One year later, family and friends remember the life of James Scurlock
A moment of silence as friends and family reflect on the tragic death of James Scurlock. Image Credit: Adam Ortega
By: Elle Love
Family and friends of James Scurlock organized a vigil at the now-closed bar, The Hive to celebrate his life in remembrance. Scurlock, a 22-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by The Hive’s white owner Jake Gardner during one of the Omaha protests in response to the killing of George Floyd in late May.
“He was a great brother and a great father that we have lost at a time that is ridiculous in this world, nobody should have to lose anybody the way that we did and we all appreciate everybody who came to support us in the exact spot where my brother bled out in the streets,” said James’ sister Chandalea Jones.
“He was a great brother and a great father that we have lost at a time that is ridiculous in this world, nobody should have to lose anybody the way that we did and we all appreciate everybody who came to support us in the exact spot where my brother bled out in the streets”
Many attendants laid flowers and candles near the building as the group gathered around and chanted “JuJu World” and “J for James” while demanding systemic change and criticizing law enforcement and city officials including Mayor Jean Stothert and Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine for their lack of action surrounding the killing of Scurlock last year. Kleine declined to bring charges against James’s killer in 2020, though a grand jury was later called, which did result in charges. Gardner, who shot Scurlock later died by suicide and was never tried.
About a group of 35 people organized for a vigil outside of The Hive, the bar which James Scurlock was killed outside of on May 30th 2020. Image credit: Adam Ortega
Activist Heather Faubion described meeting Scurlock for the first and final time on the night of May 30. “He said ‘Thanks for being out here and standing up,’ and I told him that if I don’t stand up for my children, how are they going to learn to stand up for themselves when things aren’t right”?
“I hold James’ memory...of his smile, what I told him I was down here for… You knew he had a heart of gold from that moment on. That was the only interaction I had with him. I never met him at any other time but that one interaction I had with him meant the world to me and to my son,” Faubion said.
The vigil concluded with a call to action from James’ family and friends. “This has to stop and it has to stop now. You don’t think that it can happen to you but it can, it can happen to you,” said James’ sister RaJeanna Scurlock “Keep your families close.”