A Protest For An Unarmed Black Man Killed By Cops In The UK Mistaken As Mourning Of The Queen
Hundreds of protesters marched through London, demanding justice for an unarmed Black man after his fatal shooting by a firearms officer in South London on Saturday. However, the Black Lives Matter rally was incorrectly reported by Sky News as a gathering of people mourning the death of the queen.
The faux pas revealed the reality of two Englands. While the majority mourned the longest-reigning monarch’s legacy, those that are disenfranchised by the royal family’s dark history of racism, colonization, and imperialism are still fighting.
According to BBC, On Sept. 5, Chris Kaba, an up-and-coming UK drill rapper known as Mad Itch, was driving a vehicle that was stopped after the activation of an automatic number-plate recognition camera indicated that the car had been linked to a firearms offence in the previous days.
A chase ensued and Kaba was killed by a single shot fired through the driver’s side of the car’s windshield after his car was hemmed in by two police vehicles in a narrow residential street. Kaba was given first aid by officers at the scene but died later in a hospital.
Following the shooting, a detailed search of the scene and surrounding area was completed that night and no firearm had been recovered from the vehicle or the scene.
In a statement released through the charity Inquest, Kaba’s family demanded a homicide investigation.
“We are devastated; we need answers, and we need accountability. We are worried that if Chris had not been Black, he would have been arrested on Monday evening and not had his life cut short,” the statement added.
The Black Brits took to the south London streets to protest. Much of their protest language mirrors the protest chants of Black Americans, like “Justice for Chris Kaba,” “Abolish the Met,” and “no justice, no peace.”
Fellow British rapper, Stormzy addressed the crowd at the protest: “I was hesitant to come up here. The British press turn these things into something about me. This is nothing about me. I encourage everyone to try and have stamina. No one should have the stamina to go on a journey like this; stamina to get justice; stamina to get answers like this.”
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Commander Alexis Boon, from the Met, said: “I understand that this incident is extremely concerning, and I would like to reassure the community that the Met is co-operating fully with the IOPC as they carry out a thorough and independent investigation.”
According to BBC, though a name has not been released, the Met Police officer who shot and killed Kaba has been suspended from duty on Monday evening.
