CLEVELAND — Several weeks after what would have been Tamir Rice’s 20th birthday, a crowd gathered to pay tribute to his life and dedicate a permanent memorial in his honor.
Tamir’s mother, Samaria Rice, spoke during a dedication ceremony at Cudell Park Saturday.
“With my resilience and determination, and the support from all of you, I pray we will be able to create a safe and loving space for our community of children,” she said.
Tamir was shot and killed by a Cleveland Police officer in 2014 at the same park after a person called 911 to report seeing someone with a gun. At the time, the 12-year-old was carrying a toy pellet gun.
Timothy Loehmann, the officer who fired the fatal shots, was never charged in Tamir’s death. He was fired by Cleveland police in 2017 for lying on his application and violating other administrative policies.
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Saturday, the Rice family and supporters gathered at Cudell Park to unveil a marble and stone memorial etched with Tamir’s face and surrounded by a butterfly garden.
“This is the last memory that I have of my son - playing in the park as children should be able to play in parks in America,” Samaria said of the 12-year-old’s image.
The Rice Butterfly Memorial opened in Cleveland at the same time protests in Akron echo the reaction inspired by Tamir’s death.
“Too many cases of the people who are supposed to protect us are killing mostly African-American men, mostly young men,” said U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D- Ohio), who attended the dedication.
Daily protests have been happening in Akron since the death of Jayland Walker on June 27th. The 25-year-old was fatally shot dozens of times by police officers following a traffic pursuit.
Brown and others called for transparency and accountability in Walker’s death during the Cleveland dedication.
“We all mourn, of course, what happened,” Brown said of Tamir. “But we need to double down on making sure parks like this are safe. This just should not happen again and it’s a tragedy we hope we learn from.”
The Rice family hopes the updated space at Cudell park will promote peace and healing.
They also created the Tamir Rice Foundation following his death, which invests in after-school programming and advocates for police reform.
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