The day police killed Lemona Johnson’s husband made her a widow. But it also brought something to life inside her.
Having emigrated from Jamaica, Johnson didn't know who else to call besides the cops. And police finally executed their promise - to kill her husband. She watched his death make waves, Jamaican-Canadians turning the Johnson name into a symbol of brutality. “Don’t Johnson me!” people shouted.
And in 1988, she received "the largest sum ever in an assault suit involving Metro Toronto Police."
Despite death threats, she fought to make her version of the story - not the police's - known. She consistently advocated for Black Torontonians facing police violence. She even called for inter-community unity at a huge rally after cops violently raided a gay bathhouse in 1981.
Before 4,000 marchers, Johnson argued, "The police force in this city is being used as a political tool by politicians … who achieve their personal and political gain at the [price] of the people." And this rings true today, even in the U.S.
Albert Johnson was yet another loss at the hands of the world's most anti-Black "tool." But Lemona’s fight in the face of it all will forever go down in history, too.