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7 YELLOW SPRINGS NEWS The GUIDE to YELLOW SPRINGS 2019 – 20 mvpottery.com 145 hyde rd, ys 767-7517 MIAMI VALLEY POTTERY Schedule of Services Sunday School 9:30 am Morning Worship 10:45 am Sunday Evening 6:00 pm 767- 8011 • www.pleasantgrovemc.org 491 W. Hyde Rd., Yellow Springs Pleasant Grove Missionary Church 4726 U.S. 68 North Yellow Springs (¾ mile north of Village) 767 - 1997 or 937-654-4506 Your Friendly, Helpful Garden Center Open spring, Christmas and by appointment We’re creating a NATIONWIDE NETWORK OF TRAILS from former rail lines and connecting corridors to build healthier places for healthier people. Midwest Regional Office in Yellow Springs • railstotrails.org PHOTO BY DENNIE EAGLESON Local resident Yolanda Simpson, front and center, led a small yet determined group on a four-mile march, in 92-degree heat, from the Beavercreek Police Department to the Beavercreek Walmart to memorialize Crawford in 2018. arrived, up from his home in Tennessee. Crawford moved down the line, hugging person after person, shaking hands, thank - ing them for being there. Then the crowd about-faced and began crossing the mall parking lot, turning to walk in front of the Walmart where the younger Crawford was killed. Some were singing. The lyrics reflected the mood: com - posed and resolute. “You gotta put one foot in front of the other. And lead with love.” “We shall not give up the fight, we have only started.” Heading the march were Moyenda and Crawford’s father, deep in conversation. Crawford’s mother, Tressa Sherrod, also took part, walking quietly in the middle of the group. Both parents have come back to Beavercreek at least three times at the anniversary of their son’s death for the annual local commemoration. Organizer Simpson said in an interview prior to the event that as long as she has the blessing from Crawford’s family to con- tinue the remembrance, she will. “I want them to know that his name is not forgotten. We will never forget his name,” she said. Moyenda referenced the delays in the family’s civil case. “The system wants to drag it out, so Crawford eventually, you go home,” he asserted. Such delays and the lack of indictments of the officers involved imply that Craw - ford’s life “doesn’t matter,” he added. “We fly in the face of that,” he said to and of the clapping crowd. Moyenda urged those gathered to attend the upcoming trial at the U.S. District Court’s Southern District of Ohio court- house in Dayton. Crawford spoke about the “flat, unadul - terated racism” that he believes was a factor in his son’s death and in the exonera- tion of those who caused it. “That’s our fight — the fight with racism,” he said. “We can’t get the same justice.” Race was blatantly a factor, according to Crawford. “Skin is a sin,” he said. Nothing can bring his son back, he acknowledged, but the legal system needs to “right the wrong and move on,” he said. “My son is gone — he’s in the ground,” Crawford said, with strong emotion. “We need some type of justice.” Closing the event, villager Cheryl Smith stepped forward and offered a blessing. “Justice delayed is only justice denied if we quit,” she said. “We’ll be here every August 5,” she affirmed. In a brief interview just after the event, Crawford discussed Walmart’s role in the family’s lawsuit. He noted that the family has sought an apology from the company for their son’s death, but has yet to receive one. And he expressed frustration that Walmart lawyers were blaming the 911 caller, Ronald Ritchie, for Crawford’s death. “They’re all culpable,” he said of Walmart, the Beavercreek Police and the city of Beavercreek. A previous citizen effort, led by Moy - enda and others, to bring charges against Ritchie for making false statements on the 911 call ended when the special prosecut- ing attorney said there was no reason to believe that Ritchie had made a false report. Court records from February and April 2019 accessed by the News online show that Walmart plans to argue that Ritchie was the “legal and proximate cause” of Crawford’s death. The plaintiffs have sought to limit this line of argumentation, but the court is allowing it, the records show. Moyenda, who has been a major local organizer of protests and actions related to the Crawford case, said that he was balancing two very different mindsets at the milestone of the fifth anniversary of Crawford’s shooting. “We’re here to honor his life and sup- port his family,” Moyenda said of the recent event. “At the same time, a horrible injus - tice has taken place.” He added, “It’s difficult trying to carry those two thoughts simultaneously.” But supporting Crawford’s family was paramount, especially in the lead-up to the trial. “We’re in their corner, we've got their back,” he said. “We want them to know that.”  ♦