Police Make Community Relations Worse With Their Weak Damage Control Tactics, Activists Say

108 Black Men And Boys Killed By Police

UPDATED: 1:20 p.m. ET, April 15, 2021 -- Police shooting and killing Black males is all but a centuries-old American tradition among law enforcement in the U.S. But the fact that this apparent rite of police passage is still thriving in 2021 and only seems to be gaining momentum instead of slowing should give any American citizen pause as an increasing number of Black people -- especially males both young and old -- continue to be added to a growing list of victims with what seems like a new shooting every week. MORE: #SayHerName: Black Women And Girls Killed By Police Matthew Williams became the most recent Black male killed in an instance of preventable police violence when officers in Georgia said they shot him on April 12, 2021, because he had a knife. However, Williams' family rejects that narrative and has demanded the release of bodycam footage to verify police claims. [caption id="attachment_4139462" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Matthew Williams and his mother. | Source: Twitter[/caption] Williams died in his own home from the shooting. The lawyer re[resenting the family said the police are actively engaged in trying "to cover up killing a man in his own home." Local news outlet 11Alive reported that a witness said Williams was not armed with a knife when he was shot. One of Williams's five sisters said the police narrative is totally out of character for her brother. "My brother was not violent. My brother was not confrontational," Chyah Williams said. "He was the most caring, giving, selfless person you could ever meet." https://twitter.com/ArianaTriggs/status/1382444831910334464?s=20 Williams' killing came one day after a 20-year-old Black man named Daunte Wright was shot and killed during a traffic stop that centered on the number of air fresheners hanging from a car's rearview mirror. Williams and Wright join a long list of other Black men and boys killed by the police, including but certainly not limited to: Tamir Rice; Botham Shem Jean; E.J. Bradford; and Michael Brown. But two of the most recent names that can tragically be included in this deadly equation are Michael Dean, a 28-year-old father who police shot in the head on Dec. 3, 2019, and Jamee Johnson, a 22-year-old HBCU student who police shot to death after a questionable traffic stop on Dec. 14, 2019. One of the most distressing parts of this seemingly nonstop string of police killings of Black people is the fact that more times than not, the officer involved in the shooting can hide behind the claim that they feared for their lives -- even if the victim was shot in the back, as has become the case for so many deadly episodes involving law enforcement. In a handful of those cases -- such as Antwon Rose, a 13-year-old boy killed in Pittsburgh, and Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old killed in Sacramento, both of whom were unarmed -- the officers either avoided being criminally charged altogether or were acquitted despite damning evidence that the cops' lives were not threatened and there was no cause for them to resort to lethal force or any violence for that matter. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who has been retained in so many of these cases, described the above scenarios in his new book, "Open Season," as the "genocide" of Black people. As NewsOne continues covering these shootings that so often go ignored by mainstream media, the below running list (in no certain order) of Black men and boys who have been shot and killed by police under suspicious circumstances can serve as a tragic reminder of the dangers Black and brown citizens face upon being born into a world of hate that has branded them as suspects since birth. Scroll down to learn more about the Black men and boys who have lost their lives to police violence.