About Us
Mothers for Justice United was founded by Maria
Hamilton of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after her son Dontre was murdered by Milwaukee Police Officer
Christopher Manney on April 30, 2014.
Dontre, who had been diagnosed with paranoid
schizophrenia two years before, had been resting in a downtown park on
that mild spring afternoon. Employees of a nearby Starbucks called the
police repeatedly with concerns about Dontre, who was not bothering
anyone. After a team of officers responded on two separate occasions and
found no issue with Dontre, Officer Manney apparently re-classified the
complaint and responded alone. Manney conducted an out-of-policy pat down (for
which he was subsequently fired from the police force), and went on to
beat Dontre severely with his baton. Dontre struggled for the baton which
was being used to subdue him. Officer Manney then shot Dontre fourteen
times, which resulted in Dontre's death.
Maria and her family tried to make sense of the tragic
circumstances which took Dontre from them at the age of 31, and waited and
worked to obtain justice for their son and brother. Maria came to know the
suffering which has been visited on all too many black mothers
whose children have been victims of police or vigilante violence. Unarmed
young black men in particular have been effectively executed for minor
crimes, such as jaywalking, suspected theft of cigars, selling loose
cigarettes, shoplifting, or, as in the cases of Trayvon Martin and Dontre
Hamilton, the noncriminal acts of making white people uncomfortable or fearful
in public.
Maria determined to reach out to other bereaved
mothers, in an effort to support each other and to advocate together for
justice, and for a humane response and recognition from their fellow
citizens. Thus began Mothers for Justice United.
Maria's dream is to unite with other mothers who have lost children to state and vigilante violence, to make their voices heard in the halls of government, to demand justice for their murdered children, and to put an end to the race-based policies of police and vigilante violence in minority communities.