By Family of Jonny Gammage speaks out, prompted by Eric Garner case
Niece promises new push for law named after man who died in 1995 traffic stop on Route 51
UPDATED 8:41 PM EST Dec 18, 2014
Gammage family speaks out, prompted by Garner case (Part 1)
A grand jury in New York decided earlier this month not to indict a police officer who was seen on video putting Eric Garner in an apparent chokehold.
It's just one of the cases that have sparked recent protests across the nation and in Pittsburgh -- and now, a family says that New York case is similar to what once happened here in 1995.
Pittsburghers may remember the name Jonny Gammage Jr. He was a black man who died during a traffic stop involving five white officers.
After Gammage's parents felt the justice system failed them, they moved to Florida. They've mostly stayed quiet about their son's death. But this week, they wanted to speak up, and we traveled to Florida to meet them.
In their first TV interview in 14 years, they shared their pain, hopes and old feelings that have now resurfaced.
"Didn't think I would get emotional," said Gammage's mother, Narves Gammage.
It has been 19 years since Jonny Gammage Jr. tragically died. Today, you won't see tears pouring down his mother's face or into his father's hands. But you can hear the pain of loss.
"And that's a hurting, and that's a bad thing, bad feeling for the system to think you should accept losing a child like it didn't mean anything," Narves Gammage said.
Gammage Jr. died during a traffic stop with five white police officers along Route 51 between Brentwood and Overbrook. He died of asphyxiation on Oct. 12, 1995. Racial tensions flared. Protesters shouted, "We fired up, won't take it no more."
"It was a like a modern-day lynching," said Ray Seals, Gammage's cousin and a former player for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The day Gammage died, he was driving Seals' Jaguar.
"They didn't have no reason to stop him," Jonny Gammage Sr. said. "I'm going to say it just like I want it to be said. My son was stopped because he was black and he was driving a fine car. I mean, a fine car -- a Jaguar. You don't see too many blacks driving Jaguars."
Police said he was pulled over for driving erratically.
Seals, the son of a cop, says they grew up respecting authority. But from the start, Seals and some others were skeptical about the circumstances.
"They told me to come down and identify him, but when I got down there, they didn't let me identify him. They gave me a picture," Seals said. "I guess he was that messed up. His nose was on the side of his face."
It would be three police officers who faced trials for involuntary manslaughter. None resulted in convictions.
"Very similar to this case now. It's like a movie to me," Seals said.
Video of a recent case involving Eric Garner, who died from an apparent chokehold by a white officer in New York, now serves as a steady reminder for this family.
"Almost the same position, almost the same picture and everything -- the way the cop was laying on him, kneeling on him," Jonny Gammage Sr. said.
"It almost gives me an idea of what it might have been like for Jonny," Seals said.
While they never learned of video evidence in Jonny Gammage's death, the moment in the video of Garner saying, "I can't breathe, I can't breathe," to the officers reminded them about Gammage's last words.
Was it a cry for help?
"Where the guy says, 'I can't breathe,' Jonny was saying, 'Keith, I'm only 31, Keith, I'm only 31.' That's the same thing," Seals said.
When the grand jury's decision for Garner's case came down, Narves Gammage says she looked up.
"Do you know my TV went out?" she said. "I know it was the working of the almighty because my cable, everything went out for about four days," she said. "I wasn't even able to watch it because it was making me so sick, you know, just watching the little bit of it I did see."
The grand jury did not charge the officer for Garner's death, prompting more protests across the nation, including die-ins.
Gammage's case sparked protests in the 1990s too, yet nothing like today.
"Now they have the video and the Facebook where they can get it out to people," Narves Gammage said. "That's what I see different, because the same thing been happening 20, 30, 40 years, but now people know more about it."
Gammage Jr. was planning to join the Million Man March in Washington, D.C., but he died four days shy of the historic gathering.
In a strange turn of events, it would be civil rights leaders who later marched for him.
"Yes, I think he died in vain. Yes, yes, I do," Narves Gammage said.
But the parents say the case did increase awareness, especially among the black community. Now they hope sharing the devastating death of their son can help save someone else's.
"I don't have another son for them to take. I think about that sometimes. They took my only son, and I don't have another one to give them," Narves Gammage said.
The protests across the nation right now are not just for Garner, but also Michael Brown -- a black teenager killed by a white officer in Missouri -- as well as other unarmed black men who died during police encounters.
Narves Gammage says she plans to reach out to the parents of Brown and Garner. She also wants the Justice Department to take another look at her son's case.
The family hoped the U.S. Justice Department would file civil rights charges, but that did not happen.
And now, the family wonders: Could the initiative Gammage supporters pushed for back then have helped in the Garner case?
"This is our time again. We're going to push for it," said Gammage's niece, Alshenetha Williams.
Williams is talking about the Jonny Gammage Law Initiative, which would appoint federal prosecutors whenever a police officer is accused of civil rights violations. The hope is to help hold police officers accountable.
"Don't allow local DAs, our local judges, to decide if they're going to prosecute their friends," Williams said.
The name behind it honored her uncle. Despite protests calling for change, the Gammage Law Initiative never got anywhere in Washington.
"I don't think they cared at that time. They didn't think it was a big deal," Williams said.
Now, national attention on recent cases of unarmed black men like Garner who died during police encounters has renewed hope for the Jonny Gammage Law Initiative. Williams is in talks with an attorney.
"We're going to take the right steps to get it into law for my uncle, for Eric Garner, for a lot of young men," Williams said.
In Garner's case, the grand jury did not indict the officer who put him in an apparent chokehold. Seals said he can't help but watch that shocking video.
"It just woke me up," Seals said.
And it served as a call to action. He started to use the hashtag #JonnyGammageLaw to drum up support on social media.
"We need national legislation and intervention to save us from state grand juries that say it's all right to choke people on tape and you won't bring them to court," civil rights activist Al Sharpton said.
"Everyone saying what needs to be happening -- it's sitting right out there," Seals said.
If the Jonny Gammage law passed back then, his parents wonder about the impact today. Do they think there would be different outcomes in the cases today?
"I think so," Narves Gammage said.
"Yes," Jonny Gamamge Sr. said.
Gammage was a businessman, yet his family said his his greatest investment was helping the community. Today, they hope people will support the initiative to help provide justice -- and maybe some closure.
The initiative included mandates like placing these types of cases in the hands of the federal court, and it called for federal monitoring to make sure officers who testify against other officers would receive fair treatment on the job.
The family said that the Rev. Larry Ellis Sr., who helped champion the Jonny Gammage Law Initiative, has since died.
"I will work on it until the day I leave this earth," Williams said.
Read more:http://www.wtae.com/news/family-of-jonny-gammage-speaks-out-prompted-by-eric-garner-case/30301970#ixzz3MJl7DAa4
