Maria Hamilton is a dedicated member of a sorority she never wanted to be a part of, but when her son was killed by a Milwaukee police officer she didn’t have a choice.
“We’ll never be that family that we were in 2014 ever again,” Maria said.
10 years after her son Dontre Hamilton was shot 14 times and killed at Red Arrow Park, Maria went back Saturday to the place where it all happened.
The Hamilton Family and their supporters gathered at the park for the anniversary of Dontre Day to promote peace and unity as they push for change in Milwaukee and beyond.
Maria told TMJ4’s Tahleel Mohieldin, it’s a fight that hasn’t come easy.
"We get denied. We get delayed. There's no transparency,” she said. “We've had a couple of wins; you know what I'm saying, but the minute we see clear they just snatch us right back."
Maria said one thing that’s helped get her through over the past decade was the support of others, especially mothers going through the same thing.
Women from all over the country whose sons were killed by police, including the mothers of Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and Oscar Grant, joined Maria in Solidarity at Red Arrow Park Saturday.
“We know this pain. We know it will never go away,” Garner’s mother Gwen Carr said. “It subsides for a while, but it always comes back, and we can understand that about each other.”
Her son, a father of six, was killed in 2014 when a New York City police officer put him in an illegal chokehold. Garner repeatedly told the officers on the scene “I can’t breathe” before losing consciousness.
Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson said while their children have been the subject of national headlines, movies like Fruitvale Station, and even changes to the law, there’s a lot more work that needs to be done.
“We cannot allow the community to sleep,” Johnson said.
“We must continue to walk with Maria through this time and let our society, let our government know that we’re not going to be silent,” she added. “We are going to continue to speak out against the police brutality that goes on throughout this country.”
In honor of Dontre’s legacy, at Saturday’s event, his family helped provide community members with resources around housing, mental wellness, and job opportunities.
“This is just another mark in saying hey, ‘we are here for the long haul," Dontre’s brother Nate Hamilton said, “to continue to influence this city to be better, and to provide it with everything we possibly can as a family."
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
