As protests continue in the City of Homewood for the release of information related to an officer-involved shooting, which authorities say will come out following an investigation, Black Lives Matter Birmingham remains silent on the death of three-year-old Ke'Torrius "KJ" Starkes, Jr. days after his death.
Five protesters were arrested on Wednesday for blocking traffic in Homewood as a result of daily protests. WVTM13 reports that "the organization plans to continue disrupting businesses until their demands are met, including the release of unedited video footage and naming the officer involved in Jabari Peoples' death."
Their last Facebook post was about that event, but the account has been silent since, with not one mention of Starkes of Bessemer, who was found dead in Birmingham after allegedly being left unattended in a hot car by a contractor for the Alabama Department of Human Resources for nearly five hours.
The family's attorney, Courtney French, told AL(dot)com that the contractor picked up KJ from daycare at 9 a.m. for a supervised visit with his biological father. After the visit ended around 11:30 a.m., the worker stopped to pick up food for her family and shopped at a tobacco store. The worker then returned to her home and left KJ in the parked car for more than five hours, French claims.
Black Lives Matter is calling for a boycott of businesses in the City of Homewood until their demands are met, while Starkes' family continues to call for answers from the state into his death.
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