FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

December 22, 2014

Contacts:

CJ Frogozo, 310 570 2622, CJ@FitzGibbonMedia.com

Madison Donzis, 210 488 6220, Madison@FitzGibbonMedia.com

“The ColorOfChange community sends our dearest and deepest condolences to the Hamilton family. We honor and applaud their incredible organizing work over the past 8 months to secure justice for Dontre’s tragic death. It is clear, that if the Hamilton family hadn’t raised their voices, local officials would have done everything in their power to sweep Dontre’s death under the rug; as we see time and time again when violent law enforcement kill Black and brown people. More than 1,500 ColorOfChange members joined Nate Hamilton in calling for the immediate arrest of Officer Manney and systemic reforms to end discrimination and violence by Milwaukee police.”

“Decisions like today’s non-indictment are why we stand up, why we raise our voices. And we are stronger because of the bravery of Dontre’s family who refused to give up in the face of such grave loss and tragedy. District Attorney Chisholm’s refusal to indict former police officer Christopher Manney is a painful injustice. And his claim that Officer Manney acted in self defense is unconscionable. Dontre, who suffered from mental illness, was racially profiled and killed while he lay sleeping in the park. Officer Manney filed 14 fatal shots. We join the Hamilton family in calling on the Department of Justice to immediately investigate and prosecute Officer Manney under federal criminal charges, as well as the corruption and systemic discrimination of the Milwaukee law enforcement and prosecutors office that lead to today’s denied justice.”

For more information on Nate Hamilton’s campaign on iamcolorofchange.org, ColorOfChange.org’s distributive organizing platform, please go to: http://iam.colorofchange.org/petitions/justice-for-dontre-hamilton/

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With over 1 million members, ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest online civil rights organization.