Justice for India Cummings

The Buffalo Anti Racism Coalition turned out a heartbroken but angry crowd on March 3 to demand justice after yet another suspicious death at Buffalo’s vicious and secretive Erie County Holding Center. India Cummings, a 27-year-old Black woman, died Feb. 21 in a hospital. Three days prior, the holding center had pushed her out of their jail when they saw that she was about to become another number in their terrible statistics.

Cummings became desperately ill and unstable after taking a toxic synthetic drug. When she reached out for help, she was arrested, restrained and denied medical treatment for 16 days. When Cummings was finally taken to the hospital with a broken arm, broken ribs, severe dehydration and a blood clot in her leg, it was clear also that she had not received nourishment for days. Despite this, the sheriff who runs this brutal jail said that he was satisfied with the “care” Cummings received.

Speaker after speaker at the rally angrily vowed to bring real justice to the sheriff, his underlings, the jail and its policies, and to the whole (in)justice system.