Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice, the 12 year old that was slain by a Cleveland Police officer, said that athletes like Ohio native Lebron James and others should speak out against her son’s death.
In an interview with Roland Martin, Ms. Rice has proposed that athletes use their platform to speak out against injustices such as police involved deaths and gun violence.
“I think it’s quite sad that LeBron hasn’t spoken out about my son. I’m not asking him to sit out a game. I know his kids got to eat too. But you can at least put on a shirt or something…I’m not asking nobody to quit their job or anything, but make a statement for us Black people out here.”
A grand jury made the decision last month to no indict the two Cleveland police officers involved in the November 2014 incident in which 12-year-old Tamir was fatally shot by one of the officers at a city recreation center. Officer Tim Loehmann took less than two seconds to jump out of his police cruiser and fatally shoot the child, who had a toy gun in the park near the recreation center.
