Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Police Retaliate Against Cole Family with Violent Attack Sending Mother to Hospital
Share
Explore Our Galleries
Breaking News!
Today's news and culture by Black and other reporters in the Black and mainstream media.
Ways to Support ABHM?
Introduction To This Series:
This post is one installment in an ongoing news series: a “living history” of the current national and international uprising for justice.
Today’s movement descends directly from the many earlier civil rights struggles against repeated injustices and race-based violence, including the killing of unarmed Black people. The posts in this series serve as a timeline of the uprising that began on May 26, 2020, the day after a Minneapolis police officer killed an unarmed Black man, George Floyd, by kneeling on his neck. The viral video of Floyd’s torturous suffocation brought unprecedented national awareness to the ongoing demand to truly make Black Lives Matter in this country.
The posts in this series focus on stories of the particular killings that have spurred the current uprising and on the protests taking place around the USA and across the globe. Sadly, thousands of people have lost their lives to systemic racial, gender, sexuality, judicial, and economic injustice. The few whose names are listed here represent the countless others lost before and since. Likewise, we can report but a few of the countless demonstrations for justice now taking place in our major cities, small towns, and suburbs.
To view the entire series of Rising Up for Justice! posts, insert “rising up” in the search bar above.
Police Retaliate Against Cole Family with Violent Attack Sending Mother to Hospital
Under the questionable legality of an ambiguous curfew order, Wauwatosa police violently arrested the mother and sisters of Alvin Cole on October 8 while they sat in their vehicle at the end of a peaceful demonstration.
By Staff, milwaukeeindependent.com/
October 10, 2020
Wauwatosa [Wisconsin] police arrested Tracy Cole, and her daughters Taleavia and Tristiana, about two hours after a curfew for the suburb of Milwaukee took effect. The arresting officers were part of a supplemental force reportedly from Waukesha County, but took their direction from Wauwatosa officials.
The incident happened on the second night of demonstrations, that also saw two dozen other peaceful protesters arrested, instigated by a militarized police force deployed near North Avenue and 67th Street.
The latest round of social unrest came after it was announced on October 7 that there would be no charges filed against Wauwatosa police officer Joseph Mensah, related to the shooting death of 17-year-old Alvin Cole.
His sister Tahudah Cole started broadcasting a Facebook Livestream just before law enforcement officers confronted her family in their car, moments before all the occupants were snatched out. The mobile phone, still filming, fell to the seat. What followed occurred just outside the range of the camera, but the audio recording could be clearly heard.
Tracy Cole, who is 48 and requires a cane to walk due to her health condition, expressed disbelief and terror. The livestream documented the chaotic exchange, which critics describe as chilling for its callousness and cruelty….
Jacob Blake Sr. from Kenosha and father of shooting victim Jacob Blake was also among the protesters, and he joined Motley for the press conference to express his solidarity with the Cole family and to describe what he witnessed on October 8.
“What we experienced as peaceful protesters was storm trooper-type tactics,” Blake said. “Tracy was speaking and we could see them moving in….
“The Mother of a son killed by a officer, who previously killed 2 other young men, is left tased, a possibly broken arm, and a large knot on the forehead. This was a “F you” message to the greater community without actually saying it,” said [Wisconsin State] Representative David Bowen. “The over aggressive actions by Wauwatosa Police to arrest dozens of people, including the three sisters and Mother of the slain Alvin Cole, assaulting Mom in the process, a day after his killer was announced not to be charged, were deplorable and clearly an attempt to provoke negativity.”
Read the full article here.
More Breaking News here.
More about Officer Mensah’s 3 fatal shootings of Black men the past five years here.
Comments Are Welcome
Note: We moderate submissions in order to create a space for meaningful dialogue, a space where museum visitors – adults and youth –– can exchange informed, thoughtful, and relevant comments that add value to our exhibits.
Racial slurs, personal attacks, obscenity, profanity, and SHOUTING do not meet the above standard. Such comments are posted in the exhibit Hateful Speech. Commercial promotions, impersonations, and incoherent comments likewise fail to meet our goals, so will not be posted. Submissions longer than 120 words will be shortened.
See our full Comments Policy here.