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Dear friends,
Michelle Cusseaux was a 50-year-old Black woman who was killed by Phoenix police in her own home on this day, August 14th, in 2014. Police were called to her home on a mental health pick up order, but when she declined their help, an officer forced entry and killed her during a brief encounter. Following her death, her mother Fran Garrett’s decision to march Michelle's casket to Phoenix City Hall gained national attention and inspired our #SayHerName Campaign. Fran’s march broke the silence around her daughter’s death; and the #SayHerName Campaign was launched to break the national silence around the killing of Black women by the police.
Michelle is one of many Black women who lived with the intersectional marginalization of having a mental health diagnosis while being Black and female. Like Kayla Moore, Deborah Danner, and Pearlie Golden, Michelle was a Black woman with a mental health diagnosis killed by police in her own home. Like Tanisha Anderson and Shereese Francis, Michelle was killed in her moment of most dire need, when help was requested but killers arrived. Like Natasha McKenna and Tyisha Miller, Michelle’s distress became cause for policing to turn lethal. Our #SayHerName Campaign calls for the end of police response to mental health and domestic disturbance calls.
On Michelle Cusseaux's "Angel Day," the anniversary of her death, we at AAPF have produced a video titled, "'Never The Damsel in Distress:' Michelle Cusseaux and the Killing of Black Women in Crisis" (link). Watch it, share it, sit in its impact, and honor Michelle by saying her name, supporting the #SayHerName Campaign, and continuing the fight for justice...
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