Ferguson decision draws responses in Wichita

A grand jury decision not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown that tipped off violent protests in Ferguson, Mo., drew a more peaceful response in Wichita.

Roughly 100 people gathered at at least two locations on Tuesday to share their thoughts on the latest developments in the case that has gripped Ferguson and much of the country since Brown’s shooting death Aug. 9.

About half – ministers, elected officials and activists in Wichita’s African-American community – met at a Wichita church for a news conference organized by Sunflower Community Action.

The other half – made up of both white and black city leaders and protesters – descended on the street corners of Hillside and 21st Street in the late afternoon, for a vigil to remember not only Brown but also local men and women killed in police shootings.

Cars passing the intersection near Wichita State University late Tuesday afternoon honked as protesters chanted “No justice, no peace” and “No cameras, no guns,” referencing a recent push to equip all Wichita police officers with body cameras.

Some waved posters calling for “Justice for Our Children” and “WPD Stop the Killing” above their heads. Others wore stickers on their chests that read: “Mike Brown Can’t Vote But I Can.”

Mary Dean, president of Kansas Justice Advocate, asked those gathered to engage in a peaceful demonstrations because, she said, “We’re not coming together to destroy anything – anyone’s property, our own property or to feed into what’s happening in Ferguson.

“We’re a better people than that.”

Meanwhile, Sunflower Community Action spokesman Djuan Wash urged Wichitans to “stand in solidarity” in support of families who have had relatives killed by law enforcement. He named nearly a dozen men and women fatally shot in incidents with Wichita police over the past few years.

Among them are 26-year-old Icarus Randolph, a mentally ill Marine veteran who was shot in front of his home on July 4, and 24-year-old Troy Lanning II, who was killed by Wichita police officer Randy Williamson in 2012 as he ran from a vehicle after a high-speed chase.

A few of the protesters at Hillside and 21st held photos of the men. In one, held by a young girl, a smiling Randolph was dressed in military garb.

“It’s so very important that we continue to lift up the families of victims of police violence that have happened here in our own city and that we hold our elected officials … (and) the city accountable to the people they are meant to serve,” Wash said.

‘Need you to listen’

Earlier Tuesday at the church gathering, the Rev. Wade Moore, president of the Wichita Ministerial League, said he was “deeply disappointed” in the grand jury’s decision and urged the Wichita community to continue fighting for justice and equal treatment.

“We stand here today saying, ‘No justice, no peace,’” Moore said. “People wonder: ‘Why are they rioting? Why are they acting out?’ Well, we need you to listen.

“People are writing letters and you don’t listen to them. People stop on the street, and you don’t listen to them. Well maybe this … is when you begin to listen to them. Maybe it’s because of all the injustices of the past. They haven’t gotten anywhere by doing peaceful protests, so now they resort to this.”

Officials with Sunflower Community Action said they organized Tuesday’s news conference as a follow-up to the #NoFergusonHere forum held at East High School in August. At that meeting, participants questioned police procedures on officer-involved shootings, called for officers to wear body cameras, and urged law enforcement officers to undergo cultural sensitivity training.

On Tuesday, Wash read a letter the group planned to present to Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett. The letter catalogs several recent shootings involving local police officers and urges greater transparency and communication in investigations of police shootings.

Elisa Allen, an older sister of Randolph’s, attended the news conference wearing a T-shirt with her brother’s Marine Corps portrait and the words “Justice for Icarus Randolph.” She said she felt “numb” after hearing the grand jury decision and that she identifies with Michael Brown’s family members.

“This is a road that my family is going to have to go down,” she said.

“I don’t agree with how people are handling things” in Ferguson, she said. “But I will say when emotions are high and people are upset and feel like justice is not being served, people act out and they want to be heard.

“Sometimes they take desperate measures to do that, and I think that’s what’s going on there now.”

Reuben Eckels said he was not surprised by recent events in Ferguson, including the riots, fires and looting that followed Monday’s grand jury announcement.

“A community that feels it is not empowered, that has no voice, does exactly what Dr. (Martin Luther) King said: ‘A riot is the language of the unheard,’” said Eckels, deputy director of Sunflower Community Action.

“There are people who are saying, ‘I can’t speak to you at City Hall. I can’t speak to you, the police department. So I’m going to speak to you in a way that you hear.’ It seems like you only hear us when we start to use violence.”

Eckels urged African-Americans to speak out, vote and lobby for laws and other measures to battle racial profiling.

Rep. Gail Finney, D-Wichita, said she is encouraged that Wichita plans to equip every police officer with a body camera by the end of 2015, but she plans to introduce legislation to require cameras on law enforcement officers statewide.

“One of the problems up there in Topeka is that they don’t think racism exists,” Finney said.

“But it’s not just a 67214” issue, she said, referring to a Zip code in predominantly black near-northeast Wichita, which she represents. “This is a state of Kansas issue.”

The Rev. David Carter, of First Unitarian Universalist Church of Wichita, wore a black sock tied around his left sleeve on Tuesday, a signal that “I am mourning today … for all of the black people who have been profiled, abused, humiliated, mutilated and murdered while the law exonerates the perpetrators of the crime,” he said.

“I am mourning for the soul of America.”

Eckels, of Sunflower Community Action, said members of the black community and others “have to do things that are systematic, and not just be mad and march.”

“It’s time for us to be radical again,” he said. “We don’t want to be violent, but we want to make sure that they hear us now.

“If we have to take over the streets, we need to take over the streets and do what’s necessary to win this fight, this battle for justice.”

This story was originally published November 25, 2014 at 1:13 PM with the headline "Ferguson decision draws responses in Wichita."