KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the world reflected Monday on the teachings and struggles of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the day is a reminder of a fight that's urgent today for Cameron Lamb's family.
Lamb's family and several social justice organizations, led by Rev. Emmanuel Cleaver III, gathered at St. James Church.
Monday marked one month since former Missouri Governor Parson finished his term with one of his final acts of clemency to former Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department detective Eric DeValkenaere.
"Both Parson and Mike Kehoe have demonstrated a blatant disregard for a judicial system by commuting the sentence for Eric DeValkenaere, who was found guilty by a judge," Laurie Bey, Cameron Lamb's mother, said.
DeValkenaere was serving a six-year prison sentence in the deadly shooting of Lamb when Parson commuted the former detective's sentence.
"See the whole case," said Aquil Bey, Lamb's stepfather. "See how crooked and run down this place is."
Supporters of the family felt Dr. King's day was no better way to put out a call to action to those in power in the city and state.
"We don't just praise God for his [Dr. King's] life," said Dr. Vernon Howard, President of the Southern Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City. "We emulate his life, seek to walk in those paths and those footsteps, so we dare not be silent when these travesties happen to our people."
More2, a social justice organization, has been a strong advocate alongside the family since Lamb's shooting death in 2019.
The organization's leader said Monday night what's next depends on the newly elected governor, Mike Kehoe.
"We absolutely call on Kehoe to not pardon him, to fall short of that and leave things as horrible as they are...leave it be now," said Lora McDonald, executive director of More2.
Though they feel justice may be denied now, there's something Lamb's family knows will never fail.
Laurie Bey said a Bible verse often comes to her mind, Proverbs 17:13: "Who so rewarded evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house."
