Black leaders in Tacoma react to Manuel Ellis charges with pain, apprehension, outrage
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The police death of Manuel Ellis
More than a year after Manuel Ellis died in police custody, the attorney general charged three officers in his death.
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There was no joy. There was no celebration and little relief.
On Thursday, shortly after Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office announced three Tacoma police officers would face serious charges for their role in the death of Manuel Ellis, several overarching feelings consumed leaders in the Black community who had learned of the AG’s decision like the rest of us only moments earlier, through breaking news alerts and social media posts.
There was pain, there was apprehension and there was outrage — for what happened, for how long it took to reach this point and what comes next, and for the fact that Ellis, a 33-year-old father, son and brother is dead.
“We will not celebrate that the Washington State Attorney General’s office decided to do the ‘right thing,’” the Tacoma Action Collective said in a prepared statement released Thursday afternoon. “We will not celebrate the fact that there might be consequences for police officers who murdered a Black person who was simply walking home. We will not celebrate taking 450 days to tell us if Manuel Ellis’ life mattered.”
While the charges — which included counts of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter — were a surprise to some, what was all too familiar was the feeling of how much work remains in the fight for accountability and reform, according to Lyle Quasim, the 77-year-old leader of the Tacoma-Pierce County Black Collective.
Given the evidence presented in charging documents — including civilian witnesses that corroborated the available video evidence while at the same time contradicting the initial police description that painted Ellis as the aggressor — Thursday’s charges were a step in the right direction, Quasim argued. But for a man who grew up in Chicago and is old enough to remember the murder of Emmett Till, small steps only go so far, he said.
“It is difficult for me to have a perspective about this atrocity that has any positive quality about it. We shouldn’t be here. Manny Ellis should be alive. And the fact that he was engaged by law enforcement and that resulted in his death — no matter what the prosecutors have to say and what the trial court ends up judging — is wrong,” Quasim said by phone early Thursday afternoon.
“If I take comfort, it’s in knowing that there will be a trial,” Quasim continued. “I don’t think this is a frivolous determination (by the AG’s office). They had supporting information that led them to make these charges, so let’s move the process forward.”
For Quasim — and others on Thursday — even looking toward the future was difficult to do without notable unease. Charges are one thing, but convictions are another, several who spoke to The News Tribune noted. It’s hard to have faith in the justice system, they said.
Will Hausa, who chairs the state’s commission on African American Affairs, said he believes the AG’s charges are justified, and he hopes guilty verdicts will be handed down by a jury.
There’s still “a long journey ahead,” Hausa cautioned.
“What we have seen in the past — throughout the country — is prosecutors and district attorneys going for substantial charges and walking away with nothing,” said Hausa, who is also one of two community members participating in negotiations between Tacoma and its police union on a new contract.
“So I would hope that’s not the case here,” Hausa added, describing a fear that ”this could still end up being one of those circumstances where the community has more value for human life than the laws that we use to govern us and keep us safe.”
“We know we’re in for the long haul,” Hausa said.
Bishop Lawrence White, the senior pastor at Church of the Living God on Hilltop, said his primary reaction to hearing Thursday’s news was “sorrow.”
White hurts for Ellis, his family and the Black community, and for the police officers who will now be held to account for their mistakes, and the people who care about them, he said.
“These are three families who have loved ones whose lives are now altered, not for the good,” White said of Tacoma Police officers Christopher Burbank, Matthew Collins and Timothy Rankine, all of whom are now tentatively scheduled to appear in Pierce County Superior Court on Friday.
Despite this, White described “accountability” as “the order of the day.”
“What I believe God showed me today is that not only here in Washington state, but across the United States, in order to have police reform, we have to have reform in our judicial system,” White said.
“I’m saddened by the fact that the families (of the three officers) are impacted by unjust choices and behavior, and the abuse of power. But at the same time ... I’m grateful that our judicial system now is starting to drive accountability,” White said. “And I’m grateful that the Ellis family will have some sense of closure, and that that the process is working.”
Ultimately, whether or not the process is truly working — at least as it pertains to the interactions of Black Tacoma residents and the police force sworn to serve and protect them — is yet to be determined, according to Tisha Wosencroft, the 33-year-old founder of the nonprofit Legally Black.
Police reform is just one issue that Legally Black has been strongly advocating for since its inception, and, as a Black woman, Wosencroft said it’s difficult to view the charges levied Thursday as anything other than another precarious and quickly reversible sign of progress in a country with a long history of ingrained oppression.
“It’s just a Thursday. Because today happens every day of every Black person’s life in America,” Wosencroft said when asked about her reaction to the charges.
“We’re waiting to be to be told that we matter. We’re waiting for somebody to give us an example, to show us that they hear us that they care about our well being, that they value our voices and our existence,” Wosencroft said.
“You’re just constantly waiting for validation, hoping that ... people see your integrity and your honesty and your goodness.”
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 3:35 PM.
