the killing of
C ar te r Bonita
groundhog day:
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zine @prisoncul ani design @netabom
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groundhog day: the killing of bonita carter
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Groundhog Day: The Killing of Bonita Carter Before there was Rekia, there was Bonita. On June 22, 1979, officer George M. Sands, a white policeman, killed Bonita Carter, a 20-year-old Black woman, by shooting her three times in the back. Unarmed, Bonita was sitting in a car outside a convenience store in Birmingham, Alabama. The Kingston neighborhood where Bonita lived and died was outraged sparking several nights of confrontations, protests, and demonstrations. Night-riding Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and their white sympathizers terrorized Kingston’s Black community by throwing bottles at Black motorists, intimidating Black protestors by braindishing firearms and shooting into Black people’s homes. A citizen review committee ruled that officer Sands was unjustified in killing Bonita. The Fraternal Order of Police threatened to strike if the officer was fired. Mayor David Vann, elected in 1975 on the strength of the Black vote, refused to fire Sands blaming police department training for the killing even though the officer had six previous complaints of using excessive force mostly against
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Black people. Reverend Joseph Lowery, of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), called for a mass protest on July 20, 1979 and contended that “the killing of Bonita Carter [was] not an isolated incident but it [was] one of many instances of excessive use of force by the Birmingham Police Department.” Over 2000 people marched in downtown Birmingham to protest Mayor Vann’s refusal to fire Sands. The New York Times described the protestors as “angry but orderly.”
The protestors demanded that Sands be fired and stand trial for killing Bonita, that the police department which was 90 percent white hire more Black people, that the department “weed out” officers with a history of racism, and that the city establish a permanent review board which would include police and members of the community. Mayor Vann showed up at the march and offered these words among many to the press: “Suppose we had fired the officer and the police had walked off, and you had this demonstration with no police protection.” Officer Sands was placed on desk duty
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after the shooting, but complained of “nervous exhaustion and took temporary sick leave.” He later filed a claim with the city of Birmingham for “indefinite sick leave because of depression.” Meanwhile, the community kept protesting.
In March 1980, a state court judge ordered that Sands be reinstated to the Birmingham police force after he petitioned to get his job back. He had been on unpaid leave since October 1979. Mayor Richard Arrington (Birmingham’s first Black Mayor elected in November) had blocked his return to the force and offered him a job in any other city department.
Officer Sands was eventually reinstated to the police force.
What’s different between 1979 and today? What’s the same between 1979 and today?
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