“I just remember explaining to my boys and the other young people who were listening that no police officer has the right or the authority to be judge, jury and executioner,” McKinney said.”
Only days ago, McKinney’s 19-year-old son, Ayodele McKinney, felt “the power of marching on the street” to protest the May 25 killing of 46-year-old George Floyd at the hands of a Minnesota police offer, who now faces a string of charges and has been fired from the force.
Like every conscientious father of African-American sons, McKinney had “the talk” – If you’re ever stopped by police, do everything you are told to do, and be polite; answer “yes, sir” and “no, sir.”
He laments that elder son Ayodele can chart his life by police murders of Black people over the last seven or eight years.”
“My older son knows what was going on in his life by the names of people who have died in police custody,” said McKinney.
