Hundreds gathered at Woodland Hills Jr. High School on Monday, June 25 to celebrate the life of Antwon Rose II, a 17-year-old from Pennsylvania who was shot and killed by the East Pittsburgh police just six days earlier.
Believing Rose was a passenger in a vehicle that had fled an earlier shooting, the police pulled over the car and handcuffed the driver. Rose, along with the other passenger, fled the car — but Rose was shot three times in the back before he could get away. A now-viral video on Facebook captured the scene. Although two firearms were found on the car floor, Rose was unarmed at the time he was shot.
Numerous protests have formed outside of the East Pittsburg Police Department, with individuals chanting “No justice, no peace!” and holding #BlackLivesMatter signs. Rose’s father, Antwon Rose Sr., encouraged the protestors to “keep fighting,” but to “do it peacefully.”
“I want justice to be served,” Patricia Bates, a protestor, said. “Why [are] you devaluing innocent people and black people in general? Why do you see no value in our lives?”
Protestors, family members, and friends alike came together to honor Rose’s memory at the high school. Rose is remembered as “beautiful, bright, charming, and generous.” In school, he was considered a gifted student and became involved in his school’s jazz band as a saxophone player. He enjoyed basketball, surfing, and skating, and was an active volunteer for the Freestore in Braddock, PA.
Obituary at funeral for #AntwonRose: the teen was a “beautiful, bright, charming and generous person” who excelled academically and loved basketball, surfing, skating @905wesa pic.twitter.com/fuPzNj6uKf
— An-Li Herring (@anliherring) June 25, 2018
At the funeral service, two of Rose’s friends recited, as CNN shared, one of his poems from English class sophomore year. The message is haunting, although a beautiful representation of the thoughtful, intelligent person Rose was.
Leon Ford Jr. is embraced by the mother of Antwon Rose, Michelle Kenney, after delivering the eulogy at Rose’s funeral service at Woodland Hills Jr. High School on June 25, 2018. #AntwonRose pic.twitter.com/rft4ySfO72
— Nate Smallwood (@nsmallwoodphoto) June 25, 2018
“I understand people say I’m just a statistic,” the poem reads. “I say to them I’m different.”
Michelle Kenney, Rose’s mother, told CNN, that it’s “not just poem.” Instead, shesaid Rose’s words describe “the life of many, many young African-American males.”
“I see mothers bury their sons / I never want my mom to feel that pain / I am confused and afraid,” Rose wrote.