In the early hours of June 29, 2020, in a popular downtown neighborhood of Seattle, an African-American 16-year-old named Antonio Mays, Jr. was publicly lynched in one of the most well-documented terrorist murders in American history. Following his execution, his killers destroyed evidence to avoid arrest. Shell casings were retrieved and disposed of; the bullet-riddled Jeep he’d stolen was ransacked; and no one involved in the murder spoke to the police on behalf of a murdered child.

After the killing, the injustice of Antonio Mays, Jr.’s death was compounded by cowardly city leaders who cared more about shielding themselves from repercussions than fulfilling their oaths of office. Seattle itself engaged in a systematic, politically motivated cover-up in which public records were illegally destroyed and the city was issued crushing sanctions by a federal judge, who stated unequivocally that “the city’s conduct exceeds gross negligence” and officials acted “in complete disregard of their legal obligation to preserve relevant evidence.”