Mikayla Miller was a promising 16-year-old African American honors student-athlete at Hopkinton High School. She was a kind-hearted young lady who had dreams of attending an HBCU to study journalism. Her mother had just bought her a car. She had never been arrested or suspended from school.
She was reportedly jumped by older white teenage boys on April 17 and found dead on April 18th, her body tied to a tree with a belt wrapped around her neck. Hopkinton has a Black population of 0.1%.
Police have refused to investigate Mikayla’s suspicious death as a murder, telling her mother that her otherwise happy daughter decided to kill herself in circumstances that simply make no sense. Some evidence they refuse to test, and other evidence has already been destroyed or not logged. Police have also refused to interview the older white teenage boys that jumped Mikayla before her death. The Middlesex DA, Marian Ryan, likewise told the press that her office found no foul play and deemed the death a suicide. Mikayla’s mother had to learn of the DA’s determination by reading about it in the news.
An advocacy group has come together to support the family and to insist that law enforcement conduct a credible investigation. The group includes: Boston politician Tito Jackson; Lawyers For Civil Rights; Dunk the Vote; Freedom Fighters Coalition and the ACLU-MA. The NAACP New England Area Conference has joined the advocacy effort as well but has not yet received National Office approval for direct action.
Advocates are calling for a formal investigation by the Mass. Attorney General’s Office and have reached out to the Civil Rights Unit of the US Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts.
A vigil will take place on Thursday, May 6th at 4:30 PM in Hopkinton, at the start site for the Boston Marathon. If you are in the Hopkinton or Framingham area, you are urged to join the vigil. Although NAACP-NEAC is not a sponsor of the vigil since approval for a direct action has not been received, NAACP members may join the vigil as individuals.
For details of the vigil, see the flyer below:
