Protestors are chanting “no free kill” outside of Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office in Jackson. They’re upset she dismissed a 2015 case in which a white police officer killed a black man during a traffic stop in Columbus and claimed self-defense. Former Police Officer Canyon Boykin was charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of 26-year-old Ricky Ball. Recently Fitch said she would not prosecute the case because there wasn’t enough evidence. David Horton of Columbus says they want to know why. He says “We want transparency. As a people that’s been hurt, a society that’s hurt by everything that’s going around, that’s torn apart. How can you not be transparent? How can you not be humane if you’re a public servant. If you can’t serve the people that are crying out to you asking why are these things happening you need to be removed. And somebody needs to hold you accountable. That’s what this protest is about. Accountability.”
Danielle Holmes, a national organizer with the Poor People’s Campaign, says protesters should continue fighting for change in Mississippi. She says "For far too long we jump on bandwagons every time something happens, but yet fail to take care of what’s happening right here in our own back yard. Today is the day that it stops, and today is a new beginning of saying ‘We will not be silent anymore.’”
Members of the Poor People’s Campaign, a human rights group, brought a letter they tried to deliver to Fitch asking for an explanation for her decision, but security turned them away. Demonstrators then went across the street to the state capitol to give the letter to the governor, who wasn’t there. Democratic Representative Zakiya Summers of Jackson was in the building. She accepted the letter and spoke to the crowd saying “I don’t care if the cop is white, black, brown or purple. When the government intentionally mistreats and kills people they need to be held accountable. That’s the end of the story.”
Attorney General Fitch’s decision includes a provision that prevents the case from ever being reopened. Fitch on Friday gave investigative files from the case to the Columbus district attorney. He says he will make some of those files public.
