Kalief Browder
The upside down crown represents an overthrow of the current power and judicial system. I thought it was fitting for Kalief Browder to emerge from it because his life uncovered the deep systematic flaws in the justice systems and was a crucial part in inspiring the efforts to shut down Rikers Island.
I recently watched Time: The Kalief Browder Story on Netflix and I’ve never been more shaken and disturbed at how much the justice system had failed him. He spent 3 years in Rikers Island despite not being convicted because he did not want to plead guilty to a crime he did not commit. When his day in court finally came, his charges were dismissed but the horrible effects on his mental health remained. He was forced to spend 2 years in solitary confinement at the young age of 16 and when freed, the demons from the trauma stayed with him, leading him to take his own life shortly after.
Artist: Natalie Kasparian
Available in 2.5"x3.5" and 8.5"x11"
Marsha P. Johnson
“No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us”
Marsha P Johnson was a gay liberation activist and self identified as a drag queen. She is primarily the reason that Pride occurs today, because of her commitment to helping trans youth, sex workers and queers within the NY community. She was a prominent figure in the uprising of Stonewall in 1969 - the protests that occurred following a violent police raid in Manhattan at a popular gay bar, and one of the co-founders of STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries). Her death in 1992 was quickly deemed a suicide by the NYPD, and the investigation did not last long, causing an uproar amongst her friends and supporters. Her death is an example of one of the now many deaths where the victim was a transgender woman, ending with a lack of justice to their death. To this day, fatal violence disproportionately affects BiPOC transgender women. When we say “Black Lives Matter” this includes black trans lives as well.
I chose the queen of diamonds for Marsha because she was a self identified Queen in her days, and based on interviews I’ve seen of her, she seemed like quite the gem - a diamond if you will. I typically like using a lot of colour in my art, and Marsha was the perfect fit for me since she not only dressed colourfully, but had a colourful personality that so many people loved.
Artist: Laura Scholtz
Available 2.5"x3.5" and 8.5"x11"
Michael Brown Jr
Michael Brown Jr. was walking with his friend before being confronted by a police officer. The situation escalated and the officer shot Michael six times. Michael, 18, was unarmed. The event sparked a national outcry and demonstrators took to the streets of Ferguson, Missouri to protest against police brutality and the unjust system that employs it against black people.
Artist: JoshAwol
Available in 2.5"x3.5"
Michelle Cusseaux
Cusseaux was a 50 year old woman who suffered from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression. She was agitated because a taxi scheduled to take her to the hospital failed to arrive - this incident occurring at least two times. When she called the Southwest Network Health Facility to express her grievances, the office manager called police to make a mental health petition. Her mother then requested a court order to transport Cusseaux to an in-patient mental health facility. Upon police arrival, Cusseaux threatened the four officers with a hammer. Despite the 4 officers knowing they were going to serve a court order to a mentally ill woman, non-lethal means of control were not implemented and Cusseaux was shot and killed in her apartment.
The artist has depicted Michelle Cusseaux wearing slippers with the bullet heading straight to her heart to highlight that she was murdered in her own home. The green background is to represent mental health.
Artist: Michelle Yang
Available in 2.5"x3.5"
Natasha McKenna
McKenna was a 37 year old woman from Virginia. She had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia at the age of 12. She was held at an adult detention center in Fairfax county due to an outstanding warrant for a suspected attack on a police officer from Alexandria county. Alexandria failed to come pick up McKenna, and due to her deteriorating mental condition, Fairfax decided to transport her to Alexandria themselves.
She was restrained with her arms behind her back, had her legs shackled and had a spit mask placed on her head. McKenna struggled and was tasered four times because she refused to be put in a wheeled restraint chair. Shortly after, she went into cardiac arrest and resuscitated by first responders on her way to a hospital where she was put on life support. 5 days after, she was declared brain dead and taken off life support.
Medical examiners labeled her death as cardiac arrest due to excited delirium. Her death was ruled an accident, and the officers were not charged. She is survived by her daughter.
Artist: Eva Klinkenberg
Available in 2.5"x3.5" and 8.5"x11"
Neil Stonechild
Neil Stonechild was 17 years old when they found him dead, face down in a field on November 29, 1990. Despite a written statement claiming Stonechild was last seen handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser by Jason Roy, Stonechild's friend and the last person to have seen him before his death, Saskatoon Police determined no foul play. 13 years later, a Commission of Inquiry was held for Stonechild's death, which confirmed that Stonechild had been picked up by police shortly before his death - an interaction that was not recorded - and that the marks on his wrists and nose could potentially have been caused by handcuffs.
This was one in a series of cases collectively called the "Saskatoon Freezing Deaths", where members of the Saskatoon Police Service would allegedly arrest indigenous men, drive them out of the city and abandon them in the winter's night.
Artist: Morla Phan
Available in 2.5"x3.5"
Orlando Bowen
Orlando Bowen was an up and coming football player. He had played college football at Northern Illinois University before signing with the Toronto Argonauts for three years. On the evening of March 26, 2004, Orlando Bowen was waiting to celebrate a contract extension with the Hamilton Tiger Cats. While waiting for his friends, two Peel Regional Police officers ask him if he had any drugs. Bowen replied no, and the officers pulled him from his vehicle and claimed they found a bag of cocaine on his person. An altercation occurred. “I was convinced I was going to be killed,” Bowen said. “I just kept thinking in my mind, ‘Oh my God. This is how my life is going to end.’” The officers had beaten Bowen, giving him injuries including a severe concussion that ended his career as a football player.
The charges against Bowen were dismissed by an Ontario judge due to inconsistencies with the officers’ stories. One of the officers was later arrested by the RCMP for stealing cocaine from police custody, ruining any credibility left in his testimony against Bowen. The officers were never charged, two internal reviews found “no misconduct in relation to Mr. Bowen’s incident.”
Artist: Morla Phan
Available in 2.5"x3.5" and 8.5"x11"
Philando Castile
Philando Castile was 32 at the time he was fatally shot by Jeronimo Yanez, a Minnesota police officer who pulled him over for a traffic stop. Castile was driving with his partner, Diamond Reynolds, and her four-year-old daughter through a suburb in Minnesota when their vehicle was pulled over. After being asked for his license and registration, Castile disclosed he was in possession of a firearm (Castile was licensed to carry). To this, Yanez replied, ‘Don’t reach for it then....Don’t pull it out’, Castile replied, ‘I’m not pulling it out’ and after a few brief moments Yanez pulled his own gun and shot at Castile at close range seven times, hitting him 5 out of these times.
Castile died on July 6, 2016, at 9:37pm, only 20 minutes after being shot, at Hennepin County Medical Center. Castile was beloved by his community and to more than 400 kids at J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School he was their ‘lunch man’, or as the kids referred to him, 'Mr.Phil', the school’s cafeteria supervisor. His legacy for helping students who couldn’t afford lunches lives on via his mother's donations through the Philando Castile Relief Foundation.
Artist: Iryna Savinova
Available in 2.5"x3.5"
Rayshard Brooks
Rayshard Brooks was a 27-year-old father, husband, and friend. He was unarmed when he was fatally shot by Garrett Rolfe, a white police officer, at a Wendy’s drive-thru in Atlanta, Georgia on the night of June 12, 2020. In a press conference following Brooks’ death, his widow Tomika Miller said that “There’s no justice that can ever make me feel happy about what’s been done. I can never get my husband and best friend back.”
The killing of Rayshard Brooks took place three weeks after the murder of George Floyd, sparking new waves of protests against police brutality across the United States. Brooks’ family confronted the press in tears, with one of his cousins saying, “If you ask how this young black man was, look at your own children when they are smiling and happy, and you’ll have a glimpse of what we’ve lost.”
Artist: Rahma Wiryomartono
Available in 2.5"x3.5" and 8.5"x11"