Police Brutality is a Human Rights Violation

We see it every day: police brutality. Whether in our communities or on television, it is something that has went on for far too long. It is something that has been a growing problem across America. Each and every day innocent people have been harassed, assaulted, and even murdered by those who swore an oath to protect citizens of this country.

So, are police getting away with murder? Are they breaking the constitution? Have they waged war on innocent humans who are unarmed and committing no harm? And if so, who is protecting them if they are violating human rights? The Supreme Court. The Supreme Court’s job is to ensure the American people the promise of equal justice under the law and, thereby, also functions as the guardian and interpreter of the constitution. But throughout history and still today, thousands of murder cases go unsolved, and police brutality cases end with paid retirement versus the people whose rights were violated receiving any justice at all.

It is cruelty to humans who work and pay tax dollars to be harassed, assaulted, and unlawfully arrested by the people sworn to protect the U.S. constitution and the working citizens of America are not being protected by law enforcement officers. The people who suffer the most from their rights being violated are people of color, specifically those who identify as black, African descendants, Native American, or Latino.

So, who enforces the law when law enforcement officers break it, and the people who are in the juris system don’t protect the people? The answer is THE PEOPLE! On May 29, 2020, thousands of protestors across America stood up in solidarity to say enough is enough; the people have dealt with the final straw. Coming together to protest and practicing their first amendment, people used their voice, made shirts, signs, and even some tore down buildings in major cities in outrage to get a message across that police brutality will neither be accepted in this country, nor in our communities.

Speaker D.J. Rogers spoke out and made a powerful demonstration of 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence, which was the amount of time George Floyd cried out for help while being assaulted and murdered by police while no one came to his rescue. Not only was this incident captured on camera, but it was also police who have vowed to protect the constitution who watched an unarmed man be murdered in the streets. It was a modern day lynching as well as the story of Ahmaud Arbery, where white men hunted down an innocent unarmed man who was jogging through a neighborhood. This reality for Black America has become a nightmare. It has become traumatizing. Even our youth are crying out for answers.

So what do we do about it now? How do we move forward knowing we are at a point of no return? We are at a point where we must move forward for the betterment of the people if those who are a part of the juris system refuses to protect us. The best answer: learn self-defense and political education.

"Plummer v State 136 Ind 306 states “Citizens may resist unlawful arrest to the point of taking and arresting officer’s life if necessary.” Runyan v State, 57 Ind 80; Miller v State, 74 Ind 1 says “When a person being without fault, is in a place where he has a right to be, is violently assaulted, he may, without retreating, repel by force, and if, in the reasonable exercise of his right of self-defense, his assailant is killed, he is justified.”

"State v Robinson, 145 ME. 77, 72 ATL 260 states “An illegal arrest is an assault and battery. The person so attempted to be restrained of his liberty has the same right to use force in defending himself as he would any other assault and battery.

"State v Mobley, 240 N.C. 476, 83 S.E. 2d 100 states “Each person has the right to resist unlawful arrest. In such a case, the person attempting the arrest stands in the position of the wrongdoer and may be resisted by the use of force, as in self-defense.”"

Above, community activist and founder of the Project Black Movement stands at Cartersville, GA protest with a excerpt from Adams v State 121 Ga 1648 SE 90 case which states, “One may come to the aid of another being unlawfully arrested just as he may where one us being assaulted, molested, raped, or kidnapped. Thus, it is not an offense to liberate one from the unlawful custody of an officer even though he may have submitted to such custody without resistance.”

What exactly is an unlawful arrest? An unlawful arrest is when a law enforcement officer bases the arrest without just cause or use of excessive force. Below is a list of examples of an unlawful arrest:

• Arrest of the wrong person

• Arrest with probable cause that a person committed a crime

• Arrest without the mention of the Miranda Rights

• Arrest without just cause

• Arrest based on pure malice (an intention to do evil)

• Arrest based on race; in other words, racial profiling is illegal

• Arrest for personal gain

• Arrest with an arrest warrant that was obtained with false information given to the court by a police officer

• Arrest by incompetence, meaning someone who may lack the ability to fully understand or doing something successfully due to a handicap or mental illness, such as autism.

Same activist and founder of Project Black Movement who spoke out at several protests about political education and self-defense. Carrying a 9mm assault rifle, she advocates to the community that understanding the law and constitutional rights can help individuals understand how the system works and who to hold accountable when the system has failed. She also made a statement to make clear that she does not promote violence but self-defense, and practices the 2nd amendment, which is the right to bear arms and form militias for the security of the free state. She encouraged protesters that learning self-defense and carrying a weapon could lower the risk of human trafficking, domestic violence, and police brutality. Martial Arts teaches discipline and respect for others.

Moving forward, the Project Black Movement has dedicated activists and advocates who will be working toward the betterment of the oppressed people. Our goal is to make our community than what it is by working on its economic structure, creating education programs that teach true history and culture, provide resources to those in needs, and teach self-defense and political education to our community. We want to improve circumstances in our community by empowering the people with knowledge and the necessities needed to thrive. We push for all our members to become armed and practice their 2nd amendment as well as taking self-defense courses.

Above, the people gather in South Rome as Project Black founder discusses gentrification and how it affects the Black community. Gentrification is when buyers who are not residents of that community come in and buy up property, homes, and businesses, and raise the prices on the homes. Gentrification leaves people homeless, breaks families apart, and sometimes forces people to be put in life threatening situations. Black entrepreneurs and the Black community should push for ownership of home, property, and stores that meet the needs of local residents. The founder boldly addressed that the other ethnic groups spend anything between 8-12 times within their own community before spending with another group, and the money that is made off of struggling black people is never given back to their community. With black owned businesses set up in their communities, it would provide a chance for the same people the black community shops with to have investors in community programs as well as meeting actual needs of the residents.