By Roanoke People’s Power Network
The struggle for Justice for Kionte Spencer exposed the entire system. It showed us in Roanoke how things really run in this system, as well as the power of and need for independent peoples’ organizations.
We cannot depend on the state to keep us safe or be accountable for their violence against us, as the system protects itself and those who occupy those positions. Roanoke County Police withheld the names of the officers who were responsible and involved, withheld the multiple dashcam videos from the public and his living family (only playing a compilation of edited footage for his brother when faced with legal pressure from the ACLU), faced no official consequences, and the killers are back on the streets, quite possibly trying to build *false* trust with kids in schools, and no doubt emboldened to do the same thing to anyone else at their own discretion.Â
Kionte Spencer’s life mattered. His death is a tragedy in Roanoke. The injustice of his murder is one of the reasons #WhyTheyKneel, and one of the reasons we organize.
