PK NOTE: Their Lives Matter Too. It’s a book you must pick up. Names you’ve never encountered, stories you’ve never read about, all for one, unmentionable reason: black on white murder. We were never supposed to notice what’s happening. We were never supposed to catalogue the names and tell their stories. But we did. But we have. Their Lives Matter Too.
Never forget: to Corporate America, Hollywood, Academia, Democrats, Blacks, and even many elected members of the Republican Party, Black Lives Matter more than yours.
Tapero Corlene Johnson and Marquisha Annissa Tyson are two such black lives that had they been taken by white police officer, Sgt. Stephen Williams, the entire world would know their names.
As it is, just another story of two blacks (this time in Alabama) who simply murdered yet another white police officer.
2 charged in fatal shooting of Moody police Sgt. Stephen Williams, Al.com, June 5, 2020
Formal charges have been filed against two in the shooting death of Moody police Sgt. Stephen Williams.
St. Clair County district attorney Lyle Harmon on Friday announced the arrests of Tapero Corlene Johnson, 27, and Marquisha Annissa Tyson, 28, both of the Birmingham area, in the Tuesday night shooting.
“One of the best among us was taken viciously,” said St. Clair Sheriff Billy Murray.
Williams, a 50-year-old father of three, had been a police officer for 23 years, the last three of those at the Moody Police Department. He began his law enforcement career at the Bessemer Police Department.
Chief Thomas Hunt said Friday Williams will be promoted to lieutenant. He had just been promoted to sergeant in the past year and was a recipient of the Officer of the Year award in memory of Keith Turner, who was shot to death June 27, 1998 and was the last Moody officer killed in the line of duty.
“Oh, he was awesome,’’ Hunt said of Williams. “He was just a good man, a good person, fun to be around.”
“He was very thorough in his reports, a good teacher, a good mentor,’’ the chief said. “A lot of the guys looked up to Steve.”
“All I can ask is for everybody to please be in prayer for the Williams family and for the Moody Police Department,” Hunt said.
The shooting happened shortly before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at the motel on Moody Parkway. A medical helicopter was sent for Williams, but the officer was instead taken by ambulance to UAB Hospital.
Amar Fouda just moved into the Super 8 on U.S. 411. He said it was about 9:25 when he heard a lot of noise in Room 214, which is directly next to his room.
“I heard like an AK-47,’’ he said. Fouda said he ran into the bathroom and hid in the tub.
When he saw blue lights come on the scene, he looked outside. “I saw one of the officers, he was down,’’ Fouda said.
He said he didn’t know why police were at the motel but said his neighbors “had been making a lot of noise.”
Funeral arrangements have been announced. Williams’ visitation will be Sunday, June 7, from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. at Ridout’s Southern Heritage Funeral Home at 1011 Cahaba Valley Road in Pelham. His funeral will be held on Monday at 11 a.m. at First Baptist Church in Moody on Church Street.
More than 1,000 Moody residents have signed a petition urging the city council to revoke the business license of the motel where Williams was shot, arguing the shooting “has escalated the need to close this business for good.”
Amy Stewart, a Moody resident who started the petition, said the shooting of Williams was the latest incident that showed the motel does not deserve a business license.
“The recent slaying of Sergeant Stephen Williams on Tuesday June 2, 2020 has escalated the need to close this business for good,” Stewart’s petition reads. “We ask that the city council and Mayor Joe Lee revoke their business license immediately for the safety of our community.”
Had George Floyd killed Officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis during the latter’s arrest of the black suspect, no one outside of Minneapolis would know the story of the white police officer murdered by a black criminal.
Flip the script, and cities are burning nationwide.
White lives don’t matter, unless they are police officers taking the life of a black career criminal. Then, cities must burn.
His Name is Sgt. Stephen Williams. You deserved better, sir. But as Drew Brees found out when making remarks about respecting the flag of the United States, this is no longer our country.
