Detroit Will Breathe marches for justice in Harper Woods, Breonna Taylor cases
More than 100 people marched Saturday in a Detroit Will Breathe protest of the death of a Black woman in custody of HarperWoods police and the minimal charges against a Louisville police officer in the death of Breonna Taylor.
Marchers gathered late Saturday afternoon in the parking lot of the LAFitness on old Eight Mile Road near the border of Harper Woods and beganmarching toward HarperWoods City Hall.
Detroit Will Breathe says it protested the lack of transparency in the June 10 death of Priscella Slater, 26, who was arrestedandlater found dead in a holding cell at the police department.
“We demand justice for Priscella Slater,” Jae Bass told the group gathered in the parking lot prior to the march. “We don’t knowwhat
happened. They are concealing information. They’re hiding information. They’re not allowing information to get out to inorder forus toknow what happened. Until then, I think it’s safe to assume she was murdered in that jail cell.
“Just like the family Breonna Taylor, they’re (Saylor’s family) still waiting on justice. So we have to be a movement that stands up and fights back anytime our black family needs us to stand up fight back. … We aren’t going anywhere until
there is justice for Priscilla.”
Detroit Will Breathe were among groups that pressured Kenneth Poynter, the city’s longtime mayor, to resign in July over his reported remark that he understood why people “become white
supremacists.”
As the march started the group chanted, “Black Lives Matter” and then, “Who’s life matters? Priscilla Slater’s.”
The group also protested the minor charges against a Louisville Metro Police officer and the lack of any charges against additional officers involved in the March shooting death of Taylor ,26, after officers broke into her residence during a no-knock warrant.
In his talk, Bass alsomentioned incidents involving Eddie and Candace Hall, a Black Warren couple who has been harassed and attacked in their home by a masked man who remains on the loose. Warren police have labeled the incidents as “hate crimes.”
Detroit Will Breathe and members of SWARM (South Warren Alliance of Radical Movement) and the Detroit Defense Committee say they plan to return soon to Warren conduct another protest march.