Group rallies in uptown to spur investigation into death of Shanquella Robinson

Rhonda Holmes made her intentions clear in the letter she crafted in support of Shanquella Robinson.

“I am writing you regarding the beautiful young American Shanquella Robinson who traveled to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico,” she wrote.

“Shanquella was BEATEN,” it reads. “...Mexico seriously dropped the ball on this one and needs to make it right.”

Holmes joined several dozen others in uptown Saturday afternoon to demand justice for Robinson, the 25-year-old Charlotte resident who died in Mexico last October.

The group of Robinson supporters met at Little Rock A.M.E Zion Church and walked two blocks to a post office on McDowell Street. On the way, they chanted, “Say her name! Shanquella Robinson!”

At the post office, they slid more than 100 letters, most tucked inside pink envelopes, into a mailbox.

The letters -- from family, friends, local folks who never met Robinson, and people as far away as West Virginia, Kentucky and Arizona -- will make their way to officials in Mexico and Washington, D.C.

They’re all different. Some were hand-written and short. One simply asked, “I would like to know why hasn’t anybody been arrested in the Shanquella Robinson case.”

Others, like Holmes’, were a full page, typed and single-spaced.

“This case has really gripped me,” said Holmes, who sent her letter to federal authorities in Mexico. “She was such a beautiful, young lady and to have her life taken in such a tragic way is devastating.”

Exactly what happened to Robinson is unclear.

Robinson, a graduate of West Charlotte High School, and six others went to Cabo for vacation on Oct. 28. She died a day later.

According to a GoFundMe page created by Robinson’s sister, Quilla Long, associates initially told Robinson’s family that she died of alcohol poisoning. But a death certificate showed Robinson suffered a broken neck and cracked spine.

A video of a fight between Robinson and a woman she went to Mexico with has gone viral. The pair are seen fighting in a room, and Robinson is hit several times before falling to the ground, according to footage since reported by multiple news outlets.

The Observer reported that Robinson was alive when help arrived. A police report said a local doctor was with Robinson for nearly three hours before she passed.

Last month, a Mexican prosecutor said officials there had issued an arrest warrant for an unnamed “direct aggressor” on charges of femicide, a crime classified as the murder of a woman because she’s a woman.

The FBI has opened a separate investigation and agency officials said they have watched the video of the fight.

But no news and no arrest have left some supporters disheartened.

“I haven’t heard nothing,” said Bernard Robinson, Shanquella’s father. “I’m sitting back and waiting ... We just have to sit and be patient and let God do his work.”

Mario Black, the founder of Million Youth March, an anti-gun violence group, organized Saturday’s rally. Black said he hoped the letters would spur Mexican and U.S. officials to move forward with the investigation.

Those who wanted to mail the letters themselves met at the uptown church. Others emailed Black letters, which he printed and tucked into envelopes.

“It’s our hope that the letters will make a difference,” Black said. “We want to let them (Mexican and U.S. officials) know that we care.”

Bernard Robinson walked to the post office behind a poster of his daughter. But did not need to send a letter, he said.

“God is my letter,” Bernard Robinson said. “God ain’t going to put on me more than I can bare. He’s fighting my battle.”