POPE, Miss.—Hundreds of family, friends, grassroots activists and supporters came from as far away as Los Angeles and states in between to attend the June 27 funeral of 1-year-old Kohen Kartier Wiley, who died in his mother’s arms at the hands of a Senatobia, Mississippi, police officer June 14 in a case that has garnered nationwide attention.
Services were held at Hosanna Family Worship Center in Pope, Mississippi, 30 miles outside of town where the son of Vel’lesiya Wiley and Daveon Williams Jr. was shot inside a car, in the parking lot of Walmart for an alleged shoplifting incident. (See The Final Call Vol. 45 No. 38)
“We still don’t know how many officers were out there, how many shots were fired and where they were standing when they pulled that trigger,” said Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, at a June 22 press conference calling for justice and transparency, a week after Kohen was killed.
As of Final Call press time, the officer is still unnamed but has reportedly been placed on administrative leave.
Many attendees wore blue in tribute to Kohen, representing his favorite TV character, “Bluey.” Nestled inside the casket, a little stuffed version of Bluey lay next to his body, a piercing reminder of a life lost at such a young age.
Student Coordinator Abdul Shahid Muhammad of the Nation of Islam’s Holly Springs Study Group, Student Minister Demetric Muhammad and Student Protocol Coordinator Bridge Muhammad of Mosque No. 55 Whitehaven Study Group, and Student Secretary Asika Muhammad of Mosque No. 55 also traveled to the funeral services along with F.O.I and M.G.T. and G.C.C. (men and women of the Nation of Islam) from Holly Springs and Memphis.
At the family’s request, the services were closed to media cameras, as major news outlets camped out in the sweltering 90-degree Mississippi heat outside the church.
During the funeral, Memphis-based Attorney Van Turner of Turner Feild PLLC, who is also working on the case, sent greetings on behalf Atty. Crump, who was unable to attend, but returned for a press conference held July 1 to announce the findings of an independent autopsy.
In his brief remarks, Atty. Turner, who is also a civil rights advocate and former Shelby County Tennessee Commissioner, emphasized that there was nothing in Walmart of such value, “no matter how expensive,” that is “worth the precious life of Kohen,” and vowed to continue to fight for justice and transparency.
Author, publisher and community activist Richart Taylor shared with The Final Call that it was “the way that the community showed their displeasure, their righteous indignation about the murder of a 1-year-old baby,” that compelled him to travel close to 800 miles from Goldsboro, North Carolina, to attend the funeral in support of the family and the call for justice.
As tensions continue to simmer beneath the surface, there have been several protests, vigils and heated town council meetings since the shooting. Retail giant Walmart, where the shooting took place and has been the site of at least two protests, has closed several times. Heavy law enforcement presence during one of the closures fired tear-gas on the protesters.
According to Atty. Crump’s subsequent July 1 press conference at the Senatobia Church of Christ, which was carried live by multiple media outlets, the independent autopsy seems to contradict the Sheriff’s Office report which stated that the officer “fired at an oncoming vehicle.”
According to the forensic pathologist’s report, “the entrance gunshot wound is located on the right side of the chest and the exit on the left side.” The report went on to describe additional characteristics that defined the entry and exit points, concluding that “this is also consistent with the gunshot wound on the body when shot through a side window as an intermediary target.”
“You can’t get that shot from the front. Why would you shoot into a vehicle from the side when you’re clearly not in harm’s way?” questioned Atty. Crump.
The family still has not seen the video footage and in a June 16 press conference in Senatobia, Commissioner Sean Tindell of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety indicated that nothing would be released until the official investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has been completed, which could take months.
Patrick “Lumumba” Alexander, of the Black Liberation Movement, one of the primary voices making the clarion call that brought the initial attention to the case, shared his sentiments with The Final Call at Kohen Wiley’s funeral, addressing what he sees as “reaching the boiling point.”
“It’s gonna take the manhood in our communities. It’s gonna take the unifying of our community, to deal with this systemic racism that we’ve been dealing with. It has come to a head where it has come to claim one of our babies. So, it’s our responsibility, our innate responsibility, as Black people to gain the moral character, to be able to stand up for our own humanity.
“So, we there, we there, we at that point. It (has) got to end and Kohen is our Emmett Till moment. The universe has allowed us to come back to this point. And we (are) having our own Emmett Till moment,” he concluded.
Others agreed.
“This has to be turned into actionable items,” Student Coordinator Abdul Shahid Muhammad said. “What Black America and Black Mississippi, at this point, has been feeling and experiencing has to be transferred into something that’s concrete to change the harsh realities under which we live. It’s okay to come together and to acknowledge what we’ve acknowledged today. That’s what we do,” he continued.
“I am reminded of the fact that this nation has always sought to keep the nationalistic elements of our people away from a messianic voice that could unify and electrify the masses of our people,” Student Coordinator Muhammad noted.
“The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is the messianic message that our people need, which is the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad in the world. Our charge right now is to make, emphasis on the word ‘make,’ our communities a safe and decent place to live. That entails us getting up and going to work together,” he said.