Three years ago, the outrage over the extrajudicial killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor drove more than 1,000 people to march from the Riverfront to the steps of the courthouse in Wilmington for the We Still Can’t Breathe protest.
While tensions were still marked, Gov. John Carney and Sen. Darius Brown marched among the crowd. Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki and Attorney General Kathy Jennings also attended. Carney and Brown said they would be discussing police reforms “in the coming days.”
Days turned to months and months turned to years.
On Sunday a group only a fraction of the original protest crowd rallied in Wilmington once again for the We Still Can’t Breathe… 3 Years Later protest. Leaders proclaimed they were no longer interested in entertaining rhetoric from government officials about policy changes. They said they were ready to take action against those who stood in the way of actual reform.
This year about 40 people convened at Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park. Although participation was significantly smaller, organizers said the event was to draw attention to the lack of action in a range of areas including:
- Police reform and probation reform
- Inequities in education funding
- Improving educational facilities, including providing lead-free drinking water
- Lack of funding for community-based programs and environmental reforms
- Black maternal healthcare
Leading the group was Keandra McDole. McDole is the sister of Jeremy McDole. Jeremy McDole, who was 28, paralyzed and used a wheelchair, was shot multiple times and killed by four Wilmington police officers in 2015. A key matter the group raised was their frustration with the lack of reform of the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights better known as LEOBOR.
Under LEOBOR, internal investigations into complaints against police are not public in Delaware. The law also allows police to decide whether an officer accused of wrongdoing will be prosecuted.
The grieving sister-turned-activist said explained why she wants LEOBOR reforms to include transparency of the process that allows police to investigate themselves when complaints regarding officer conduct are made. “After they murder your loved one, you don’t know what’s going on. It’s like you have a blackout. And when they decide to give you information is when they give you the information.”
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On Friday, state lawmakers introduced House Bill 205 that if passed would substantially change LEOBOR laws and give the activists many of the reforms they call for. However, organizers of Sunday’s protest remained doubtful.
McDole said she plans to be very busy this election season campaigning against any elected official who refuses to act on their rhetoric. “We will be there the whole their whole campaign next year. They will get tired of seeing us,” she said.
Contact reporter Anitra Johnson at ajohnson@delawareonline.com. Join her on the Facebook group Delaware Voices Uplifted. Support her work and become a subscriber.
