The GRPD killed another Black community member: Those in power have a script, but we don’t have to follow it

“The most violent man in the black community is a white cop. He has the license to kill and the power to do it scot-free, so it’s not a question of violence. The real question is who is controlling the violence? That is the question. If I shot 30 yellow men with slanted eyes, I would get a badge if I were in Vietnam. If I shot 30 white men who call me nigger in this country, I would get the electric chair. It’s just a question of power.”

Stokely Carmichael – 1967 speech at Fountain Street Church

On Wednesday the GRPD shot and killed Da’Quain Johnson. The cops sent a police dog after him and while he was on the ground face down they shot him in the head, like it was an execution.

On Thursday, the community came out to support the mother of Da’Quain Johnson, to provide space to collectively grieve and to present a video that clearly demonstrated that the GRPD shot Da’Quain Johnson in the back of the head.

Earlier on Thursday, Chief Winstrom held a Press Conference where he said:

“We’ve heard a lot of calls from the community, there’s a lot of inconsistencies or outright falsehoods being spread on social media, and tragically this young man last night involved in the shooting last night died. Very thankful that the officers involved were not hurt, but know that this individual has loved ones and family members that cared about him, and I think that when false information is being spread on social media and we have the opportunity to get some accurate information out we should take that opportunity.”

Winstrom said more bodycam footage would be shared in the future. He noted that there were around 30 officers on scene to pull bodycam footage from. The two detectives who are trained in video production were both off Thursday, Winstrom said, adding they typically release more thorough video, according to a story on WOODTV8.

The Michigan State Police are “investigating” whether or not the GRPD cops were justified in shooting Da’Quain Johnson. Cops investigating cops. Don’t pin any hopes that they will find anything wrong.

Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand said the city is committed to the “highest degree of transparency possible,” according to a statement released by the city on Thursday. This means that the City and the GRPD will release more body cam footage, but they get to determine which footage the public gets to see. After the Michigan State Police review the case the Kent County Prosecutor, GRPD administrative staff, and the Office of Oversight and Public Accountability will also “review” what happened. This means that the only oversight are institutions that make up the carceral state and will defend policing no matter what.

LaGrand also stated, “The safety of our residents remains our foremost responsibility. While the work of our police officers is essential to public safety, it must always be subject to rigorous oversight and held to the highest professional standards.”

From here on out we cannot and should not rely on the City of Grand Rapids, the Kent County Prosecutor, the Michigan State Police of the GRPD to do anything that the community is demanding.

Prior to the GRPD killing of Da’Quain Johnson there had already been 132 people in the US killed by the police in 2026, according to Mapping Police violence. Last year the police killed 1,314 people, with a disproportionate number of those deaths being Black people.

Those in power are following the same script they used when the GRPD killed Patrick Lyoya

Patrick Lyoya was killed by the GRPD on April 4th, 2022. The City of Grand Rapids and the GRPD have attempted to control the narrative about what happened to Patrick Lyoya, often wanting to blame Lyoya for not “cooperating with the cop who shot him in the back of the head. From the first Press Conference the City had, to the release of the body cam footage , to the City’s attempt to silence those demanding Justice for Patrick, over the past nearly 4 years the City officials and the Chief Winstrom have not been willing to take responsibility for Patrick Lyoya’s death.

The local news media has demonstrated a clear bias in reporting on what happened, the public response and the ongoing legal case of Christopher Schurr. There has been a concerted effort to sanitize who Christopher Schurr is. There have also been local news stories that center the voices of GR City officials at an event organized by the African Diaspora community. Then there are stories that provide favorable coverage of the cop who shot Patrick Lyoya.

There have also been several FOIA requests related to the GRPD murder of Patrick Lyoya and how the GRPD has responded to those organizing to demand justice for Patrick Lyoya. In both cases, there were large sections of the FOIA documents redacted.

There has been organized resistance to the GRPD killing of Patrick Lyoya,and the City of Grand Rapids and the GRPD have consistently criminalized those that have resist. This criminalization of dissent has primarily targeted BIPOC organizers, which includes the recent jail sentencing of Ky to 6 months in jail. In contrast, the GRPD cop who killed Patrick Lyoya has not spent 1 day in jail.

The lawyers for the GRPD cop who killed Patrick Lyoya used strategies of legal dismissal and appeals that delayed the trial for Christopher Schurr for three years. After a week of deliberation, the judge dismissed the case against Schurr because jurors could not come to a consensus, not the case was thrown out. Chief Winstrom made the claim that the reason Patrick Lyoya was killed is because the GRPD was understaffed.

In 2020, after the uprising that took place in Grand Rapids over the police killing of George Floyd, there was an organized effort to reduce the funding of the GRPD, which was led by the group Defund the GRPD.

In July of 2020, after weeks of pressure from community groups to defund the GRPD, three City Commissioners were set to propose defunding the GRPD to the 32% City Charter mandated minimum. However, the City Manager and the City Attorney stepped in and prevent such a vote, making the claim that the City Commission did not have the legal authority to do so. City Manager Mark Washington did say that they would revisit possible reduction in GRPD funding later that year. The City never addressed that issue again.

However, what those in power have done since the 2020 uprising has been to push for additional funding for the GRPD and powerful interest groups like the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce to fund candidates that ran on a pro-cop platform, which included demonizing anyone who wanted to defund the GRPD.

We don’t have to allow the same script to play out for the GRPD killing of Da’Quain Johnson

We don’t have to let Grand Rapids City officials or the GRPD control the narrative about the killing of Da’Quain Johnson.

We don’t have to allow the commercial news media to center the voices of those with power.

We don’t have to wait for justice.

We do need to see that policing is a systemic and structural issue that has been designed to used force to criminalize Black and Brown communities and to suppress any form of public dissent. This system cannot be reformed, it must be abolished. How we do this work is not for public consumption, but it will require deep commitment and sacrifice. Justice for Da’Quain Johnson!