Projecting Justice: Jacqueline Salyers and Bennie Branch

May 25 marks the anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, a watershed moment that has re-energized an ongoing nationwide movement and sparked an urgent conversation about the role of policing in our state. In Washington, about 40-50 members of our communities, disproportionately Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian American Pacific Islander, are killed each year by police officers. That must change. With Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, we projected names each night, beginning with George Floyd on May 25, 2021.

Jackie Salyers was killed by Tacoma Police Department, the officers shooting at the vehicle she was allegedly driving towards them, claiming their lives were in danger.  This death and cover up in early 2016 illustrates the failures of police investigating police, and the disregard for Native Americans.  Native Americans have the highest rate of fatal encounters with police.

Bennie Branch was checking on his mother who was living in her vehicle at the time, when Bennie was shot and killed by Tacoma Police Department. This shooting in September 2019 has so many facts in dispute, it needs an independent investigation, and a jury to weigh these facts.  Bennie was unarmed and shot in his back while running away.