BLM protesters march through Brentwood, Baldwin, Whitehall for Jonny Gammage’s birthday
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Monday marked what would have been Jonny Gammage’s 56th birthday and Camille Redman wanted to do something to commemorate it.
Redman, 25, from Pittsburgh’s West End, was born the year Gammage died at the hands of the police and has no memory of the event. But Redman organized a protest march that passed through the boroughs of Brentwood, Baldwin and Whitehall and down Route 51, not far from where it happened.
“I wasn’t born yet, so why am I out here?” asked Redman. “For me, it’s about more than just when it happened. For me, it’s about the fact that it’s still happening and it needs to be stopped. Jonny Gammage could have been George Floyd. George Floyd could have been Jonny Gammage. It could have been my brother. It could have been a cousin of mine. It could have been any family member of mine.”
Protesters walking down Route 51 where Jonny Gammage died at the hands of police in 1995. pic.twitter.com/SKbmzA5vcv
— Paul Guggenheimer (@PGuggenheimer) July 20, 2020
The details surrounding the death of Jonny Gammage 25 years ago are eerily familiar when placed in the context of recent events.
Around 2 a.m. on Oct. 12, 1995, Gammage was driving a Jaguar belonging to his cousin, Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Ray Seals, on Saw Mill Run Boulevard/Route 51.
Brentwood police Lt. Milton Mulholland began following Gammage and pulled him over just inside Pittsburgh city limits. A scuffle with five white police officers ensued. Gammage was held face down on the pavement. He couldn’t breathe. Feeling his life slipping away, he gasped to Whitehall police Sgt. Keith Henderson, “Keith, Keith, I’m 31. I’m only 31.”
An autopsy revealed that Gammage died of positional asphyxia.
Three officers — Mulholland, Brentwood police Officer John Vojtas and Baldwin police Officer Michael Albert — were charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Gammage. A jury acquitted Vojtas and charges against Mulholland and Albert eventually were dropped.
The May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, which an autopsy showed was caused by the same type of compression of the neck and back that killed Gammage (for Gammage it was his neck and chest), has reignited the tense issues of police use of force and racism.
Redman was living in the South Hills last year when she said she first learned about Jonny Gammage and how he died.
“Before I lived in the South Hills, I had never heard about Jonny Gammage. I was like, ‘Oh, the South Hills is so nice. I haven’t seen as much racism up here as I have in the West End or closer to the city.’ And someone looked at me at said ‘Haven’t you heard of Jonny Gammage?’ ”
Redman went online and read about what happened to Gammage and said she suddenly became emotionally attached to him.
“He got killed the same way George Floyd did. It’s not just happening now,” said Redman. “This has been going on for years. It’s repetitive behavior at the hands of officers who had sworn to protect and uphold the same law that they’re out here breaking. When is it going to stop?”
Redman led a group of between 40 and 50 people from in front of the Giant Eagle in Brentwood, down Brownsville Road to Clairton Boulevard/Route 51. They carried pictures of Gammage and signs, including one that read “When he cried for his mama, every mother must answer.”
The group also chanted “Jonny Gammage was only 31,” “Jonny couldn’t breathe” and “Get your knees off our necks.”
The protesters stopped for a few minutes on Route 51 to sing “Happy Birthday” to Gammage and pause for a moment of silence.
Dajsua Streater, 27, of Pittsburgh’s South Side, was among the marchers. She said one of the reasons she was there was because her father, David Streater, died at the hands of the police in the Hill District in March 1993.
“The reason I’m out here is because this needs to stop,” said Streater. “If the cops kill somebody, especially if they are unarmed and the person is not a threat, why do people keep dying? And this is happening all across America.”
Redman said this was the fourth protest she has planned and she’s not prepared to stop.
“I will find any reason to be out here to scream and yell about my rights as a person of color because I deserve them. I deserve them like everybody else here deserves them. If this is what we have to do, we’ll be out here every day.”