14-year-old Jason Pero was shot by police on his family’s reservation in northern Wisconsin and now people are demanding justice. The protest was organized by Patricia Hammel, a member of the Wisconsin National Lawyer’s Guild.
“This is part of our history of white supremacy and colonialism in the united states, and this is a continuum of violence,” Hammel said. “Native Americans are more likely to be shot by police than any other racial or ethnic group. This is the 19th shooting this year, we need to stop this. We can no longer subject our people of color to police violence the way we have been, this is unacceptable.”
PPero’s case brings public law 280 into question, which allows law enforcement to have legal jurisdiction on native American reservations.
“From the bad river reservation public law 280 was in effect, so the state had civil jurisdiction over our reservation when it comes to certain laws, certain major crimes,” Patti Loew, former UW Professor of Native American Studies said.
A few members of Pero’s family spoke at the protest.
“He loved his family, you know,” Jason’s cousin Miranda Delgado said. “He loved his culture, that was a definite one. He was just a sweet, I mean, we called him baby J for a reason.”