Tamika Mallory used her “Street Politicians” podcast to address the recent claims by Samaria Rice that she and other activists like attorney Ben Crump were creating lucrative platforms over the loss of Black lives and that no real change was being made to stop the killings or to obtain legal justice for the victims other than monetary payouts.
Rice, whose 12-year-old son Tamir was shot to death in Cleveland in 2014 by a police officer while playing with a toy gun, called the activists “clout chasers.”
“Nothing we say today is an attack against Ms. Rice. I want to make sure that that is stated from the very, very beginning. Quite frankly, Ms. Rice is right. I support 100% how she feels and what she has stated in terms of her pain related to her son,” conceded Mallory.
“I feel like we all have failed her,” she continued. “I was thinking a lot about this coming here today. We all have failed her. As a nation, I think that whenever a child, or any person, but particularly a child is killed, this nation should have erupted. And the fact that she did not get the proper justice for her son would make anyone angry. And so I totally understand and respect the trauma and pain that she feels as a mother.”
During her podcast on March 18, 2021, with fellow co-host Mysonne, Mallory also explained that she wasn’t in the fight for money and that her intentions were genuine.
“I would never be so disrespectful as to speak about her child, or to have a campaign that addresses her child, or uses her child’s name to uplift any cause. I will be very, very careful going forward to ensure that I will respect her wishes,” Mallory further commented.
Mallory also refused to attack Rice who called her out her name and added, “The issue of divisiveness has been used in every single movement and has destroyed movements. I don’t participate in it.”
Check out the conversation on the next page with Mallory and Mysonne as they call for more unity among the parents and social justice organizations and discuss what drove them to fight for Black lives and racial justice.
