Tamir Rice Protest

Demonstrators gather to protest the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice at Tower City Center on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014. National columnists have called for and are debating what effect a boycott of Cleveland may have on instituting police reforms. (Lisa DeJong/The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- After city lawyers argued in court documents filed Friday that 12-year-old Tamir Rice was responsible for his own death, a columnist proposed a nuanced, targeted boycott of the entire city.

But not everyone's jumping on board.

Daily Kos columnist Shaun King tweeted to his 117,000 followers that choking off dollars from the city where two police officers shot the boy carrying an airsoft-type gun Nov. 22 could be the only way to force lasting police reform.

In addition to citing the city's response to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the boy's family, King pointed to the Dec. 4 Justice Department report that found Cleveland police officers engaged in a pattern or practice of using excessive force.

"Maybe we boycott all businesses in a city (Cleveland or otherwise) who refuse to stand against police brutality in a clear manner we create," King wrote in a series of tweets Monday.

King also organized a boycott in Ferguson, Missouri and St. Louis after the August shooting of Michael Brown.

But The New Republic columnist Jamil Smith, a native Clevelander, argued that outsiders who were unlikely to visit Cleveland in the first place boycotting an entire city will do nothing to speed police reforms, and will end up inflicting economic hardship on innocent people.

"No one wants change in the police culture more than black folks in Cleveland," Smith wrote. "How about we ask them what they'd like to do?"

King clarified to Northeast Ohio Media Group that he wasn't actually calling for a boycott. His messages were meant to be a public brainstorming of ways for outsiders to help Cleveland activists in their push for police reform.

The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department has taken over the investigation into the shooting, and will hand over the evidence to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office.