“I don’t know what he could have been," his mother Samaria said. "And Cleveland robbed me of that.”

Samaria created the Rice Butterfly Garden Memorial at Cudell Park to reclaim the place where he lost his life.

In 2014, Tamir was shot and killed by Cleveland police while holding a toy gun. He was 12 years old.

“Burying a child is not easy," Samaria said. "You can really lose your mind in a situation like this."

No police officers were criminally charged in Tamir’s case. The Rice family sued the city of Cleveland and received $6 million in a wrongful death settlement.

After Tamir’s death, the Department of Justice mandated a consent decree for Cleveland, citing a pattern of excessive force within the police department. Today, Cleveland police are still not in compliance with all the required policy changes laid out in the agreement.

It’s now been almost nine years of grief for Samaria.

“I didn’t ask for my son to be political," she said. "Cleveland made him political and now they don’t want to take responsibility."

Samaria said support from community members has never wavered. But she said the same can’t be said about the city as a whole.

“A lot of pushback," she said. "Lack of support coming from, you know, politicians, so-called leaders and organizations knowing that I’m building a youth center."

She said things changed after she bought a building in 2018 for the Tamir Rice Afro-Centric Cultural Center. The foundation offers free after-school arts and culture classes, tutoring, mentoring and other programs.

Samaria said she has struggled to earn enough grants and donations to finish the renovations to open the center. 

“I’m not getting any support out of Cleveland from anywhere," she said. "So, I just think the best thing is to maybe take it to Chicago, where the gazebo is."

The Tamir Rice Foundation obtained ownership of the gazebo where Tamir was killed from the city of Cleveland and Samaria decided to preserve it to make sure her son is never forgotten. It was disassembled, moved to Chicago, and reconstructed by Chicago artist Theaster Gates and his organization, the Rebuild Foundation.

Samaria is now working with a real estate agent to sell the building she bought five years ago and move the center to Chicago. 

“I did not want to let Cleveland down with taking the center, but if I’m not getting any help from these people directly in Cleveland, I have to go where I am getting the help," she said.

Tamir’s 21st birthday party will be near the gazebo in Chicago on June 25.

Samaria initially planned to host the event in Cleveland, but she said many venues either didn’t respond in a timely manner or wanted to charge too much.

“It’s not that I don’t mind paying for it, but you’re going to have to give me some kind of break," she said. "They’re charging me an arm and a leg, and my son’s name is Tamir Rice. Where do I get the support? And that’s the thing I have no support when it comes to keeping his legacy alive or anything that I want to do for these children in the city of Cleveland."

Samaria said she previously was a supporter of Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb in part because of his support for Issue 24 and police reform.

She was part of the group that advocated for the 2021 ballot initiative that created a strengthened Community Police Commission to increase civilian oversight and accountability for Cleveland police.

When Bibb was Mayor-Elect in Nov. 2021, he called on the DOJ to re-open its investigation of Tamir’s death, which was closed in 2020.

“That was just a gimmick," Samaria said. "He wasn’t going to do nothing like that. He used that to get in office. He wasn’t going to do nothing. He never even talked to me about it. You understand me. He mentioned my son’s name before we even spoke on the phone, before I even met him."

Spectrum News reached out to Mayor Justin Bibb's Office, and they said that he stands by Rice and he intends to keep Tamir’s memory alive through police reform coming about through Issue 24. We’re told he continues to publicly call on the DOJ to re-open the case. The mayor's office said a recent meeting between Bibb and Rice has been rescheduled and he looks forward to reconnecting soon.

Samaria met the family of Jayland Walker at President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Walker was not armed when he was shot more than 40 times by Akron police officers last summer. She said her advice to them, and to families who've been through similar trauma, is to not let any organizations, activist groups, or lawyers take charge in how to best fight back in honor of your loved one.

“It’s like ripping the Band-Aid off every time," she said. "I don’t get a chance to heal. I won’t ever get a chance to heal so long as (the) police kill people in this country and don’t get indicted for it."

Despite her pain, Samaria said she is focused on moving forward and giving back to children in memory of her son.

“That makes me feel better," she said. "It brings joy to my heart. It’s a way of me healing."