Comedian Amanda Seales has sparked backlash after she came to the defense of activist Shaun King, by attacking Samaria Rice — a grieving mother.
“It’s no secret that i have sideyed SK. However, bigger picture, nobody finds it somewhat odd that she’s just, out the blue, going out of her way, and being given EVERY platform, with no receipts shown, to “call out,” one by one, black activists/organizers that have been the visible faces of the movement? Just food for thought…” she wrote in the comments section of The Shade Room.
And while we usually appreciate Seales’ blunt delivery, this was perhaps one topic she could have left alone.
Samaria is still fighting for justice for her son. Any mother would go on any platform available if it meant securing justice for their child and putting the killer behind bars.
Samaria is the mother of Tamir Rice, a young boy who was killed in Cleveland, Ohio, by officer Timothy Loehmann on November 22, 2014. Rice was playing with a fake gun at a recreation center. Loehmann had been on the scene for just two seconds before he opened fire.
This week, Samaria called King out in a social media post, accusing the activist of using her name to grab attention. She also stated that King was a white man pretending to be Black.
“Personally I don’t understand how you sleep at night,” she writes. “I never gave you permission to raise nothing, adding that her “cop and donut conversation” with King involved “all lies” from him.
King responded with his own lengthy article, stating that he would not publicly mention Samaria and Tamir. He denied allegations that he’d misused funds raised in Tamir’s name. The post is now only available to paying subscribers.
King claims that people have “lied to Samaria about me and the fundraising I have done for her family.”
