Protesters march in Decatur over police killing of Anthony Hill
Air Force veteran shot while unarmed and naked
- Brandon English
- Protesters marched last night in downtown Decatur
About 80 protesters marched on Decatur’s streets Wednesday night to decry the March 9 police killing of DeKalb County resident Anthony Hill.
Hill, who was black, was unarmed and naked — apparently experiencing mania due to his bipolar disorder — when DeKalb County Police Officer Robert Olsen, who is white, shot and killed him. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident.
Protesters expressed outrage over the officer’s immediate use of lethal force against a mentally ill man, and questioned the role of race in that decision. “Blackness is not a weapon. Bipolar disorder is not a weapon,” read one of several signs they displayed in a pre-march rally in Decatur Square.
- Brandon English
- A sitting circle forms around a speaker.
- Brandon English
- A woman sheds a tear as a speaker discusses how police brutality has affected her life.
Hill was a 27-year-old Air Force veteran who had served in Afghanistan. Protester Aurielle Lucier of #ItsBiggerThanYou told Creative Loafing that he seemed “a least likely candidate to be a victim of police brutality…except he was black and he had mental illness.”
Jim Chambers of Rise Up Georgia was one of two protesters who told CL they, too, had experienced manic episodes where the police intervened — only with non-lethal results thanks to better training or racial factors, they said. Chambers said he was “treated politely” by New York officers when they arrested him naked on the streets of Brooklyn as a teenager, possibly because he is white.
Nelini Stamp of Rise Up Georgia says Hill’s killing is all the more disturbing for happening “right after we gave them hell” for another controversial DeKalb Police killing. The still-mysterious police shooting of Kevin Davis in his home near Avondale Estates in December was the subject of another Decatur Square protest last month.
Stamp also complained about the “irony” of DeKalb Police Chief Cedric Alexander appearing in national media as a police-violence transparency expert while such incidents happen at home. As president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Alexander advised Ferguson, Mo., police after last summer’s infamous killing of teenager Michael Brown.
“I’ve never seen him out here” talking to community members or protesters, Stamp said of Alexander.
Protesters wore strips of purple cloth — Hill’s favorite color — as armbands or headbands at the request of his girlfriend, who was staying with his family in South Carolina. Protesters carried a large photo of Hill as they marched in the middle of the streets around the square, twice conducting sit-downs to fully block intersections.
“Turn up! We don’t chill! We do this for Ant Hill!” was one chant, referring to Hill’s nickname. Many other chants were the refrains now common to post-Ferguson protests, including, “Indict! Convict! Send these killer cops to jail! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!”
Hill was active on social media, with his Twitter feed (@AntHeezie) showing an interest in the “Black Lives Matter” protests and his peace-oriented, big-picture views about them. He also discussed his struggles with bipolar disorder. In a dramatic moment during one sit-down, protester Shannon Reaze read some of Hill’s tweets aloud.
“I am thankful to be something other than normal. I don’t fight my circumstance, I embrace it. I love myself. Always #IAmBipolar,” read one. Another said, “I look around and see brothers and sisters not devils and demons.”
Hill also was a musician, and some recordings of his singing were played by protesters in the square.
A handful of protesters showed anger from time to time, with scattered shouts of “Fuck the police!” A few passersby responded aggressively as well, including a trucker who drove dangerously close, and a white man who shouted, “It’s not a racist thing! It’s a cop thing, guys!” A few passersby joined the march as well.
Organizers tell CL that the march was just the beginning of protests about Hill’s killing. Next up: A protest Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Chamblee Tucker Road apartment complex where Hill lived and died. Stamp said protesters aim to hold a “town hall”-style event somewhere in the area on March 24 and pressure Alexander to attend.
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- Brandon English
- Demonstrators begin their march out of Decatur Square and into the surrounding streets.
- Brandon English
- Energies are high as demonstrators raise their fists while chanting in protest of police brutality.
- Brandon English
- Energies are high as demonstrators raise their fists while chanting in protest of police brutality.
- Brandon English
- Energies are high as demonstrators raise their fists while chanting in protest of police brutality.
- Brandon English
- The march stops momentarily at the intersection of Swanton Way and Commerce Drive.
- Brandon English
- An onlooker sips a glass of wine as demonstrators march past several restaurants.
- Brandon English
- An officer in an unmarked vehicle outside of the Decatur courthouse looks on as the march passes.
- Brandon English
- Demonstrator Nileni Stamp and Deputy Police Chief Keith Lee have a discussion concerning the march's route.
- Brandon English
- A demonstrator positions a 'Black Lives Matter' sign behind Lee as he speaks to several reporters about the night's march.
- Brandon English
- Demonstrators reconvene at Decatur Square to conclude the march and make future calls to action concerning police brutality.