#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 ]

[ikuinatakashis]

Black Lives Matter pieces displayed at the mopop museum in Seattle

[artisofthandy]

It is Black Lives Matter Day 2025 and for those who don’t know both the day and context behind it; Black Lives Matter is a sociopolitical movement that aims to acknowledge, highlight and make awareness of racial discrimination, inequality and profiling against and experienced by black communities, black people & the African-American community especially on the cases of police brutality & racially motivated violence.

This was made on July of 2013 after the news report of many different events of cops taking the life of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner & Rekia Boyd back in 2012 (note it’s been 13 years since the former; Trayvon Martin’s passing, May he rest well I’m so sorry) and it continues to do so to this day including a world renowned incident involving George Floyd back in 2020 (May he rest well too).

With many slogans and words to discourage excessive violence and force that would lead to lethalities such as “Hand’s Up Don’t Shoot or I can’t breathe.” There have been progress but at the same time however such acts still exists and no matter what we’ll stay strong in the end.

Black Lives Matter Day 2025. #blacklivesmatter #blm

[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

[galadriel1010]

Unfortunately, that cuts both ways. Travyon Martin's killer was found not guilty. George Floyd's killer was never charged. Rekia Boyd's killer walked free because the judge said it should have been tried as murder instead of reckless endangerment and he couldn't be tried for murder. Their names would all be under wraps still under Danish law.

oh so you’re telling me the guy had a 3 page handwritten explanation of his motives and mindset and a gun and silencer that matches the description despite it being a week since the guy was shot? hmmmm interesting

[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]

[holistic-girlhood]

No Justice • No Peace

In Loving Memory Of:

George Floyd

Treyvon Martin

Breonna Taylor

Eric Garner

Michael Brown

Tamir Rice

Sandra Bland

Philando Castile

Alton Sterling

Freddie Gray

Laquan McDonald

Atatiana Jefferson

Elijah McClain

Botham Jean

Stephon Clark

Walter Scott

Rekia Boyd

John Crawford III

Sean Bell

Amadou Diallo

Rayshard Brooks

Trayvon Martin

Emmett Till

Ahmaud Arbery

James Byrd Jr.

Malice Green

Yusef Hawkins

Jordan Davis

Renisha McBride

Alfred Wright

Aiyana Stanley-Jones

Tamir Rice

Charleston Nine

Oscar Grant

Henry Marrow

Marsha P. Johnson

Fannie Lou Hamer

Claude Neal

George Stinney Jr.

Willie Edwards Jr.

… and all the other countless victims of racial violence & police brutality.

[tiarrahill]

REOPEN REKIA BOYD'S CASE

[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]

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