After a Columbus, Ohio, police officer shot and killed 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant, who was attempting to stab two other girls on Tuesday, leftists and Democrats, including the chief advisor to former President Obama, slammed the police officer, intimating that he was in the wrong for saving the other girls from being stabbed.
The day before, just 100 miles away, in Winton Hills, Ohio, a 13-year-old girl was stabbed in the neck by another 13-year-old girl and died that night in her father’s arms. No police were there to prevent the violent incident and save the victim’s life.
After Bryant was shot and killed, former President Barack Obama’s top advisor, Valerie Jarrett, chimed in, “A Black teenage girl named Ma’Khia Bryant was killed because a police officer immediately decided to shoot her multiple times in order to break up a knife fight. Demand accountability. Fight for justice. #BlackLivesMatter.”
A Black teenage girl named Ma’Khia Bryant was killed because a police officer immediately decided to shoot her multiple times in order to break up a knife fight. Demand accountability. Fight for justice. #BlackLivesMatter.
— Valerie Jarrett (@ValerieJarrett) April 21, 2021
Activist and filmmaker Bree Newsome echoed, “Teenagers have been having fights including fights involving knives for eons. We do not need police to address these situations by showing up to the scene & using a weapon against one of the teenagers. Y’all need help. I mean that sincerely.”
Teenagers have been having fights including fights involving knives for eons. We do not need police to address these situations by showing up to the scene & using a weapon against one of the teenagers. Y’all need help. I mean that sincerely.
— DEFUND & ABOLISH POLICE, REFUND OUR COMMUNITIES (@BreeNewsome) April 21, 2021
Rutgers University associate professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Brittney Cooper joined in, too: “A Black girl is dead because the cops brought a gun to a damn knife fight. If you don’t know how to de-escalate teen girls who are fighting, you should not be a police officer. I said what I said. #MakhiaBryant.”
A Black girl is dead because the cops brought a gun to a damn knife fight. If you don’t know how to de-escalate teen girls who are fighting, you should not be a police officer. I said what I said. #MakhiaBryant
— Brittney Cooper (@ProfessorCrunk) April 21, 2021
But the night before, 13-year-old Nyaira Givens died at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital after she was stabbed during a fight near her family’s home. Both girls attended Aiken High School, where they were in seventh grade.
Givens’ father, Maurice Jackson, said, “I held her. I watched her as she died. I watched her, you know. All I could do was just hold her, hold her. I tried. I tried to stop the bleeding.”
“Just tried my best to protect her and be the father I could be, you know?” Jackson added. “I guess I didn’t pay attention to all the other stuff that was going on around her.”
“She was a great daughter. A great friend. All of the above. Until the end,” Jackson said.
Heather Chura Smith of the Hamilton County Juvenile Court said, “I would say that what we’ve seen in the last couple weeks falls in line with that trend that we’ve seen locally — that uptick of violent offenses,” Local 12 reported.
Cincinnati Public Schools stated, “We are devastated by this tragedy. Our mental health support teams are actively supporting our school community at this time. We also have additional crisis teams in place to support our students and staff, if needed.”
Jackson concluded, “The pain I’m feeling right now, it’s just, I can’t explain it. It’s very unexplainable. She should be burying me. I shouldn’t be burying her.”
