“I Don’t Understand How You Sleep At Night”: Mother of Tamir Rice Calls Out Shaun King

Samaria Rice clarifies that she did not give Shaun King permission to raise money for Tamir.

On Tuesday Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy killed by Ohio police in 2014, took to Instagram to let her followers know the truth about controversial social media activist Shaun King. King recently mentioned Rice on an episode of his podcast.

“Why do you think it’s so important to tell folks we had a conversation?” Rice wrote. “We talked and everything that was said was very toxic and uncomfortable for me to hear…you raised additional money and then say you did not want to bother me. Personally I don’t understand how you sleep at night. I never gave you permission to raise nothing. Along with the United States, you robbed me for the death of my son.”

King has long been a controversial figure in the activist community, with multiple outlets calling into question the whereabouts of the thousands of dollars he’s raised in online donations as early as 2015. In 2019, King’s former friend DeRay McKesson accused King of stealing money from a group called Justice Together. Rice referred to her conversation with King a “cop and donut conversation.”

“Please stop thinking [we’re] on the same page,” she continued. “As a white man acting Black, you are [an] imposter that can not be trusted. My son was 12 years old and [the Department of Justice] needs to reopen his case, period. [Tamir’s] human rights was violated, why would you ever make it about you? You are a selfish self-centered person and God will deal with you White man.”

Last month, Rice made it clear that she’d never even met King.

“Shaun King raised all that money and sent me a $60,000 check,” she told New York Magazine. “I ain’t know Shaun King from a hole in the wall.”