Biloxi, MS – On Sunday, November 1, over 300 people from across the Black Belt South gathered in Biloxi to demand justice for Nolan Wells and all Black people who have lost their lives to racist violence. The crowd gathered beside the Golden Nugget Casino before marching across the Beach Boulevard Bridge to Ocean Springs, where Nolan Wells was born and raised.
The crowd chanted a call and response: “Nolan Wells,” “Did not drown!” as well as “No water!” with the response, “In his lungs!”
Nolan Wells was an 18-year-old Black youth who went missing after going on a July 4 trip with a group of young white men. He was later found on the shoreline of Horn Island and investigators concluded that there were no signs of foul play and that Nolan Wells simply drowned. An independent autopsy showed no sign of water in his lungs, which has provoked outrage across the country.
Several impacted Black families spoke about the loss they have endured due to racist violence, police brutality, and police corruption. Family members of Tasia Fortune, Glenn Foster Jr., Kohen Wiley and others were in attendance. Nolan Wells’ mother, Christine Wells-Wonsley, spoke about the blunt force trauma to the back of her son’s head that the autopsy revealed.
“What I gathered was that the blow to the back of his head affected his brain to where he couldn’t have swam if he wanted to. It disabled the rest of his body when that blow hit him right there,” said Wells-Wonsley. She went on to demand District Attorney McIlrath investigate who caused this blunt force trauma to her son’s head.
The crowd chanted “Damn it Bart!” in reference to one of the boys suspected of foul play who was with Wells on July 4.
The program also talked about the death of one-year-old Kohen Wiley, who was shot by Mississippi police after they wrongly accused his mother of shoplifting. November 1 would have been Kohen Wiley’s second birthday. The crowd sang Happy Birthday to him to honor his memory.
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