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Local Activist Groups to Rally Saturday at Site of Chris Ballew’s Beating in Altadena
News Apr 11, 2018
Chris Ballew is pictured here facing the media after he recoved from the police beating. Photo by Terry Miller
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Chris Ballew is pictured here facing the media after he recovered from the police beating. – Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
By Terry Miller
Stephon Clark, a 23-year-old father of two, was murdered in the backyard of his grandmother’s house by two Sacramento police officers who fired 20 bullets at him, hitting him eight times, mostly in the back. The officers claimed he was holding a gun; he was, in fact, holding a cell phone. The news, like all the other alleged police killings of young black men, added the proverbial salt to the deep wounds this nation is reeling from with the advent of so many police shootings in recent years of African American males.
In Pasadena alone, police officers shot and killed Leroy Barnes in 2009, Kendrec McDade in 2012, JR Thomas in 2016 and Matthew Hurtado in 2017, and brutally beat Chris Ballew in 2017. “These events are part of a broader concatenation of killings of innocent civilians, disproportionately people of color, by law enforcement across the country,” a media advisory issued by Ian Jameson and Melissa Michelson stated Monday.
On Saturday, April 14, at 10 a.m., Pasadenans and Altadenans Against Police Violence, Refuse Fascism, the Altadena ACLU and other activist groups will hold a rally in front of the Mobil Station on the corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Woodbury Road in Altadena, where Chris Ballew was beaten by Pasadena Police last year.
The groups plan on honoring the memory of Stephon Clark, the memories of Leroy Barnes, Kendrec McDade, JR Thomas, and Matthew Hurtado, as well as honor Chris Ballew who survived his brutal beating.
The groups plan to march down Fair Oaks Avenue, turn left on Washington, and circuit back to the Mobil station holding signs ‘emblazoned with the images of these men and shouting chants objurgating police violence and murder, reminiscent of protests in recent weeks in Sacramento.’
