Biography
Hashim Ali is a young Black activist from Ohio who was arrested on July 4, 2022, during protests in Akron following the police killing of Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old Black man shot 46 times by Akron officers on June 27, 2022. Ali was among approximately 50 demonstrators arrested over several nights of protest as the city imposed an overnight curfew in downtown Akron. Like all those arrested in the same wave, Ali was booked into the Summit County Jail and charged with Riot, Misconduct at an Emergency, and Failure to Disperse — misdemeanor charges that critics and a subsequent federal civil rights lawsuit characterized as sham charges used to justify unconstitutional mass arrests. After nearly a year of criminal litigation, all charges against the Jayland Walker protest arrestees were dismissed. The City of Akron later paid $747,000 to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by 24 of those arrested, who accused police of conducting unlawful mass arrests, deploying tear gas and pepper spray against peaceful demonstrators, and holding detainees in the Summit County Jail for periods exceeding 36 hours without access to medical care or phone calls. Ali's case reflects the broader pattern of political repression targeting activists who protested the Akron Police Department's killing of Jayland Walker.