On a sweltering Friday morning at a Walmart in Senatobia, Mississippi, nearly 100 protesters gathered to memorialize Kohen Kartier Wiley, waving banners and placards as they demanded justice and transparency. Police fatally shot the 1-year-old child on June 14, firing into a moving car while responding to allegations of shoplifting.
The demonstrators marched on city streets for miles, stopping traffic and drawing support and occasional confrontations from local residents and a diverse coalition of activists and organizers.
“ We’re gonna effectively shut down Walmart, which you see we’ve already done,” Mississippi activist Marquell Bridges, president of the Building Bridges Coalition, told the Mississippi Free Press shortly before the march. “We’re gonna rebuild his memorial and put his permanent banner on the memorial.”
They accomplished both goals–-the memorial, a long banner bearing Kohen’s face—now has a more permanent fixture outside the Senatobia Walmart, adorned with flowers and dolls befitting a toddler.
On Wednesday morning, attorneys for the family were set to release the results of an independent autopsy in a 12:30 p.m. press conference.
‘We Don’t Want To Wait Six To Nine Months’
The march wound through the commercial core of Senatobia, around five miles in all, passing City Hall and stopping just short of the police station, blocked off by road work. The Senatobia Police Department itself hovered close to the protest in the opening minutes of the march, threatening to shut it down unless organizers could maintain the movement on one road.
Bridges, speaking outside the Walmart near Kohen’s memorial, laid out the central priorities of the protests. “Our demands are to release all store surveillance footage—to release the audio and transcript of the alleged 911 call. We want emails for three days after the incident … and we don’t want to wait six to nine months to get it,” Bridges said.
Baba Akili, national field coordinator with Black Lives Matter Grassroots, assured the media that the groups would stay mobilized in Kohen’s name.
“ We don’t want no redacted nothing,” Akili said. “We don’t want anything drawn out. We want every word, every frame, every written piece of information related to this incident—this murder. That means we’re gonna have to stay in these streets, because it ain’t gonna happen. It would’ve happened already.”
While many in the march were Senatobia locals, the protest was heavily attended by left-wing organizations, most notably the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Southern Regional Black Panther Party, Black Lives Matter Grassroots and the Democratic Socialists of America.
Isabella Tallman-Jones, an organizer with PSL, told the Mississippi Free Press that Wiley’s death revealed the intersection of racial violence and economic oppression.
“We’re here to support the family of Kohen Wiley and understand that the police’s interests—and the interests of the people that we’ve elected into office—are to protect moneyed interests and these billionaires. Meanwhile, we have to show up and show out for the people. We are mobilizing, and we are creating a united front to show out and exert some people pressure.”
‘The Community is Grieving’
The protest was focused, non-violent and met with little interference from the Senatobia police, despite an initial threat to shut it down if it spilled across lanes on the city’s major streets.
“ There’s no need to apologize for your emotions,” said Jacob Lake Sr., whose son was shot by police and paralyzed in 2020. “They took this beautiful baby at 1 year old. When in any state is petty larceny a death sentence? In what state other than this racist ass motherf–king state right here? … I’m not gonna stop fighting until we get accountability for these racist murdering-ass pigs. But you’ve got to be strong. You’ve got to reach deep inside yourself, find your cause and find your purpose and stand up.”
Racism reared its head in the occasional taunt from passing viewers. One white man, first questioning whether the protesters were from Senatobia at all, then launched into an argument with some of the cars in the caravan. He made a hasty retreat into a nearby store, shouting, “White power, motherf–kers!” as he slipped away.
After the protest, Kohen Wiley’s family held his visitation at the West Gilmore Church of Christ in Senatobia. Outside the church, mourners gathered to pay their respects, including Mississippi House Rep. Kabir Karriem, D-Columbus.
“ Right now, we need to make sure that we give the family the support they need,” Karriem said. “This community is grieving … and after the homegoing celebration for little Kohen is over, we need to demand transparency from (Mississippi Department of Public Safety) Commissioner Tindell. He needs to answer questions to this community to bring some resolution to this situation. They’re suggesting perhaps six to nine months before any sort of information is released. It shouldn’t take that long.”
Advocates Gather at Town Hall
After the visitation, the community met at the Fairway Christian Church nearby for a town hall addressing Kohen’s death. Speaking at the meeting was Marquell Bridges, president of the Building Bridges Coalition; Rukia Lumumba, executive director of the People’s Advocacy Institute; Jaribu Hill, founder and executive director of the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights; Paloma Wu of the Mississippi Center for Justice; Jill Collen Jefferson, executive director of JULIAN; Melanie Marie of Ferguson, Missouri; Baba Akili, national field coordinator of Black Lives Matter Grassroots; Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. of the Black Panther Cubs and Amir Badat, southern states director at Fair Fight Action.
Each encouraged the public to demand action and to stay mobilized until justice for Kohen Wiley had been achieved. Hill had a warning for those who might think to abrogate that justice with a quiet deal.
“ So why do they think they can get away with it? ‘Cause they don’t see a baby. They don’t see a human being. They see property that they sold on the auction block,” Jaribu Hill said. “ And if I hear of anybody coming into town, meeting with those dogs over supper, cutting deals with Walmart, and a baby’s blood has filled the streets, we gonna have a problem.”
For Hampton Jr., the son of Fred Hampton, the once deputy chairman of the Black Panthers, the moment was ripe for political education and agitation.
“ We gotta move real fast, too: ‘Well, I ain’t got time for all the political education.’ But Lenin said, ‘It would take people 20 years of learning in ordinary time; what they can learn in two years in revolutionary time,’” he said.
As the march ended and the sun beat down on the memorial to Kohen just outside the shuttered Walmart, the protesters concluded a call-and-response in the words of Assata Shakur. “It is our duty to fight for freedom,” the chant went. “It is our duty to win. We must love and protect one another. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
Follow the Mississippi Free Press’ coverage of Kohen Wiley and read past stories here.
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