In 2016, Samaria Rice won $6 million in a wrongful death suit for her son. That year, she started the Tamir Rice Foundation to uplift Cleveland youth. But she didn’t stop there.
In 2018, Rice opened a two-story building: the Tamir Rice Afrocentric Cultural Center. From voting resources to the arts to police safety handbooks, those kids were in good hands. Unfortunately, bad news arrived a couple of years later.
In December 2020, the Department of Justice decided to close Tamir’s case – letting Officer Timothy Loehmann walk free.
Still, Rice organized a rally outside the White House. “America has taken away from me what my son would look like as a teenager, a young man, and even an old man. I've only got the vision of him being 12,” she said.
In May 2021, Rice hit the news again, calling out everyone, white AND Black, for “hustling Black death.” She spoke up for families of police victims dealing with poverty, disingenuous “celebrity activism,” and political lobbying.
The fight doesn’t stop when our loved ones die. Like Samaria Rice, we can honor our young ancestors by continuing to organize and speak up. One day, we’ll live in a future world that uplifts Black children instead of planning their funerals.