Angela Williams’ life was forever altered on Christmas Eve 2017 when she learned that Troy, Alabama, cops had severely beaten her 17-year-old son, Ulysses Wilkerson.
Law enforcement officials said cops had approached the teen around midnight the day before because he was walking near a closed business. They claimed he fled and then reached for his waistband, prompting the officers to use physical force.
Williams was skeptical of their account, and she posted a picture of her son’s bloodied, bruised and swollen face on Facebook. Despite local and national outcry, a Pike County grand jury failed to indict four cops involved in the incident.
In December 2019, Williams and her son filed a federal civil lawsuit against five officers who were allegedly present. Two years later, she finally reviewed bodycam and dashcam footage of two officers involved in Wilkerson’s arrest. The footage was made available to her and her lawyer in September 2021 during mediation in the lawsuit, under the condition that it remained sealed. Williams eventually walked away from mediation, and a federal court denied her lawyer’s discovery motion for all of the video of all the officers involved. That footage has not yet been released to the public or Williams.
Wilkerson’s interaction with law enforcement didn’t end with the beating. Williams had to navigate a different kind of heartbreak in 2019 when police implicated him and another man in the fatal shooting of a 30-year-old named Michael Irwin Jr. The son insisted he wasn’t involved, but after facing capital murder charges and spending over four years in jail, he pleaded guilty to a lesser offense.
Wilkerson was released on probation this past April, after serving a total of five years in jail.
Today, as Williams continues to fight for the full video footage of her son's beating, she runs Mothers on a Mission, a group she founded to support moms like her. She also appears in “For Our Children,” a 2022 documentary that began airing on Netflix in May. Here, Williams traces her painful path from despair to activism.
It was two days before Christmas when my friend called me from the hospital where she worked and said, “I am not supposed to tell you this, but your baby is here, and he’s hurt.”
I was five minutes away, at a Christmas party. My sister and I jumped in the car. I didn’t know if Ulysses was shot or beaten, and I didn’t know who did it.
When I walked into the hospital room and saw my son, I fell to my knees. Ulysses’ face was so disfigured, it scared my two oldest grandbabies, who were 4 and 6 at the time.
My son couldn’t walk. My friend told me that police officers had carried him; his feet dragging down the hallway. We didn’t know at the time which officers beat Ulysses. We also didn’t know that one of his assailants was standing in a hallway outside the room.
I called his father and said, “You need to get your mind right and prepare yourself. You need to get here now.”
Ulysses’ father went berserk when he saw him. An officer said if he didn’t calm down, he would be arrested. He yelled, “You already beat my son, and now you’re going to arrest me?”
Within hours, paramedics transferred Ulysses to [University of Alabama Medical Center in] Birmingham. When it is very critical, that’s where they send you. The swelling around his face wasn’t going down. They needed to assess what was going on inside his head.
I followed Ulysses to Birmingham in a car with my oldest son. It was a two-hour drive. My family packed up all their Christmas food and followed us. Something in me pushed me to post the pictures of his face to Facebook. Soon, my oldest son said, “Momma, this is going viral!” I said, “What’s viral?”
I just wanted folks in Troy, Alabama, to see what happened to my son, but once the picture went viral, I wanted the whole world to know.
That day in December 2017 changed who I am. My heart shattered. It changed my emotions and how I grieve. I used to cry and cry in the shower on Sunday, the only day I don’t work. I didn’t want anybody to see me. I’d pull myself together and keep a brave face for the other mothers in my community and for my grandchildren and children.
The Angela that was hurt, that was damaged, and couldn’t talk without crying about the situation? That Angela was a mother who had never been through what Troy police put her through. But I realized I couldn’t stay in this weak part of me.
The Angela I am today, I can see how strong I have become. I am so proud of the fighter I have become. I can talk now.
My son Ulysses is forever changed, too. My son, who the neighborhood loved because he was so kind-hearted — people used to hand him $5 bills because he made such an impression on them. My son, who loved his grandmama, who always checked in on her, brought her groceries, and would sit and talk with her for hours. Now, he is closed off. He keeps to himself.
Ulysses doesn’t like to talk about what the police did to him. He did tell me an officer kicked him on the back and forced him to the ground. He said, “I could see the officer coming. I thought he was going to assist me. And, momma, he kicked me dead in the face.” He doesn’t remember anything after that.
I am working to find him a counselor; he agreed to go. I want to know so badly what he thinks, but, like me, he puts on a brave face and tries to stay strong.
“People don’t know what I go through at night,” he told me.
I haven’t pushed him on it. I really want to know his thoughts, but I want him to come to it. I want to know how it makes him feel.
It’s been five years, and I am still trying to get the full police bodycam and dash cam footage. I was only allowed to see a partial video of Ulysses’ beating. They only gave me bits and pieces, not the entire encounter from start to finish.
I want the whole tape because I want to know if my son called out for my name like George Floyd called out for his mother.
But police will [only] release footage when it makes them look good. If my son had been wrong in that video, it would have been on CNN. If it incriminates them, they won’t show it. There’s the police side of the story and my son’s side of the story, and I want the truth.
All of this public attention has been hard. I have flashbacks to that Christmas, while Ulysses laid in the hospital. White people flooded me with comments. They said he should have been killed. The comments and the hate wouldn’t stop. At one point, I was thinking about taking my own life. But I have 11 grandchildren, and I decided I need to be here for them.
I almost said no to doing “For Our Children.” But then [filmmaker] Débora Souza Silva came to me and said, “When CNN goes away, when all the breaking news goes away, I will be here.”
I did the documentary so that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren know what happened here in Troy.
When my son’s 5-year-old daughter watches the documentary, she says, “Can we turn it off? It makes my head hurt.” She doesn’t like to see her daddy hurt.
She and her daddy are building their relationship. He was in jail five years; his daughter was born while he was in jail. She knows he’s her dad from the video chats when he was in jail, but she’s still a little shy around him.
In April, for the first time, Ulysses got to celebrate his daughter’s birthday in person. She wanted to be a princess, so we got her shoes, a tiara and white gloves. Ulysses takes her to the park and to get ice cream. She loves being around him because he lets her have her way. I said, “Listen, she’s gonna have some discipline!”
With the felony, it has been hard for him to get a job. He wants to make money because he’s a father, and he wants to provide for his daughter. We are working on finding him a good job.
I started Mothers on a Mission because, when something like this happens to you, you’re on a mission to try to get people to listen to you. You’re on a mission to start up rallies, to get the body camera and dash cam video.
They did the worst thing they could do to me by hurting my son. But I have been called to tell my story and help mothers who have lost sons to the hands of the police.
People say things like, “She should have kept her son in the house.” I want mothers to be able to talk about our problems without someone judging us. I told one mother, “For single parents it is harder because you have to put food on the table. Even I feel like I failed. I was working, and I should’ve been at home. I have fought myself on that.”
If you’re having problems with a child, and you’re also dealing with your own emotions, it’s hard. People that haven’t been through it can’t feel exactly what you’re feeling. But me? I’ve been through this. I have people inbox me and call me asking for advice. Somebody told me I can’t help everybody, but it won’t stop me from trying. Mothers like us need a support system.
You have to be very brave when the police take your son. I feel sad for [other mothers] because my son lived. But I want them to know they can reach out to me. I didn’t want this journey, but God gave it to me. I like helping people. I like telling my story. I love what I do.
The Troy Police Department did not return multiple requests for comment. James Pike, the attorney representing the five officers sued by Williams and Wilkerson, did not return multiple requests for comment.
