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Death of Alonzo Brooks · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back everybody. This time we're diving into a case
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  that's as mysterious as it is heartbreaking, the story of
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  Alonzo Brooks. Alonzo was a twenty three year old who vanished,
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  just completely disappeared after a party out in rural Kansas.
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  This is back in two thousand and four.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And what makes this case even more disturbing is
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  the fact that it took over sixteen years. Can you
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  believe that sixteen years for any real progress to be made?
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  I mean talk about agonizing, for his family and friends
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  to be left wondering.
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  Speaker 1: All that time, it's unimaginable. So to try and untangle
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  this whole thing, let's go back to the beginning. Alonza's
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  at this party, right yeah, and he's one of get this,
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  only three black guys there out of about one hundred people,
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  I mean right away.
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  Speaker 2: Isn't that just oh, absolutely red flags from the get go.
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  You've got this really uncomfortable feeling about the whole racial
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  dynamic of the situation. And to make it even worse,
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  there were reports people actually heard racial slurs directed at
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  Alonzo that night. So you can't help but wonder what
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  was the atmosphere really like? Was there something more sinister
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  going on than the surface.
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  Speaker 1: It's like a nightmare scenario. And as if things couldn't
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  get worse, Alonzo's friends end up leaving the party at
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  different times, totally unaware that he's stranded. There no phone,
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  no ride home in.
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  Speaker 2: The middle of nowhere, exactly a recipe for disaster. And
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  when Alonzo doesn't come home, his family they know instantly
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  that something's terribly wrong. They get in touch with the police,
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  which is you would think the obvious thing to do,
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  but this is where things go from bad to worse.
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  Speaker 1: The investigation just goes nowhere pretty much.
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  Speaker 2: Despite the family's desperate pleas for a thorough search, the
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  police investigation, it just stalls. Weeks go by, then a
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  whole month, and still there's nothing, no sign of Alonzo.
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  So the family they're not about to just sit around
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  and wait. They decide to take matters into their own hands.
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  Speaker 1: They organize their own search party. Right do they concentrate
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  on the area around the party?
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  Speaker 2: They did, and tragically, tragically, their search leads to a
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  discovery a month to the day after the party, Alonzo's
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  body is and get this, it's found in a creek,
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  a creek that had already been searched by the police.
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  Speaker 1: Hold on, wait, the creek had already been searched. That's
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  I mean, that's just unbelievable. How could they miss that?
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  I mean, what does that tell you about the initial investigation.
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  Speaker 2: It's deeply troubling, to say the least. And as if
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  this whole thing couldn't get any stranger, the official autopsy report,
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  it just deepens the mystery. No broken bones, no signs
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  of a struggle, no water in his lungs, which you'd
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  expect if he drowned, the cause of death officially it's undetermined.
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  Speaker 1: Undetermined. Isn't that almost worse than having an answer in
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  a way, because it leads you with all these questions,
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  all these doubts. Did Alonzo just wander off? Yeah? Was
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  he hurt? Did something completely unexpected happen?
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  Speaker 2: And those are the questions that haunted Alonzo's family and
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  anyone who followed this case, the thought that his disappearance,
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  his death would simply remain another unsolved mystery. But as
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  we know, this is far from the end of Alonzo's story.
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  This case, as cold as it seemed, was far from
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  us over. You know, it's hard to imagine what it
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  must have been like for Alonzo's family to be facing
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  that wall of silence, no answers, no closure. But here's
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  the thing about this case. Even with the official investigation
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  going nowhere, the fight for the truth, it didn't die down,
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  not even a little.
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  Speaker 1: You're talking about the public outcry, right, How Alonzo's case
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  really resonated with people. They wanted justice for him.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. His family never gave up, not for a second.
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  They kept his memory alive, they kept pushing for answers,
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  and over time, all that dedication, combined with well, let's
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  be honest, the growing national conversation about you know, about
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  racial injustice and police accountability, it all kind of came
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  together and forced the authorities to finally take another look.
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  Speaker 1: It became bigger than just Alonzo, didn't. It became about
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  something much larger.
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  Speaker 2: Oh for sure. And that's when we see this huge shift.
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  In twenty nineteen, the Department of Justice, along with the FBI,
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  they announced they're reopening the investigation, and not only that,
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  they're offering a one hundred thousand dollars reward, one hundred
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  thousand dollars for any information that needs to and arrest
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  a conviction. I mean that's not just lip service, you
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  know what I mean.
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  Speaker 1: No, that's a statement like they're finally putting their money
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  where their mouth is, showing their.
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  Speaker 2: Serious this time exactly. And then and then get this,
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  As if this story couldn't get any wilder. Netflix, they
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  release an episode of Unsolved Mysteries about a Lonzo's case. Boom.
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  Just like that, It's everywhere. Everyone's talking about it, sharing
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  theories online, and most importantly, new tips start coming in.
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  Speaker 1: It's amazing, isn't it the way media can breathe new
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  life into these coals cases. It's like shining a giant
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  spotlight on something that had been well kind of forgotten,
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  reminding everyone that there are still unanswered questions, families still
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  waiting for justice.
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  Speaker 2: And it's not just about you know, getting people talking.
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  The creators of Unsolved Mysteries they've actually said they believe
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  that their episode it directly led to new leads in
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  the case, which I mean, that's pretty incredible when you
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  think about it, the power of storytelling.
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  Speaker 1: So did they present like different scenarios like could it
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  have been an accidental drown or a hate crime or
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  something else? Completely? Did they lean toward any one theory
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  in particular.
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  Speaker 2: They definitely laid out all the different possibilities, but they
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  were careful not to pick a side or anything. It
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  was more about getting the viewers to think critically for
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  themselves come to their own conclusions based on the evidence
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  they presented.
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  Speaker 1: Which I guess could be both hopeful and frustrating for
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  Alonzo's family, Right, I mean, on the one hand, there's
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  this renewed interest, new leads, but then at the same time,
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  there's still no real answers, no one's been held accountable.
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  So what happens next? Where do the investigators go from there?
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  With this fresh perspective and all these new leads. So
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  we're at this point with what new leads, the public
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  is paying attention again, and you've got this team that's
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  like really determined to get to the bottom of what
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  happened to Alonso. What's their next move?
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  Speaker 2: Well, in twenty twenty, they do something that kind of
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  shakes everyone up who's been following the case. Remember how
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  the first autopsy was like, we don't know what happened.
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  They decide, you know what, let's exam Alonzo's body. They're
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  hoping that with all the advances and you know, forensic science,
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  maybe they miss something back then, it's.
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  Speaker 1: Like a do over, right, like hitting the reset button,
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  taking all the knowledge, all the technology we have now
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  and going back to.
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  Speaker 2: Square one exactly. And wouldn't you know it with this
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  new examination, this time it's done by the Armed Forces
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  Medical Examiner, they drop a bombshell. Alonzo Brooks's death officially
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  ruled a homicide.
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  Speaker 1: A homicide after sixteen years. I mean, can you imagine
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  getting that news. It must have been I don't know,
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  validating in a way for his family, but also it
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  opens up a whole new can of worms, doesn't.
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  Speaker 2: It for sure? And here's where it gets really interesting.
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  The new autopsy. It uncovers injuries on a Lonzo's body
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  and they're described as like inconsistent with normal decomposition. Basically,
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  what that means is these weren't injuries that just happened
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  after he died. Someone did this to him.
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  Speaker 1: That is chilling. So they know he was murdered, which
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  confirms what a lot of people suspect it all along.
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  But do they know how do they know who did it?
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  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, no, those crucial details they're still a mystery. The authorities,
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  they're keeping that information really close to the chest. Saying, wow,
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  it's an ongoing investigation. So it's a good reminder that
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  even though we've had this breakthrough, this huge development, the
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  fight for justice for Alonzo, it's far from over.
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  Speaker 1: Such a bittersweet victory, you know, on the one hand,
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  there's finally a ruling, some kind of closure after all
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  these years, But on the other hand, the question of
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  who took Alonzo's life and why it's still out there, And.
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  Speaker 2: It really highlights this bigger problem we see all the time,
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  especially with cases involving victims of color, the struggle for
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  justice it often means overcoming so many obstacles, systemic biases,
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  in difference, years of unanswered questions. Alonzo Brooks's case, it's
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  this stark reminder that we can never never let these
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  stories go ignored. We can't let them fade away.
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  Speaker 1: Because every life lost deserves justice, every family deserves answers.
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  And what's remarkable about this case, it wasn't just about Alonzo.
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  His case ignited a movement, It brought a community together,
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  It forced the authorities to take a hard look at
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  what they had dismissed, and it reminds us all of
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  the power of not giving up, of never letting go.
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  Speaker 2: Of hope absolutely, and as we learn more not just
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  about Alonza's case, but others like it, it's a reminder that
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  the pursuit of justice it's not a sprint, it's a marathon.
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  It takes constant vigilance, empathy, and a commitment to holding
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  those in power accountable.
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  Speaker 1: This deep dive Wow talk about a roller coaster of emotions,
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  frustration than hope, and always this underlying sadness that a
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  young life was cut short. If there's one thing we
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  can all take away from Alonzo's story, it's the power
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  of using our voices, demanding answers, and fighting for a
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  world where justice is a reality for everyone.