‘We still can’t survive here’: KCK protesters demand transparency in police shootings
Tamika Manning of Colorado held a “Say His Name” sign above her chest in the Saturday afternoon heat and faced Kansas City, Kansas, police headquarters, which employed the officer under investigation for the shooting that killed her 25-year-old cousin.
She stood on the median of Seventh Street and Minnesota Avenue for almost three hours as part of a rally demanding more transparency from local authorities. Her nephew, Amaree’ya Henderson, died April 26 during a traffic stop turned shooting near the 12th Street bridge. The officer involved was placed on administrative leave shortly after per police protocol, according to Nancy Chartrand, a spokeswoman for the department.
Manning and her two daughters, who traveled Monday from Colorado to support family, want to know the officers’ names and see the police footage.
“I’ve already seen Amaree’ya... I want everybody to see what was done to him,” she said while staring down the department’s building.
Over a dozen people joined her for the protest, organized by Justice for Wyandotte, a local advocacy group, positioned around the corners of the crowded intersection.
“I’m just shocked that there’s not more people here,” Manning said. “I think we’re just desensitized, this happens so often.”
‘For the families’
Co-founder of the Justice for Wyandotte organization Nikki Richardson explained that while the event initially aimed to advocate for accountability in Henderson’s case, they also hope to highlight similar ongoing cases around the metro.
She noted some of the event’s participants arrived carrying signs adorned with the names of other Black men in the metro killed during police shootings such as Tyrea Pryor, killed in Kansas City in 2022, Malcolm Johnson, killed in Kansas City in 2021 or John Albers, killed in Overland Park in 2018
“This is for the families,” she said. “There needs to be reform in the open records request act in reference to officer involved shootings, even though families are submitting requests [for footage], they are getting denied.”
The lack of information leaves families traumatized and limits the type of changes communities can advocate for, according to Richardson. Early intervention in police misconduct and better access to data in police shootings should be the start, she said.
Organizer Sundiata Moon with Decarcerate KC, a group aiming to end mass incarceration in the metro, believes the calls for more transparency are due to community members growing wary of how police funding is used.
“I’m optimistic... I just think we need a better world for our kids,” he said as his 6 year old raced around the curb.
Other protesters agreed. Kathy Steen, who learned of Henderson’s death over TikTok last night, said she came out to express her support, despite feeling nervous to leave her home.
“I don’t come outside. I used to walk, but I don’t walk around my neighborhood anymore. I live in a predominantly Caucasian neighborhood,” she said.
“I don’t want to be accused of stealing from someone or doing something I’m not supposed to do because I’m walking in my neighborhood.”
Steen, who is in her 60’s, said this was the first protest she had ever attended.
‘We lost a major part of our family’
Tamika Manning and her two daughters eyed drivers as they raced by, barely turning their heads to notice the family’s posters, each with Amaree’ya Henderson’s name written in bold.
“It just seems like so little for so much of what we lost... We lost a major part of our family,” she said, discouraged by the lack of a public outcry.
Her 29-year-old daughter, De’shauna Hayes-Hand, said her mind replays the fateful phone call where she learned of Henderson’s death.
Hayes-Hand and her family moved away from the metro in search of a safer environment when she was young. Her cousin, Henderson, kept in touch with the rest of the family. Since the age of nine, Hayes-Hand considered him a protector: always mediating any family arguments or fights between friends. He was careful about following rules and a cautious driver, she said.
“As you can see from this situation, we still can’t survive here,” she said.
In a statement released during the event, the family said they are “outraged that Amaree’ya’s life was taken through unjustified violence... If there is nothing to hide, release the footage to the public!”
But after speaking with a representative from John Albers’ family, Manning appeared dejected.
She told The Star that hearing about their years-long struggle to attain police footage made her doubt whether anyone would get more information about her nephews’ death.
The family has submitted an open records request and has yet to hear back.
The Kansas City Police Department is investigating the shooting as an outside agency from the Missouri side of the state line.
This story was originally published May 6, 2023 at 6:54 PM.
