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Wendol Lee, president of the Memphis-based Operation Help Civil Rights Group, examines the scene of the Nov. 3, 2015 fatal shooting of 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis on the day that Derrick Stafford and Norris Greenhouse Jr. were arrested and charged with the child’s murder. Lee will visit the site again on Oct. 7 to urge “justice for Jeremy.” {Photo by Raymond L. Daye}

‘Justice for Jeremy’ event planned for 2 p.m. Friday

Operation Help Civil Rights Group encourages local residents to attend

 

    A Memphis-based civil rights activist will visit the scene of the shooting death of 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis at 2 p.m. on Friday (Oct. 7) to spread the messages that “all lives matter” and “Justice for Jeremy.”
    Wendol Lee, president of Operation Help Civil Rights Group, came to Marksville on Nov. 6, 2015, just a few days after Jeremy was killed and his father, Chris Few, critically wounded in a hail of bullets fired by city deputy marshals Derrick Stafford and Norris Greenhouse Jr. 
   The two officers were arrested a few hours after Lee examined the scene of the shooting on Martin Luther King Drive in front of the Marksville Historic Site. Orange circles on the pavement and in the grass marked the places where investigators retrieved casings from 18 bullets fired at Few’s stopped vehicle.
   “I am trying to let people see that all lives matter,” Lee said. “Police are not just shooting people of color, but you don’t see this. You don’t see this young child’s face everywhere like you do others’ because his skin is lighter.” 
   Lee said the media has focused on cases where blacks have been killed by white police officers, but “more white people are shot and killed by police than blacks are.”
   Although there will be several concerned citizens with him, he said he hopes “a large number of people who live in Marksville and Avoyelles will come out.”
   He said he wants to hear from people in this area and can be reached at 901-691-5705.
   “All humans are created by one God and are kin through Adam,” Lee said. “It saddens me that just because this baby’s skin is lighter, his death is not getting the attention it deserves.
   “I want justice for Jeremy,” Lee said. “I want justice for that baby.”