For Immediate Release:
March 30, 2016
Contact:
Andrew Curley
(928) 606-2674
The Red Nation to hold vigil and demand justice for slain Navajo mother Loreal Tsingine
Stop racist violence against Natives! Stop violence against Native women! Justice for Loreal!
What: This Saturday (4/2/16) the Red Nation will host a vigil demanding “Justice for Loreal” in Winslow, Arizona at the Winslow Police Department to hold the police accountable for their wrongful killing of Navajo citizen, Loreal Tsingine. Last Easter Sunday, a Winslow police officer, Austin Shipley, shot Loreal Tsingine, 27, five times, killing her at a Circle K gas station.
Surviving family, community members, activists, and organizers will speak, highlighting murderous bordertown violence and steps towards justice.
When: 3 PM, Saturday, April 2, 2016
Where: Winslow Police Department, 708 W 3rd St, Winslow, AZ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/954680254639569/
Why:
Native women are more likely than other women to be incarcerated and victims of state violence. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Health Statistics reveal that Natives make up three of the top five top age-groups killed by law enforcement. This is the same system that incarcerates, brutalizes, and kills Black women and women of color at high rates. Murderous violence against Native women is part of a system that perpetuates and normalizes gendered and racialized violence by the state or within our communities. This colonial violence structures our everyday lives. It must end.
We demand an independent review and publicly available report into the circumstance of Loreal’s murder, including witness testimony, forensic analysis, and other crucial items of evidence, as well as the personal record of Officer Austin Shipley.
We ask for our relatives and community members to support Loreal’s family by donating funds for funeral expenses. “Justice for Loreal” is meant to celebrate Loreal’s life and show solidarity with the family as they grieve.
We encourage the U.S. Department of Justice (US DOJ) to investigate Arizona’s use of racial profiling against the state’s Native residences, especially in border towns like Winslow, Holbrook, Flagstaff, and Page. We request that they US DOJ investigate and enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits discrimination based on race.
We will use the hashtags: #Justice4Loreal, #MMIW, and #BorderTownJustice to share our thoughts, prayers, stories, and larger calls for justice in the wrongful killing of Loreal Tsingine.
You can donate toward Loreal Tsingine’s funeral expenses here: https://www.gofundme.com/loreal
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