by Love and Rage Team

Activists with the Utica Abolitionists launched a fundraiser for the family of Jessie Lee Rose who was tragically killed by police in Utica, NY. The full text of the fundraiser is posted below. More will be written about his case over the summer in a new series of articles focusing on the police killings of Jessie Lee Rose and Walter Washington and as part of our ongoing coverage of the Black Lives Matter and Native Lives Matter social movements.

The GoFundMe fundraiser can be found here.

Jessie Lee Rose was a Native Mohawk and Tlingit 19 year old who was tragically killed by the Utica Police Department on July 14, 2013. In the weeks leading up to his murder, the UPD led a campaign of harassment against Jessie and his brother who was a witness to a police brutality case and was preparing to testify in a civil suit. The city government and police department did not stop harassing the family after this tragedy, forcing them to move to northern New York and even to Canada, just to feel some sense of safety. The family holds Mayor Palmieri and Police Chief Mark Williams responsible for this tragedy as well as the cover-up. They have never given up their fight for justice. And now they have a mass movement to back them up.

Jessie Lee Rose’s mom Kristine is going to travel to Minneapolis for the July 12 National Mother’s March & weekend against Police Violence. There she will join countless mothers across the nation who also lost their children at the hands of police violence. The organization Utica Abolitionists is helping out with this fundraiser and supports Jessie’s family in their fight for justice. All the money raised will go directly to Kristine to help out with travel costs, lodging and food. Please help out with anything you can give. Thank you in advance! The struggle for justice continues! Native Lives Matter!

Please visit the Justice for Jessie Lee Rose  and Utica Abolitionists  pages for more information.