Milwaukee Protesters Demand Justice for Samuel Sharpe and D’Vontaye Mitchell

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, “War, Peace and the Presidency: Breaking with Convention.” We’re broadcasting from Milwaukee just after the Republican National Convention ended. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Here in Milwaukee, protesters marched on Thursday through downtown to call for justice for Samuel Sharpe and D’Vontaye Mitchell. Sam Sharpe was a 43-year-old unhoused Black veteran who was shot dead here in Milwaukee by police officers from Ohio who were here in Wisconsin as part of a group of 4,500 law enforcement officials here for the RNC. The shooting took place a mile from the RNC’s proceedings. Sharpe’s death came weeks after security guards at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Milwaukee killed D’Vontaye Mitchell. The 43-year-old Black father who died after security guards pinned him to the ground.

AMY GOODMAN: Democracy Now! was at the vigil on Thursday. This is Karl Hars, a cousin of D’Vontaye Mitchell.

KARL HARS: Justice for who?

PROTESTERS: D’Vontaye Mitchell!

KARL HARS: Justice for who?

PROTESTERS: D’Vontaye Mitchell!

KARL HARS: Justice for who?

PROTESTERS: D’Vontaye Mitchell!

KARL HARS: When do we want it?

PROTESTERS: Now!

KARL HARS: When do we want it?

PROTESTERS: Now!

KARL HARS: When do we want it?

PROTESTERS: Now!

KARL HARS: When do we want it?

PROTESTERS: Now!

KARL HARS: We literally do that chant every time we see each other now. It sucks. In real life, it really sucks. That’s how I greet my family now, his mother, his brother, his sister, his other brother, his other cousins.

Milwaukee isn’t so small. It isn’t. They try to make us small, but we’re not. We won the NBA championship. We got the R — I don’t even care — I don’t even care what it’s called, because it doesn’t — it doesn’t show compassion for my family, other families. I never in a million years thought it would be my family. I never thought every week we’ll be doing some type of protest, some type of march, some type of — some type of — like, shed some type of light on the situation. They come here and make money off our city, but when we’re hurting and we need them, they’re not there. They turn their back on us. At this point, we are on the outside. They’re probably watching us from their beautiful binoculars and fine wine glasses and going on about their life. But we’ve got to remember those seconds, those moments where I have to see my cousin’s body on Facebook, Instagram. And you know what? We’re going — and we have to pay the same respects to the family that’s also here supporting us, Sam Sharpe, treated as if he didn’t matter. He mattered to us. We just want you to understand, he could have been your family member. He could have been your brother, your cousin. He could have been your loved one.

NAYISHA MITCHELL: My name is Nayisha Mitchell. D’Vontaye was my brother. I was his big sister. We are definitely going to keep fighting for justice here. We appreciate all you guys’ support. We just ask for the community to keep on coming out here with us, keep standing with us, until we get some answers.

You know, no one has been charged. No one has been arrested. They’re saying that they’re waiting on autopsy results. But we saw the video. We all saw the video. Why do we need autopsy results to determine if these people need to be arrested or convicted of a crime? We saw them murder him in broad daylight. We need answers, and we want it now. And we need justice now.

KATRINA GAMES: My name is Katrina Games. I am here on behalf of my nephew, for his mother’s sake. Now, most people that know Sam Sharpe, they know that he has MS, and he doesn’t — his gait is unbalanced. He wanted to be on his own with his MS. He didn’t want us to feel like we had to take care of him or burden him. He told us all that God told him to go and help in that community. And that’s what he did.

But for the police to just shoot him like that, 27 bullets, come on. And you shot my nephew like that. You shot him! It didn’t take all of that. If he was someone else, if he was a different race — and I hate to bring race in this, because I have all races in my family — but you wouldn’t have killed him like that, you wouldn’t have shot him like that. Twenty-seven bullets. And all that he was doing was trying protect himself. He went to the police, and they did nothing. And now my nephew is shot. He is shot, and he is dead, and it is just horrible.

ANGELIQUE SHARPE: My name is Angelique Sharpe. I’m Sam Sharpe’s sister. First of all, this Bible and that Bible that my sister’s holding, this is all that’s left of Sam, besides his dog.

All of y’all up there, all of y’all out here that are parents, when your kids grow up and they get into an altercation and they feel like they’ve got to protect themselves, because we live in a country where everybody wants to protect themselves, how do you want to walk up on a situation watching your child in an altercation with someone else? How would you want that situation to be handled? Because — by the police? Because there’s no way you’re going to tell me you want it to be handled like that. There’s not no officer, it ain’t no mayor, it ain’t no chief of police that’s going to tell me that you would want a situation to be escalated like that that did not have a gun, talking about this is immediate threat to life. How do we know if the police killed the perpetrator or the victim here? How do we know?

We’re sick of this. We’re tired of it. We want answers. And for now, all I’m going to say is, we appreciate every single person that’s come out day after day, that supported our family. We love Sam. We’re going to always advocate for him. Y’all are not going to make him out to be a knife-wielding criminal, because that’s not who he was. The streets know him. The police don’t. Y’all don’t get to tell this story and tell the narrative. We’re going to tell it. We’re sick of it. And today, that narrative stops today!

UNIDENTIFIED: We’re going to lead another family-friendly, peaceful march. We’re going to get within sight and sound of the Hyatt, where D’Vontaye Mitchell was murdered.

PROTESTERS: Justice for? D’Vontaye Mitchell! Justice for? D’Vontaye Mitchell! Justice for? D’Vontaye Mitchell! Justice for who? Samuel Sharpe! Justice for who? Samuel Sharpe! Justice for who? Samuel Sharpe! Justice for who? Samuel Sharpe! Justice for who? Samuel Sharpe! Justice for who? Samuel Sharpe!

LATRISA GILES: The employees of this Hyatt Hotel right here at 333 West Kilbourn Avenue killed my cousin, D’Vontaye Mitchell, and they tried to —

PROTESTERS: Boo! Shame! Shame!

LATRISA GILES: They tried to sweep it underneath the rug. They did not know that D’Vontaye had family. The media tried to say that he came in here causing a nuisance and, when police arrived, that he was unresponsive. They forgot to say that the employees of the Hyatt Hotel here beat the hell out of him for almost 15 minutes until he died. No justice?

PROTESTERS: No peace!

LATRISA GILES: No justice?

PROTESTERS: No peace!

AMY GOODMAN: That was Latrisa Giles, D’Vontaye Mitchell’s cousin, speaking outside the Hyatt Hotel here in downtown Milwaukee Thursday. Tune in for our other hour, when we talk about the recent killings of these two Black men here in Milwaukee, Samuel Sharpe — we’ll be joined by his sister — and D’Vontaye Mitchell. Stay tuned for that other hour of special “Breaking with Convention” coverage right here at democracynow.org or on your local station.

Special thanks to the Plum Media crew here in Milwaukee, who helped produce today’s shows: David Overbeck and David Hoagy [phon.], as well as Bob Gregory, Jason Klappa, Bailey Preston, Trinity Burgess, Matthew Tucker, Steve Gruszecki, Kim Goodwin, Patrice Nault and Constante “C.C.” Cabunoc. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh. Thanks so much for joining us.