Elijah McClain mother reacts to split verdict

Source: Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images / Getty

Getting justice in AmeriKKKa often feels more like begging, groveling, and pleading with other human beings to give a damn about each other.

BOSSIP has been reporting on Elijah McClain’s death at the hands of the Aurora, Colorado police and EMTs since the story first came to light back in the 2020 summer of protest. Since then, the officer and EMTs involved have been tried and only a semblance of accountability has been rendered. One of those officers, Randy Roedema, has been convicted of the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide and assault. The second officer, Jason Rosenblatt, was found not guilty of any crime whatsoever.

According to 9News, the prosecutors are set to wrap up their case gains Nathan Woodyard, the first Aurora cop to contact Elijah, later this week. On Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023, jurors heard testimony from the nurse who drew Elijah’s blood after he was admitted to UCHealth. The nurse testified that  both ketamine and marijuana were found in his system at the time. Prosecutors say that the carotid choke hold that officers use were the main cause of Elijah’s death as it rendered him unconscious.

This whole process has been incredibly difficult for Elijah’s mother Sheneen McClain and according to CPR.org, she is not biting her tongue about her anger and displeasure.

“There was so much evidence, I thought it was a slam dunk. I thought there was no way they was going to rule in favor of my son’s murderers, but that’s exactly what they did,” she said, in a lengthy interview after the first verdict. “He’s a white man that murdered a Black person. They gave him the lesser charge, giving him the opportunity to have a second chance at life. All of them are guilty of putting their hands on my son.”

She also took pointed note that not a single juror in the trial was Black despite the diverse community that makes up the city of Aurora saying, “…one thing that is true is that this is America and it’s not united.”

At one point during the hearings, Ms. McClain said she went to the bathroom to cry and a member of one of the defendant’s family waited and asked if she could pray for her. Sufficed to say, Ms. McClain was NOT trying to hear it…

Via CPR:

“That’s their God,” she said. “With all the races that live on this earth, there is no way we all serve the same God. It’s not possible or else they would treat people that look like me, people that look like my son, better. But they ignore their own humanity for their ego and their pride and their patriotism.”

This woman and her family deserve justice but it doesn’t appear that AmeriKKKa will allow for that. Hopefully, an appeal can right the wrongs of the criminal justice system but we won’t hold our breath.