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by\u00a0ELENI BALAKRISHNAN<\/a><\/strong> FEBRUARY 1, 2023 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-1-1024x775.png\")
A City Hall gathering of politicians and activists recognizing Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old Black man brutally killed by Memphis police this month, temporarily devolved into mayhem on Wednesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That came after April Green, the aunt of police shooting victim Keita O\u2019Neil, decried the event as exclusionary. After being disinvited last night from speaking at the event by organizer Phelicia Jones, Green today burst into the proceedings on the steps of City Hall while Mayor London Breed was speaking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat about my nephew, Keita \u2018Icky\u2019 O\u2019Neil?\u201d Green shouted, evoking her nephew\u2019s nickname, alongside supporters with megaphones.\u201cYou\u2019re not even taking care of your own city.\u201d https:\/\/d-25650379643545743950.ampproject.net\/2301181928000\/frame.html<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moments earlier, Breed had been praising Memphis for holding its officers accountable in Nichols\u2019 death. \u201cAn arrest is only one step,\u201d Breed said. Next would come a \u201clengthy criminal justice process,\u201d she said, during which attention on the case needed to be maintained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Green and others made it clear on Wednesday that San Francisco and the Mayor\u2019s office is also being watched by the families of victims here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
O\u2019Neil\u2019s family is in the middle of such a criminal justice process, but it is not clear whether city leaders praising the goings-on in Memphis are supportive of that process here in San Francisco. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
O\u2019Neil, a carjacking suspect, was shot in the head as he fled police in Bayview in 2017. His killer, rookie officer Christopher Samayoa, was dismissed by the department and charged with homicide by former DA Chesa Boudin. But the current DA administration has been accused of slow-walking the prosecution \u2014 and Green\u2019s attorney last week charged the office of DA Brooke Jenkins of, in fact, colluding with Samayoa\u2019s defense team<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Breed immediately stopped speaking and stepped back after the interruption. The event organizer, Jones, tried and failed to regain control. Eventually, the DJ began blasting the reggae tune \u201cSolidarity\u201d to drown out the discord. https:\/\/d-25650379643545743950.ampproject.net\/2301181928000\/frame.html<\/p>\n\n\n\n Texts between Green and Jones, obtained by Mission Local, show that Jones told Green she could not speak at the event because of her support for former DA Boudin. Green had requested to speak alongside the city figures and other family members of victims of local police violence, but was ultimately told to sit out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou were standing with Chesa for his re-election,\u201d Jones wrote to Green on Tuesday evening. \u201cMaybe this isn\u2019t the right platform for you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n When Green texted Jones that they should put political differences aside and fight for police accountability, Jones, the founder of activist organization Wealth and Disparities in the Black Community, texted back: \u201cPlease don\u2019t try and tell me what I need to do because I am a lone Black Woman out here fighting for Justice 24\/7.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Green asked: \u201cBlack men have been murdered by SF policemen and need you to stand with them \u2026 You stand with a Black man in another state but not your own city?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhatever,\u201d Jones responded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In her own address Wednesday morning, Jones preached unity, and more than once called on the community to \u201ccome together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n O\u2019Neil\u2019s aunt wasn\u2019t the only relative of a Black man killed by San Francisco police that Jones did not want speaking today at the Tyre Nichols event. Kenneth Blackmon, the brother of Sean Moore, a mentally ill man who was in 2017 shot by police on the front steps of his home, said he went back and forth with Jones about whether he would be permitted to talk. Moore\u2019s killer, Officer Kenneth Cha, was criminally charged by Boudin, but court proceedings in that case have also dragged on<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Blackmon told Mission Local that Jones first told him he couldn\u2019t speak at today\u2019s rally. \u201cShe said I\u2019m here for the Black people, this, that \u2014 I said, so am I.\u201d Blackmon said he was finally given one minute to speak. He and his mother ended up addressing the crowd for several minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Green disrupted Breed\u2019s speech early in the program, Jones attempted to regain order by ignoring the interruption and drawing attention to her organization, Wealth and Disparities, which she said \u201chas been on the front lines,\u201d and her own \u201cdedication to Black San Franciscans.\u201d Jones claimed she was the one who got Samayoa, the officer who killed O\u2019Neil, fired. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou were standing with Chesa for his re-election. Maybe this isn\u2019t the right platform for you.\u201d <\/p>TEXT FROM PHELICIA JONES TO APRIL GREEN, JAN. 31<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201cBlack men have been murdered by SF policemen and need you to stand with them \u2026 You stand with a Black man in another state but not your own city?\u201d <\/p>TEXT FROM GREEN TO JONES, JAN. 31<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Struggling to keep the audience\u2019s attention, Jones began shouting to the press: \u201cDon\u2019t take pictures of her! Don\u2019t take pictures of her!\u201d Several people in the audience told Green to quiet down, saying she was being disrespectful of the ceremony, which was in honor of Nichols. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But others in attendance seemed confused by the apparent hypocrisy in silencing the family of a victim of police violence, during an event meant to bring awareness to pervasive police violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s about everybody,\u201d called out one man. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe\u2019s doing it the wrong way, but her point is valid,\u201d said another attendee. \u201cPut her up there on stage.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Eventually, the protesters quieted down and the regularly scheduled programming continued. Community leaders spoke, as did Supervisor Shamann Walton and Police Chief Bill Scott, who shared their experiences as Black men and their dedication to reforming policing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Afterward, Green told Mission Local that she did not mean to lose her cool, but had just grown \u201ctired of the lies\u201d from politicians who fail to \u201chold our own police accountable nor the DA office for the murders of our Black men.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n eleni@missionlocal.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n REPORTER. Eleni is our reporter focused on policing in San Francisco. She first moved to the city on a whim nearly 10 years ago, and the Mission has become her home. Follow her on Twitter @miss_elenius.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Aunt of police shooting victim Keita O\u2019Neil crashes event, heckles mayor by\u00a0ELENI BALAKRISHNAN FEBRUARY 1, 2023 (MissionLocal.org) A City Hall gathering of politicians and activists recognizing Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old Black man brutally killed by Memphis police this month, temporarily devolved into mayhem on Wednesday. That came after April Green,… Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-2.png\")
<\/p>\n\n\n\nELENI BALAKRISHNAN<\/h2>\n\n\n\n