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It was a typical weekday and I was driving to work when I received a call from my mom who lives in Houston, Texas. She asked me if I knew a young man by the name of Chinedu Okobi who was killed by police officers in Millbrae. I told her I hadn’t heard about it. She told me a friend of hers who lives in Pacifica told her about the incident and asked me to “google it” as I always tell her to do when she asks me for information. I did and I found a few write ups on him with taglines like “Man Killed while assaulting officers” I found one Headline that not only humanized him by identifying his name and family origins, but made me believe their was more to the story than the other write ups were eluding to. The story was written by a writer at KQED, a division of NPR which is reputable non-biased news organization. It read, “San Mateo DA Says Man Who Died After Deputy Tased Him Was Unarmed” I started to research more and discovered a lot about this young man. On October 4, Chinedu Valentine Okobi was killed by the police in Millbrae, California. He was a 36 year-old unarmed black man, and had committed no crime. Five officers pursued him and he was tased multiple times before he died later at the hospital. He is the son of immigrants from Nigeria my home country and was raised in Pacifica, CA. He is a son, a father, an American, of Nigerian Origin, a black man. I am an immigrant, a mother of young black boys, a black woman. I worry about my children and all black children because of what is going on in America today. When some police officers are prejudiced, biased, or racist see us (immigrants), they see a black person. So we are all in this together. If you are black from Africa, your life matters, if you are black from South or Central America, your life matters, if you are black from the Caribbean islands, your life matters, if you are black American, your life matters. If you are black, period, your life matters. I understand the idea of BLACK LIVES MATTER to mean that all lives are valuable but it appears in America, other lives seem to be more valuable than black lives. When will the senseless killings of black people in America stop? I hear the term endangered species when animal rights activist refer to some animals and I see the animal rights activists fighting hard to protect those species. But I don’t see the same outrage when it comes to black human lives. I stumbled upon a write up by his sister, Ebele Okobi who is the Head of Public Policy, Africa at Facebook. I read up a bit about her. She believes in social justice for all people. His family seem like good and hardworking people contributing to the greatness that is America. The young man seemed to be a good and kind hearted human being. He was simply in the wrong place, wrong time, with the wrong people. People who were supposed to protect his rights as a human being to live. I have cried, prayed and shared messages to my family, friends, customers and members of my community and beyond. I feel like more needs to be done to prevent this from continuing to happen. I have petitioned and protested in the past about the senseless killings of African Americans by the police. Most of the time the officers involved never get convicted even though the evidence clearly shows that the victim was unarmed and non-threatening. It is a very sad state of affairs in America.
The police need to exercise the same amount of caution that is used in dealing with non-black people. Most of these deaths could be avoided by simply de-escalating the issue and not being so quick to pull the trigger or in this case use excessive force and devices to subdue the subject. Most of the time we find out that the victim is unarmed.
I didn’t change anything in Ebele’s write up.I simply copied and pasted it below. Please read it and share it and reach out to the family. Please call your political officials, call the San Mateo DA’s office, do something, anything. It’s becoming ridiculous. It needs to stop. NOW.
Here is the write up eloquently written by Ebele Okobi as posted on her facebook page.
He was born the day before Valentine’s day, so close to the brother before him that people used to think they were twins. He had irresistibly chubby cheeks when he was a baby, which was unfortunate because he clearly found the resulting cheek pinching entirely beneath his dignity.
He was the last of we five, and my memories of him as a child all involve constant motion and extreme truth telling-from him barreling everywhere on extremely bowed legs, to that time, at three years old, when he solemnly informed our Sunday school teacher that he should chew some gum because he had bad breath (he was not wrong, and feedback is a gift).
When he graduated from Morehouse College, we were all so proud-he was smart, funny, hard-working, and incredibly kind, with an earnest streak that I found hilarious. He called me Little Big Sis, because he was 6 foot 3 and I am 5 foot 4 but still (always!) the bossy older sister.
He met a great girl, and they had a beautiful daughter, and I remember saying that I couldn’t believe that the kid whose diapers I had changed was now changing diapers of his own.
While he was studying for the GMAT, the voices started. We struggled for years to get him the right diagnosis and medications, and we were so proud of him for creating a good and kind life despite his struggles with mental health.
Last Wednesday, he was killed by police, in Millbrae, California. He was unarmed. He had committed no crime. So today, I helped my mother decide how to bury her son.
His name is now one of too many names.
Chinedu Valentine Okobi. He was a person. He was my little brother, he was a father, he was loved. Now he is gone, and our hearts are broken.
Black Lives Matter
BY EBELE OKOBI (CHINEDU’S SISTER)
We want to make sure that he is remembered as a real person with a full life, and not a statistic or a case soon to be forgotten. He was a son, a brother, a father, and a friend — and he was loved.
Friends have set up a fundraiser for the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Chinedu’shonor.
More than $30,000 (and counting) has been donated in less than one week.
We want justice for Chinedu. We demand a thorough investigation by the San Mateo District Attorney’s office. The authorities haven’t been forthcoming, and have not shared much information with the family when there’s no good reason to withhold it. There are a lot more questions than answers.
HERE’S A LINK TO DONATE TO Equal Justice Initiative (EJI)
CLICK BELOW
(LINK)>>>>>>>>JUSTICE FOR CHINEDU OKOBI
ALSO SEE THE FLIER FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE WAKE KEEPING AND MEMORIAL SERVICES HELD IN HIS HONOR.
The Wake is on Sunday October 14, 2018 at 5-10pm Pacifica Community Center. The address is 540 Crepsi Drive. 94044
The memorial service is on Tuesday October 16, 2018 at 11am prompt. San Francisco Mission Center. 5845 Mission Street. San Francisco, CA