Another Black injustice has occurred.
After a Black man was pinned to the ground during a struggle with security guards at a Milwaukee hotel, calls for justice are intensifying. This incident comes as thousands of GOP supporters and protesters are expected to gather in the city for the Republican National Convention, according to the Associated Press.
The death of D’Vontaye Mitchell on June 30 highlighted the ongoing issue of brutality faced by Black men at the hands of law enforcement and other authorities. And this is going on four years after the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis.
The outrage comes because Milwaukee is dealing with heightened security concerns around political protests days before the convention, which is July 15.
“Just because they have a big event coming up in Milwaukee, the killing of D’Vontaye Mitchell is just as important as anything else that’s going to happen in Milwaukee this month,” noted civil rights attorney Ben Crump told reporters Monday.
“We will demand justice every day this week, every day next week and every day after that,” said Crump, who is part of a team of lawyers representing Mitchell’s family. His relatives have called for charges to be filed against those responsible for the 43-year-old’s death.
Crump also represented Floyd’s family, whose death made waves around the world, sparking worldwide protests against racial violence and brutality.
“Everybody in America, after George Floyd, should have trained their employees, especially security personnel, to not put knees on peoples’ backs and peoples’ necks,” Crump added.
A spokesperson for the Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee issued a statement expressing condolences to the family of Mitchell, who died at the hotel following an incident involving four security guards who restrained him by holding down his stomach.
According to media reports, police stated that Mitchell entered the hotel, caused a disturbance, and subsequently fought with the guards as they attempted to escort him out.
The medical examiner has preliminarily ruled the cause of death as a homicide, although the investigation is ongoing. As of now, no criminal charges have been filed.
