota in recent days he felt compelled to do something.
"I think that this was a high mixture of emotions that came inside of me and it was really impromptu, just today," the psych major told WWJ Newsradio 950's Jon Hewett. "I got off of work, I literally grabbed a poster board and I came out here."
Removing his jacket due to the scorching heat, he said the reaction has been largely positive as he stood in Hart Plaza between east and west Jefferson Ave. at Woodward Ave. near the GM Renaissance Center.
"I'm getting honks, horns, applauses; people pulling over and asking to take pictures. It's a pretty positive response," he said.
The Monument to Joe Louis, commonly known also as "The Fist" is a memorial to the late boxer. Because of his efforts to fight Jim Crow laws, the 24-foot-long sculpture of a man's fist was symbolically aimed toward racial injustice.
Tolbert believes attention to that issue has once again becomes focused following these two latest incidents, but says awareness needs to turn into action.
He says he will continue to fight for change.
Earlier Thursday, in his first public reaction to the shootings, President Barack Obama said it is clear these were "not isolated incidents," adding that the U.S. had "seen such tragedies far too many times." He said all Americans should be "deeply troubled" by the deaths in Baton Rouge and suburban St. Paul.
"They are symptomatic of the broader challenges within our criminal justice system, the racial disparities that appear across the system year after year, and the resulting lack of trust that exists between law enforcement and too many of the communities they serve," Obama wrote in a Facebook post.
"In the meantime, all Americans should recognize the anger, frustration, and grief that so many Americans are feeling — feelings that are being expressed in peaceful protests and vigils. Michelle and I share those feelings," the president said. "Rather than fall into a predictable pattern of division and political posturing, let's reflect on what we can do better. Let's come together as a nation, and keep faith with one another, in order to ensure a future where all of our children know that their lives matter."