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Tamir Rice’s Mom to Speak at Tribute for Kent State Victims
By: Associated Press
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KENT, Ohio (AP) – Tamir Rice’s mother has been chosen to give the keynote speech at this year’s commemoration of the 1970 shootings at Kent State University.
The group that planned Wednesday’s commemoration says Samaria Rice was invited to speak because this year’s annual observance also focuses on the Black Lives Matter movement, which Tamir’s death fueled.
The 12-year-old black boy was shot dead in Cleveland by a white police officer while playing with a pellet gun in November 2014. A grand jury declined to indict the officer who fired the fatal shot.
On May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen fired into a crowd of demonstrators protesting the Vietnam War, killing four students and wounding nine. The event triggered a nationwide student strike that led to hundreds of protests at other colleges and universities.