1999 Lot 12 SIGNED Original Photos AMADOU DIALLO MURDER BY NYC POLICE - Photographer AZIM THOMAS

[Protest Archive] 1999 Archive Lot of 12 SIGNED Original Photos of AMADOU DIALLO MURDER BY POLICE - Photographer AZIM THOMAS
Housed in contemporary portfolio, there are a total of 12 photo plates measuring 8" x 12". Each photo is hand-signed on verso by Azim Thomas.

ABOUT THE DIALLO MURDER:

It's been almost exactly 26 years after the murder (February 4, 1999). Back then, a young Black photographer named Azim Thomas captured the crowds, police, family members, Al Sharpton, protesters and bystanders at this historic protest.
As a NYC newspaper wrote in February 2024:
"Why? Why Amadou?" Kadiatou Diallo said.
The piercing cry of a mother whose son was shot down and killed by NYPD officers.
"I could not imagine what I was hearing. Some of the cop got time to reload I heard, I was told," she said. "They emptied their gun on my son's body."
Four white police officers fired 41 shots at Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant who came to New York to go to college and achieve the American dream.
Kadiatou arrived on Wheeler Avenue in the Bronx, where her son was shot.
"Whoa, it was sad, it was shocking," she said. "I have to say 25 years later, I am still standing, thank goodness." Shortly after midnight, on Feb. 4, 1999, Diallo, 23, was standing in the doorway of his own home when officers from the NYPD's Street Crime Unit rolled up in an unmarked car.
They said they were looking for an armed rape suspect when they approached Diallo; the officers said they thought he went for a gun, but Diallo was unarmed. He had a wallet and a beeper.
"My family back home protected me from knowing how many shots my son were fired at. Slowly, I learned how it happened," Kadiatou said.
He had arrived in New York a couple of years prior from West Africa, hoping to go to college, according to his mom.
At the time of Diallo's shooting death by police, Rudy Giuliani was the city's mayor. To fight crime, he supported aggressive policing.
Diallo's death sparked a movement. Large crowds would show up on his Bronx street and across the city to protest.
They also gathered outside police headquarters in Lower Manhattan to rally.
Hundreds were arrested, including elected officials and celebrities.
The four officers involved were indicted on murder in the second degree and other charges.
In a rare move, the courts agreed with the defense team to move the trial out of the city up to Albany.
The jury of seven white men, one white woman and four Black women found the officers not guilty, acquitting them of all charges.
ABOUT AZIM THOMAS: “Born and raised in the streets of Harlem, NY, Azim Thomas’s journey as a photographer is inextricably linked to the fabric of the city that shaped him. His lens has borne witness to some of the most pivotal moments in the ongoing struggle for racial justice, preserving the indelible images that have come to define an era – a sacred duty he has undertaken to ensure this history is never lost to future generations.
Thomas’s photographic odyssey began in the most unlikely of circumstances, a stint in the penitentiary that would ultimately set him on a path of profound self-discovery. Emerging from the depths of personal turmoil, he picked up a camera in 1996 and never looked back. What followed was a relentless pursuit to document the human experience in all its complexities, a mission that has yielded an unparalleled archive of historical significance.
From the defiant voices that echoed through the Million Youth March to the anguished cries for justice in the wake of Amadou Diallo’s tragic death, Thomas’s photographs have captured the very soul of movements that shook the foundations of society. His lens has preserved the fiery oratories of luminaries like Charles Barron, Rev. Herbert Daughtry, and Alton Maddox Jr., ensuring their words will forever resonate across generations.”