WELCOME TO WAL-MART – A DEADLY GREETING FOR BLACK MEN

John Crawford, an African-American father of two young children, was gunned down by police inside of an Ohio Wal-Mart on August 5, 2014.  Mr. Crawford picked up a piece of Wal-Mart merchandise, a BB gun, which proved to be a fatal decision.  The videotaped footage at Wal-Mart serves as the only unbiased account of how a simple shopping trip to Wal-Mart turned deadly at the hands of the Beavercreek police.  The Attorney General has only permitted his family to view approximately five minutes of the footage. The footage shows he never approached officers. He never aimed the BB gun at them. He was not otherwise aggressive in any way. He was not given an opportunity to live. He was shot dead on site. But the rest of the story remains incomplete.

As of August 20, 2014, the Ohio Attorney General refuses to release the entire videotaped footage, which tells the story of the last minutes of Mr. Crawford’s life to his family and legal representatives.  The Attorney General cites an ongoing investigation as the reason for concealing the videotaped encounter.  But an officer involved in the shooting is back at work. Tell the Attorney General and Beavercreek Police Department they can’t have it both ways – they can’t continue to conceal evidence of this killing under the guise of an “investigation” while allowing one of the potential suspects back on the police force. Either your investigation is over or it is not.

It is time for the public to demand transparency in this merciless killing.  It is time for the Attorney General to stop concealing evidence.  It is time for the video footage to be released.  It is time for the police officer’s statements to be subject to public scrutiny.  And if the Attorney General is not willing to be transparent, then it is time for the United States Justice Department to step in and provide the transparency in this case that will ensure justice for Mr. Crawford.

Please show the Attorney General, Beavercreek Police, and the Justice Department that we do not take the unjustifiable killing of a black man perusing an aisle and examining merchandise lightly by signing this petition. 

 “Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”  - Haile Selassie. 

Do not let justice for Mr. Crawford be silenced!