Activists say downtown Homewood will become the center of increased protests unless leaders show the “moral clarity and courage” to respond to demands to release footage showing the shooting of an 18-year old man by a police officer.
“We will shut Homewood down for justice,” Wayne T. Harris, director of communications for Black Lives Matter Birmingham told Homewood city leaders Monday evening.
Jabari Peoples, an 18-year-old college student from Aliceville, died June 23 during a confrontation with a Homewood police officer in a city park. Accounts of the incident vary.
Harris told Homewood city leaders that they had failed Jabari Peoples’ family by not demanding that police video of the incident and shooting be made public.
“I do not come in peace. I come in protest. I don’t have any pleasantries for you, but we do have purpose,” Harris said as others behind him displayed posters. “All we’ve heard from you is silence, evasion and delay. This is the narrative that’s always given to Black people.”
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is investigating the shooting. ALEA has declined the Peoples’ family to see the police footage of the incident, saying doing so would jeopardize the investigation.
Harris said the activists represented a coalition of groups who are united in their demands.
“We are organized,” he said. “We will rally, we will host sit-ins, we will hold die-ins and vigils throughout downtown at the doorsteps of your businesses. Your commerce will feel our grief.”
Downtown Homewood is known for its niche small businesses and restaurants that attract shoppers who will crisscross the narrow streets and stroll down the sidewalks.
But Harris is promising a much different scene
“We will not shop where we are shot. We will not dine where we are denied justice. We will not stroll past your boutiques while our brother’s body laid cold in a Homewood park, killed. This is not a threat. This is a multitiered promise to the city of Homewood.”
Homewood Mayor Alex Wyatt this week, asked ALEA to show the Peoples’ family the video.
Some council members and both Democratic and Republican state lawmakers have also asked that the video be shown to the family.
Black Lives Matter Birmingham co-founder Eric Hall told AL.com Thursday the 100-day boycott of Homewood has already begun.
Protesters are a regular presence in front of the Homewood Police Department and Hall said more visibility is coming. The public might have to be made uncomfortable before officials finally take action, Hall said Thursday.
“We will escalate when the demands are not met,” he said. “We are going to attend every Homewood City Council meeting until the demands of the family are met.”
Mayor Wyatt Monday restated his request for a quick release of the video to the family.
“We continue to urge ALEA to allow the family of Jabari Peoples to view the bodycam footage,” he said, taking the lectern near the end of the meeting. “Everyone understands and knows that this is an incredibly difficult time and these are difficult issues. Everybody wants objective results to be made available to the family and to the public as quickly as possible and I truly hope that’s what happens.”
Hall Thursday noted that the mayor, along with other city leaders, have asked the state to release the video to Peoples’ family. Still, he said more should be done to ultimately release the footage.
“Once we put the pressure on Homewood, they will pressure the state,” he said. “We just want justice for Jabari Peoples and we want the family to have the closure and facts to move forward in this process.”
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