Never Forgotten: Kyrie Irving Donates $50K To Tamir Rice Foundation On What Would’ve Been His 23rd Birthday
Wednesday, June 25, marked what would have been the 23rd birthday of Tamir Rice, who was 12 years old when he was shot to death by former Cleveland Police officer Timothy Loehmann in 2014, while the preteen was playing with a toy gun. NBA superstar Kyrie Irving commemorated the occasion by donating $50,000 to the Tamir Rice Foundation, a non-profit launched by Tamir’s mother, Samiria Rice.
As The Black Wall Street Times reported, earlier this month, Rice, who wrote that she created her foundation to “invest in the growth and enrichment of all children,” launched a fundraiser on GoFundMe asking supporters to donate $23 to honor her son for his 23rd birthday with a goal of raising $110,000.
“I miss my son so much each and every day. As our family approach Tamir’s 23rd birthday. I’m asking for 23 dollars for 23 years without him . I purchased a building in the city of Cleveland to give back to our inner city youth with art and cultural developments,” she wrote.
According to the Times, the news of Irving’s “quiet” donation was first brought to light by entrepreneur and web developer Kiandria Demone, who praised Samiria for “turning her pain into purpose and pouring back into the community.”
“OMG! When I saw the fundraiser this morning, it was at $1,500 with a goal of $6K. In less than an hour, we got it to $9K just by showing up. Then… Kyrie Irving saw the post. Now she’s raised 10x her goal! I’m so excited for her,” Demone wrote. “I can’t imagine the pain of losing a child, but I truly hope that with our support, she’ll be able to fulfill her dream of honoring Tamir’s legacy.”
Tamir was fatally shot in Cleveland on November 22, 2014. His killer, Loehmann, was never prosecuted for taking the child’s life. In 2017, he was fired from the department, not because he shot and killed Tamir within seconds of arriving on the scene with his partner, “but for providing false information on his job application,” according to Newsweek. Since then, he had been hired in 2018 by another police department in Ohio, but he withdrew his application amid protests from Samiria and other advocates for Tamir. In 2022, Loehmann was hired by another police department in rural Pennsylvania, but, again, he withdrew his application amid protests. Last year, he resigned from a small police department in West Virginia, where he was “hired to work as a probationary police officer and an at-will employee for the city of White Sulphur Springs,” according to NBC News.
“The system is broken because police reform is actually not working,” Samiria said at the time Loehmann was hired in Pennsylvania. “You would hire someone knowing he has murdered a 12-year-old child. How dare you. How dare you do it?”
Exactly!
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