We Still Demand Justice for André Thompson and Bryson Chaplin!
❤️❤️❤️Bryson Chaplin❤️❤️❤️
💜💜💜André Thompson💜💜💜
💛💛💛WE SURVIVED!💛💛💛
Download the PDF with the demands, action points, and graphic here!
From the Chaplin-Thompson Family and Accomplices:
We as a family and community are outraged at the lack of ethics that the City of Olympia, Thurston County, the Olympia Police Department, local news media, and other local institutions have shown in responding to the racist shooting of André Thompson and Bryson Chaplin (we survived!) in May 2015. Ryan Donald, the police officer who shot both brothers multiple times, nearly taking their lives and leaving them permanently disabled, was allowed to walk free and continue to wreak havoc on our community. The only people who went to jail as a result of that night were the victims of the shooting, André Thompson and Bryson Chaplin.
Mayor Cheryl Selby recently held a press conference on June 5 in which she referenced the shooting of André Thompson and Bryson Chaplin as an example of racist police violence that has touched our community. She claimed that this was the motivation for sweeping changes in Olympia. Meanwhile there have been multiple officer-involved deaths in Olympia, two of them involving Ryan Donald, and the Chaplin-Thompson family has never seen any justice.
WE DEMAND that the case involving the racist shooting of Black brothers André Thompson and Bryson Chaplin by white police officer Ryan Donald be REOPENED and that an OUTSIDE INVESTIGATION begin immediately. Police should not be allowed to investigate themselves and create expensive false narratives on the taxpayers’ dime.
WE DEMAND that the City of Olympia fire officer Ryan Donald, with no paid leave, no pension. Ryan Donald caused permanent disabilities to André and Bryson, and he is still a police officer today.
WE DEMAND that Ryan Donald be prosecuted for attempted murder. This is not the only time officer Donald has been responsible for excessive use of force on the job; he was present at the deaths of Vaneesa Hopson and Jeffrey McGaugh, both of whose families have never received any kind of justice.
WE DEMAND that Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim be FIRED by recall in a popular vote. He has never held a police officer accountable for excessive use of force. He is an elected official who has used his role in dangerous and unaccountable ways.
WE DEMAND a people’s prosecutor here in Thurston County who will choose to prosecute those who misuse their power in illegal, unethical, and deadly ways.
WE DEMAND all the officers involved in the cover up of André Thompson and Bryson Chaplin’s racist shooting be reprimanded and not rewarded for reinforcing the code of silence.
WE DEMAND to know how much money the City of Olympia and Thurston County spent protecting and defending Ryan Donald during court proceedings (both criminal and civil), including the so-called “reenactment” in civil court, constructed to make Ryan Donald look like a victim by turning his narrative into three different orchestrated performance pieces. THEY HAD TO HAVE SPENT MILLIONS. Right now André Thompson and Bryson Chaplin’s family struggles to pay rent! Please support the Chaplin-Thompson family financially: http://paypal.me/OlympiaSURJ
WE DEMAND that Ryan Donald and all involved Thurston County, Washington State, and Olympia Police Officers be held accountable for the deaths of Jose Ramirez-Jimenez, Joel Nelson, Vaneesa Hopson, Jeffrey McGaugh, Nephi Leiataua, Yvonne McDonald, Sok Chin Son and other Loved Ones not named here, who died under suspicious circumstances involving law enforcement. All Olympians should know that these officer-involved killings happen here! Hold politicians and police accountable for covering up and/or causing these deaths! Hold The System accountable for not investigating SO MANY missing and murdered Black and Indigenous people!
WE DEMAND that André Thompson and Bryson Chaplin’s personal belongings be returned to them from the evidence hold. Clothes, shoes, phones, everything held as evidence from the night of the shooting must be returned to the family.
WE DEMAND that the Olympian take responsibility for their one-sided reporting that takes police narrative at face value, repeating their lies as fact, allowing city and county officials (including Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim) to refer people to the Olympian rather than answering direct questions about injustice.
WE DEMAND that Mayor Cheryl Selby step down. The police terror has not stopped since the shooting of André Thompson and Bryson Chaplin. Mayor Selby values property over people, and has not addressed serious safety concerns impacting our community, especially our unhoused neighbors, people of color, and people with disabilities.
WE ASK OUR OLYMPIA AND EXTENDED COMMUNITY TO TAKE ACTION!
For background please read:
Two sons shot in the back by police: A mother’s cry for justice by Crystal Chaplin https://sfbayview.com/2016/04/two-sons-shot-in-the-chest-by-police-a-mothers-cry-for-justice
Shots Fired by Crystal Chaplin https://www.poormagazine.org/node/5880
André Thompson and Bryson Chaplin Explain How It Feels to Survive a Police Shooting, They are brothers, and they both lived through it , by Siloh Radovsky in Teen Vogue https://www.teenvogue.com/story/andre-thompson-and-bryson-chaplin-explain-how-it-feels-to-survive-a-police-shooting
What it's like to survive being shot by the police: André Thompson by Vice News https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/a3jjba/police-shooting-survivors
Keeping Up with those KKKourt Dates: Justice for André and Bryson in Poor Magazine https://www.poormagazine.org/node/5550
The PoLice Terror of Olympia's Ryan Donald in Poor Magazine https://poormagazine.org/node/5865
Watch:
Delivering T-shirts: Justice for Bryson and André, 7 minute video
https://youtu.be/WSh357NxkVk
PLEASE FEEL OUR FIRE, OUR RAGE, AND OUR LOVE,
AND EMBODY OUR DEMANDS!
We don’t have scripts - please create your own. Speak from the heart. Make calls! Make signs! Create murals! Sing and scream and shout across the Salish Sea!
CONTACT MAYOR SELBY and our city officials:
Olympia City Council
PO Box 1967, Olympia, WA 98507-1967
Phone: 360-753-8447 (Olympia City Council)
Email: cselby@ci.olympia.wa.us
Call the county prosecutor who never holds police accountable:
Jon Tunheim: (360) 786-5540
Call the Olympia Police Department:
Police Chief Aaron Jelcick: 360-753-8300
Contact Governor Jay Inslee:
Office of the Governor PO Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002
Phone: 360-902-4111 (TTY/TDD call 711) or 1-800-833-6388
E-Message: https://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/contact/send-gov-inslee-e-message
WE DEMAND THE CASE BE REOPENED AND THAT THERE BE AN OUTSIDE INVESTIGATION
THE CHAPLIN-THOMPSON FAMILY NEEDS A GOOD LAWYER and legal support to help with these demands and their Struggle for Justice!
To connect the family with legal support, send an email to olympiasurj@gmail.com.
#JusticeForAndreAndBryson #FireOfficerDonald #JailKillerCops #ReopenTheCase #DisabilityJustice #BlackLivesMatter #BlackDisabledLivesMatter #BlackPowerMatters #WeSurvived