Houston
“Today is six months Jalen has been gone. We are still looking for answers. Time’s up; it’s time to do something,” announced Tiffany Rachel, mother of 29-year-old Jalen Randle, who was shot to death by a Houston cop April 27. A crowd of Randle’s extended family, his friends and many supporters gathered at Houston City Hall Oct. 27 to make their demands.
“Jalen was shot and killed by officer Shane Privette, shot in the back of the head, after the car he was riding in was pulled over by Houston police. We want [Privette] indicted. We want him fired. They need to get rid of him. We want him off the streets,” said Rachel, responding to a question from the news media.
Jalen’s father, Warren Randle, explained to the crowd and the media that this wasn’t the first time Privette was facing charges for his dealing with civilians. “Privette has a case of excessive force on another minority person. That case is in federal court right now. It’s a civil case. If the roles were reversed, and if a civilian had shot a police officer, there would have been an immediate response. They have had six months to review the body cam footage and see that before a command was even finished being issued, a fatal shot was fired.”
As the rally was going on, the police chief, along with a group of cops, actually walked into City Hall. Some shouted for him to come give an update, but he ignored the crowd. Later the family and several activists went in to try to talk with the chief, to no avail.
As Rachel reported, “I marched right into City Hall and silently stood there with my sign and protested for justice for Jalen Randle. Two officers marched up to me and told me I couldn’t be protesting inside. One actually told me I was being silly and to go outside. I told them this was a public facility, and I was staying in there. I held my sign proudly as I faced all the officers.”
Plans are being made for future actions to put pressure on the city to fire Privette, the killer cop who shot Jason Randle from behind, before he even finished giving Randle an order.
The real justice will come when the police of capitalism are abolished once and for all. Until then — fight them and their racist killings!