Police-shooting protesters spray-paint, burn U.S. flags at Hoover City Hall

February 5, 2019 7:19 PM

Photo by Jon Anderson

Protesters of the Nov. 22 Hoover police shooting at the Riverchase Galleria tonight spray-painted two U.S. flags with the words “Black Lives Don’t Matter” and burned them in the parking lot of Hoover City Hall.

The act was done to protest Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s decision to clear the Hoover police officer who shot 21-year-old Emantic “E.J.” Bradford Jr. of any criminal charges.

Carlos Chaverst Jr., president of the Birmingham Justice League, said he was doing it to show what it’s like to be black in America.

The protesters said they are ramping up their protests to a new level now that the outcome of the investigation and attorney general’s decision has been made known.

“We are not pleased with the outcome of the investigation, and it’s time for calm to come to an end here in Hoover,” said Iva Williams III, another leader in the Birmingham Justice League. “We are going to protest here wherever we want to, when we want to, within the law.”

Up to this point, some of the protest leaders have had to restrain people with intense feelings about the shooting of Bradford by a police officer, but those days are over, Williams said.

“Make no mistake about it — peace is over,” he said. “Don’t ask me to calm anybody down anymore. We are protesting. We are protesting hard, and we are not stopping until we get some type of justice.”

Protesters want to work with the Hoover Police Department, not against them, he said. But they’re tired of police playing games by changing the rules of what is allowed and what is not from day to day, he said.

“We mean them no disrespect. We do not mean to intimidate them. We do not mean to cross any lines,” Williams said. “We know what our constitutional rights are, and we will not be held back from exercising our right to assemble nor our right to free speech.”

Frank Matthews, another leader of the Justice League, said protesters will speak loudly, proudly and forcefully. They won’t always act with a permit, but instead with spontaneity, he said.

Chaverst said some people are shocked by the attorney general’s decision, but others are not. Time and time again, young black men are killed unjustly across the United States, and nothing is done about it, Chaverst said. It’s no different in Alabama, a state founded by white supremacists, he said.

“Our lives still don’t matter in the United States of America,” Chaverst said. “Had anybody else killed E.J., we would know who it was. They would have been locked up. They would have been prosecuted, had it been done the same way.

“Until people understand that we will not tolerate this, that our lives are valuable and they will respect who we are, they will not sleep. Their children will not sleep. Nobody in this city will sleep.”

Protesters said they will go wherever they need to to send a message. Matthews said they won’t do anything to threaten students, but they will stand across the street from schools to protest.

“We will not back down from what we have to do,” Chaverst said, “and that’s stand up for a family that no longer has justice and will no longer be able to see their loved one. We will risk whatever we need to to seek justice. At this juncture, justice is by any means necessary.”

After a press conference at Hoover City Hall, the protesters said they were headed to Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham for a candlelight vigil in honor of the birthday of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American fatally shot in Sanford, Florida, in 2012.

On Wednesday morning, protesters said they are going to protest in Montgomery at the attorney general’s office at 11:45 a.m. and then meet for a strategy session at Mosque No. 69 in Birmingham Wednesday night.

Also, Chaverst said he and other protesters charged with crimes related to their protests are scheduled to appear in Hoover Municipal Court Wednesday afternoon to answer for charges such as disorderly conduct and loitering.

Ben Crump, an attorney representing Bradford's family, joined Bradford's mother and stepmother at tonight's press conference at Hoover City Hall to express their displeasure with the attorney general's decision. They shared similar comments earlier today.