BRANDON, Miss.—Kareem Muhammad, co-chair of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of Mississippi, and other local activists recently held a news conference at the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office to call attention to misconduct by law enforcement and to demand justice for victims of police brutality. Supporters from various parts of the Southern Region with victims and their loved ones and demanded the arrest of the six White officers who dubbed themselves, the “Goon Squad.” The men recently pled guilty to the torture of two Black men.
Charles Muhammad, a student in the ministry class of the Nation of Islam in Jackson, Mississippi, also shared remarks at the July 29 news conference. His son, Andre Jones, was found hanged in the Simpson County Jail in Simpson County, Mississippi, in 1992. “We must come together to put a stop to these families suffering from this culture of racism and murder,” he said.
Angela English. president of the Rankin County NAACP said, “We thank the Local Organizing Committee and their relentless commitment to justice. We know that it could not have happened without the support of this organization.” She added, “We demand that Sheriff Bryan Bailey be removed from his job. Furthermore, we are asking the U.S. Department of Justice to come into Rankin County and dismantle this entire system. This office is filled with terrorists and so-called gangsters.”
The mother and grandmother of Damien Cameron who died July 29, 2021, after Ranking County deputies reportedly leaned on his neck and back after his arrest. “I miss my son,” said Monica Lee Cameron. “They killed my son in front of me. I will never forget that day. Those same officers, some of them, they killed him. They killed Damien, they all should be behind bars,” she said. Organizers are planning an upcoming unity and justice event for late August in downtown Jackson, Mississippi. For more information, call 662-577-1258.
›—Article and photo by Kareem Muhammad
