Jay Z and Team Roc have offered their support for Wisconsin protestors who are calling for justice for 17-year-old Alvin Cole.
Jay Z has offered to post bond and cover fines for protestors who were arrested in Wisconsin last week whilst demanding justice for 17-year-old Alvin Cole who was fatally shot by police earlier this year.
Protests have arisen once more across the city following the Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm’s decision to not charge the Wauwatosa officer responsible for Cole’s death, Joseph Mensah.
Jay Z and Team Roc (the social justice division of the rapper’s Roc Nation) will cover fines for several peaceful protesters. They have also offered to pay court fees for Alvin Cole’s mother, Tracy Cole, who was injured during the arrests, as well as his sisters Taleavia, Tristiana, and Tahudah.
“Our hearts break for the family of Alvin Cole and the Wauwatosa community,” says Dania Diaz, Team Roc’s executive director. “Not only did the District Attorney’s Office fail to hold Officer Joseph Mensah accountable for killing Alvin, but the local police also arrested and injured Alvin’s mother Tracy and his sisters as they peacefully protested alongside Jacob Blake’s father.”
Alvin Cole was shot and killed by a police officer in February. He was 17.
In the wake of George Floyd and police killings of Black Americans, there has been renewed interest in Cole’s story — even catching the eye of Jay Z’s @RocNation.
🎧 Listen 👉 https://t.co/ywkwDVJzV7 pic.twitter.com/ZqJKTYYMgf
— The Take (@AJTheTake) August 3, 2020
Cole was killed in February of this year in a parking lot outside a Wauwatosa mall after police responded to a disturbance call. Cole allegedly fired a gun first, before Mensah returned fire. Handing down his decision not to prosecute the officer, Chisholm claimed that Mensah acted in self-defence and that there was “sufficient evidence” that he held “subjective belief that deadly force was necessary”.
However, this marks the third time that Mensah has shot and killed someone in the last five years. Chisholm has cleared him on each occasion.
Jay Z and Team Roc have previously spoken out in support of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and more.
