On Nov. 10, 2013, 39-year-old Donte Jordan was shot in the back by police officers as he walked away from them. Police said Jordan fit the description of a man shooting a gun at a Shell gas station shortly before police arrived.
Although Jordan had dropped the gun he’d been holding before he was shot, the District Attorney’s office concluded the officers “acted lawfully in self-defense and the defense of others,” saying Jordan “was walking down a public street carrying the handgun he had used only moments before.”
Jordan’s mother Pamela Fields does not agree with the actions taken by police or the findings of the DA. While she cannot bring her son back, she says enjoying his memorial bench in Seaside Park every Sunday brings her some comfort.
While she is grateful for the help Audrena Redmond with Black Lives Matter Long Beach and the Long Beach Arts Council put into making the memorial bench a reality, she says she’s been hurt by a recent memo from Long Beach City Manager Tom Modica and Chief Police Wally Hebeish saying the bench is inappropriate and never should have been allowed. Fields said this attitude underscores the lack of respect and concern Long Beach police have for Black citizens.
On today’s episode of “The Word With Jackie Rae” podcast, Fields and Redmond discuss what went into making the bench a reality and why pushback from the city leaders has exacerbated distrust in the community.