DETROIT — Saturday afternoon about a dozen people from the group "BAMN" gathered on Schaefer Road in Detroit outside Imperial Fresh Markets for a "Justice for Tyre Nichols" protest.
The protestors signs called for the police officers charged in the death of Nichols to be jailed, and for full police body camera videos to be released from the officer involved shootings of Ki'azia Miller and Porter Burks.
One of the organizers of the protest, Donna Stern said; "We’re demanding that all the cops in the Tyre Nichols case be jailed, but we’re also here because we’ve been here for months demanding justice also for Porter Burks and Ki'Azia Miller. We demand that the full videos be released for both Ki'Azia Miller and Porter Burks and that the cops be named. We have a right to know who is doing this in our neighborhoods and we want them jailed and convicted."
Referring to Tyre Nichols, a protestor standing next to Stern, Glenda McGadney of Detroit said, "I think if the individual had been Caucasian, I really think it would have been different."
McGadney said there are many personal experiences of being Black in America that led her to come out on Saturday.
She said back in 1960 her and her sister were told to sit at the back of a greyhound bus, "How does that affect you? It affects you for the rest of your life, your entire life."
She also talked about her cousin dying in an officer involved shooting this past November in Pennsylvania; "My cousin who suffered from mental illness, 38 years old, was shot about 20 times by the police and they still have not released the tapes."
As McGadney and fellow protestors of "Bamn," or By Any Means Necessary, shared these experiences on the side of Schaefer road, their hope was that more people would join them in their efforts.
McGadney said it takes listening and action at home to change the experience of being Black in America.
"I think what needs to happen is we need to recognize that we’re all human beings," said McGadney. "We have blood running through our veins and we need to learn how to love each other, regardless of what color you are it should not matter."
Protestors are planning another protest in downtown Detroit for Sunday afternoon.
