The granny, Dorothy Sewe – a resident of Grand Rapids, marched to the streets wearing a red jacket and carrying a Kenyan flag protesting the shooting of a black man.
Patrick Lyoya, an immigrant from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was fatally shot by a police officer, with a video footage detailing what transpired.
The 26-year-old black immigrant was shot on April 4 following a traffic stop in Southeast Grand Rapids.
The granny, who was among the hundreds of protestors who turned for the demos, noted that she knows the family of the shot immigrant and even comforted Lyoya’s mother during a Thursday press conference.
Sewe, who did not reveal her reason for carrying a Kenyan flag, moved to the US in 2001 as a refugee.
She disclosed that the fatal shooting at Grand Rapids disturbed her owing to the past incidents involving black people in the area.
Sewe, who has nine grandchildren, narrated how one of her grandkids opened up about another shooting incident of 18-year-old, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.
“He said, ‘Moma, will the police kill us?” she recalled. “I asked why and he said because we are black.”
“So my grandkids think they will be killed by police because they are black,” she remembered.
“Whenever something like (the Grand Rapids shooting) happens, it traumatizes everyone, even little kids” Sewe added. “We can’t hide it from them. We can’t.”
The grandmother explained that the shooting incident reminded her of the past trauma and that is why she joined the protests.
The shooting of Lyoya has ignited a series of protests in the US, with Sewe insisting that they are set to hold another demo on Saturday, April 16, in downtown Grand Rapids.
Sewe, among other protestors, are calling for police reforms and accountability.
Source: KENYAGIST.COM
