FAQs
How is the information coded to produce strings like C U S Po?
Under the names of each of the fallen on our calendar is a string of letters. We use these to encode the manner of death of each victim. The key for the codes appears on each of the picture pages of the calendar. The codes are our own invention and use the data located in news accounts, sometimes with our own interpretations. For example, “C” (Child) is used for anyone 19 or younger, because they are still teens. No disrespect intended, just making the point that some of the fallen had their whole adult lives still ahead. With regard to “U” (Unarmed) the Washington Post Fatal Force website lists people as armed pretty much no matter what they were carrying: air gun, box cutter, aluminum flagpole, broom stick, steak knife, tree branch – all real examples. We disagree with the Post and only coded people wielding knives as armed if the blade was longer than a policeman’s baton or the person had already injured someone or had a hostage at knife point. Police nationally continue to be trained to react to a person with a knife as equal in dangerousness to a person with a gun. Really? Even 100-pound pregnant mothers like Charleena Lyles, (6/18/2017) who had a steak knife in her robe pocket? Or Sonya Massey (7/6/2024) who was “armed” with a pot of hot water? Police in other countries are not trained to react to a knife as if it were a gun. Several cases in the calendar include people driving away from the police, but the Post may list them as armed with a vehicle. We didn’t.
The codes, just like the incidents, can be long, complex and confusing. Take Keith Murriel for example, killed on December 31. The code that follows his name is U•A•R/C•T•W/I •Po. He was Unarmed, Tased more than 50 times, cuffed (R/C = in restraints or custody) and left prone in the back of a police car, which led to his Asphyxiation. He was left unattended for nearly an hour (W/I = withheld or inadequate medical care) despite police policy requiring that anyone tased more than 3 times be taken immediately for medical care. A young woman named Noni who died in custody in July is coded U•C•MI•R/C•W/I•J. She was Unarmed, 19 years old (C), had a history of bipolar disorder (MI), in the Fulton County Jail annex (R/C = restraint or custody), was overdosed on her meds (which constitutes W/I, withheld or inadequate medical care) and neglected by Jailers.
Many cases have conflicting reports from police and witnesses as to whether the victim was armed, so you will often see a “U?” for potentially Unarmed. How many times have police officers been caught in lies after the murder of Black people in recent years once video tapes are released? Sometimes people are said to be armed or reaching for an officer’s weapon and video tells a different story. How many times have police planted weapons after the fact? I’ve seen videos of police doing this. A fellow cop finally testified against another, Eric DeValkenae, to convict him as the killer of Cameron Lamb (12/3/2019). DeValkenae had planted a gun and concocted a whole narrative about Lamb threatening him.
Moreover, many cases involve legally licensed firearms, some in open carry states. Tias Cobb (8/18) had a licensed and permitted handgun which he dropped when ordered to by a police officer investigating a “suspicious incident.” Unfortunately the weapon discharged when it hit the ground which spooked the cop who immediately shot Mr. Cobb. A victim not marked “U” for “unarmed” may have been entirely on the right side of the law in carrying a firearm, like Charion Locket (2/7), Saudi Arai Lee (6/24), Stephen Perkins (9/29) and others.
In contested cases, I read all the newspaper accounts I can find, favoring the Black, independent and left-wing press over others, and try to sort out what happened to the victim. If there is strong evidence that the victim of a police shooting had killed or seriously injured someone at the start of the incident, or took the first shot in a gun battle with police, they may not appear here, in the interest of not overcrowding the calendar. I recommend that you Google the names of the fallen and read up on these cases if you have questions.
Why label someone as mentally ill or high?
This is definitely not for the purpose of shaming or blaming the victim. It is very clear to me, after studying so many of these cases, that the police are frightened of mentally ill people, have terribly inadequate training for dealing with them, often escalate the situation and shoot ill people with little provocation. My heart breaks for the families who call for help in dealing with a mental health crisis only to see their loved one murdered before their eyes. The trauma they must live with, I can only imagine. There are cases on this calendar in which the police were called because a family member feared that a loved one was suicidal. Homicide is not a cure for suicidal ideation. We know that living with racism can cause mental illness and motivates numbing drug abuse. It is also clear from the data that stimulants and tasers are a lethal combination. Tasers appear to be increasingly used in “drive stun” mode, not shot at people but applied directly to their bodies, and often lethal.
Who puts this calendar together? Whose work is this?
Juli McGruder and John Leach are responsible for this work. Juli is a retired professor and John is a photographer and recently retired from the printing business. Both of us are older white adults who have been allies in civil rights struggles since our teens. Distraught by so many police and citizen shootings of Black people, Juli decided in 2014 to design the calendar as a Christmas gift for her multiracial family and was helped in the initial research by her granddaughter, Ce’Lene Sakellis. Then Juli asked John to layout and print the project. When the project was well received by the community, and successfully sold as a fundraiser, we decided to continue it annually, providing the calendar at a low cost to others to sell for fundraising purposes. And now Ce’Lene is our web guru.
Click here to watch an interview with one of the creators, Juli McGruder.
Do you make a profit?
We do not aim to make a profit. Juli donates 100s of hours of labor—researching and compiling data. John donates his time doing editing, typesetting, layout and design. Every year hundreds of calendars are given away or sold at cost to organizations that support Black life. If you are a member of such an organization, PLEASE contact us. We will work out an arrangement to benefit your group. This project is a labor of love not profit. We estimate costs to devise a scale of prices that allows us to print sufficient copies to sell some at modestly above cost, sell some at cost and to give others away. When income exceeds costs and we show a small profit, we donate it. In 2021-22 we sent over $300 to Stacy Abrams’ organization Fair Fight that works to protect voting rights in places where they are being eroded and an additional $100 to Ms. Abrams’s gubernatorial campaign. In 2023 we broke even. In 2024 we donated nearly $640 worth of calendars to an alumni event at Talladega College (calendar layout artist John Leach's alma mater), one of the oldest HBCUs in the nation, founded in 1867.
What else can I do?
Put Coalition Against Police Violence and Color of Change on your social media feed to get details of ongoing protests and occasional prosecutions of police. Organize! A group of citizens who had lost family members to police violence in our state formed the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability (wcforpa.org) and have been successful in passing legislation that increases police accountability. Get active! Do you have a local chapter of Black Lives Matter or of SURJ (Standing Up for Racial Justice)? I type because I can no longer march. If you are fit, get out there and demonstrate. Some data show the rate of police shootings diminishes after demonstrations. Write letters to your representatives. Campaign to cut prison populations and get rid of mandatory minimums and “three strikes you’re out” laws. Support funding for educational and rehabilitation programs in prisons. Work to get better training for police and to get crisis counselors on the street. Many communities are expanding crisis counselor services. Fight “stand your ground” legislation and “qualified immunity” regulations. The latter protect police against prosecution and shift the burden of proof to the victim. We need more prosecution of police executioners. We need more district attorneys who are not motivated by their re-election campaigns to save police from indictment. VOTE!
How can I get more copies of the calendar?
Contact us! Send order inquiries to johnleach@comcast.net, dadajuli@hotmail.com or both. Or write us at blacklivescalendar@gmail.com. You can order directly on our website.
We are very willing to negotiate a price that will help you spread the calendar or will allow you to sell it as a fundraiser.
Send questions about the process, information on persons to include who may not have appeared in databases or any errors you perceive to dadajuli@hotmail.com .