Issued by: Yvette Craig 414-229-6778 yvette@uwm.edu Date: Sept. 22, 2004

The Legacy of Amadou Diallo:
An Evening With Kadiatou Diallo Lecture Scheduled Oct. 12

MILWAUKEE— Kadiatou Diallo, the mother of a young African man slain by New York City police officers in early 1999, will visit the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to humanize the tragedy of her son’s death and talk about his life and love for his adopted country—America.

Diallo also will discuss racial profiling, police brutality and her frustration with the American justice system, which exonerated the officers who fired 41 bullets at her unarmed son, Amadou Diallo.

The free event will be held at 8 p.m. Oct. 12 in the UWM Union Ballroom, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd. Diallo wants her son’s death to bring people of all races together and bring relief to those victimized solely for the color of their skin.

In February of 1999, in the entrance of his New York City apartment building, 23-year-old Amadou Diallo was killed in a shower of bullets. The four officers who discharged their guns that night thought they had found a rapist they were pursuing. The officers said they thought the victim was reaching for a gun, but Amadou Diallo was unarmed and carrying only a wallet and a pager.

Diallo said she remembers sitting in the Albany, N.Y. courtroom trying to contain her dismay when the four officers were acquitted in the shooting death of her son. When reporters asked if she thought the shooting could have been a terrible mistake, Diallo said: “As a mother, I believe that life is precious. It is so precious that I find it difficult to understand that word mistake.”

The story of Amadou Diallo touched Bruce Springsteen, who wrote and recorded “41 Shots” in a tribute to his legacy.

Diallo says her primary goal is simply to tell people who her son was—an educated man from a well-off African family who took a job as a street vendor in order to pay for his schooling.

She is also the founder of the Amadou Diallo Foundation, dedicated to the promotion of racial healing through educational programs and the enhancement of police-community relations. It promotes educational exchange programs for students and scholars between Africa and the United States. More than anything, the foundation’s mission is to have Amadou Diallo's short life and legacy endure, his mother said.

Diallo’s lecture is sponsored by UWM Union Sociocultural Programming, Cultures and Communities Program Office, and the Department of Africology, as well as Education For The People, and the UW System Institute on Race and Ethnicity.

For more information, contact Union Sociocultural Programming (414) 229-6997.

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