Houston

Over 100 angry people gathered Jan. 14 at Houston City Hall to demand justice for Jalen Randle. The 29-year-old Black man was shot in the back of his neck and killed by a racist Houston cop, April 27, 2022. Activists, along with several parents who had also lost their children to killer cops, came from around Texas, as well as Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Virginia.

Tiffany Rachal, Jalen Randle’s mother, addressed the crowd, saying, “The police union needs to stop saying this shooting is justifiable. Shooting someone in the back is never justifiable. I talked to Jalen about an hour before he was murdered by Houston cop Shane Privette.

“The last words he told me were that he loved me. Now, time is up. It’s almost nine months; and none of you, the police chief, the D.A., city officials, none of you have come to me or his father and said anything. Nothing.”

Marching to the police headquarters, the growing crowd took over the downtown streets, without the required permit. At one point everyone sat down in the street and blocked traffic in all directions, chanting, “Say his name, Jalen Randle.” Randle’s name reverberated throughout downtown, but the question everyone had was: When will justice be so loud and so strong for young Black and Brown men in this city?