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Pressure, Protests And Problems With Rights Violations?

By Rhodesia Muhammad | Last updated: Jul 26, 2016 - 1:04:00 PM

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(L) Arthur “Silky Slim” Reed, community activist and community organizer. Photos: J.A. Salaam (R) Alton Sterling was fatally shot after being slammed to the ground by two Baton Rouge police officers in early July while selling CDs in front of a convenience store. Photo: MGN Online

BATON ROUGE, La.—First and Second Amendment rights violations have been called into question by local organizing groups amid allegations of police misconduct in the shooting death of 37-year-old Alton Sterling killed by Baton Rouge police officers in early July.

After hundreds of protestors were arrested days after Mr. Sterling’s death, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against the Baton Rouge Police Dept. for violating some protestors’ right to gather peacefully. In a statement released July 15, the ACLU said, “The police were violently aggressive and showed little restraint and poor judgment in terms of who they arrested.”

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Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden
Community activist Arthur Reed and his 15-year-old daughter Aaliyah Reed were arrested while exercising their right to protest in front of the home of East Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden, an elected official critics say was purposely absent during uproar after the Sterling death. “It was about 20 of us out there when we were told by police we could hold signs, but we couldn’t say anything,” Mr. Reed stated. “We starting chanting ‘Kip Must Go!’ ” That’s when Mr. Reed said a military tank pulled up to the mayor’s house.  He said the mayor refused to address demonstrators, who were ordered by police to put their hands behind their backs. Over 30 police officers were present and they cuffed everyone and took adults to jail where they were kept for over 24 hours, said activists.  All charges were eventually dropped. The arrests happened before three officers were killed and three were wounded in what authorities called an ambush.

“My father always taught me to fear no one,” Aaliyah said of being arrested.  “I was very surprised that the police did all that just for us. I was handcuffed and put in the back of a police car.” She spoke of not having fear, but distrust of police after her ordeal. And she has not been deterred from protesting again because she argues her dad could have easily been Alton Sterling.  Among harsher charges against police are accusations of excessive force and physical and verbal abuse. 

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society of Baton Rouge—an affiliate of the National Bar Association, and the National Lawyers Guild of Southern University Law Center at Baton Rouge announced July 11 that they have joined forces to provide pro-bono legal services to peaceful protesters arrested while exercising their right to call for justice in the Sterling death.

Dorian Spence of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said, “The right to protest is sacred. The right to protest and your right to have your voice heard and call for justice is at the cornerstone of American democracy. If people have a fear of making their voice heard, or feel they can’t protest because they will be arrested and put in the legal system, or they don’t have the money for an attorney, that kills the exercise of free speech (First Amendment).”

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Young people disrupt business at the courts and City Hall in Baton Rouge.

The team of attorneys providing pro-bono services are largely Black and the pro-bono hotline for those falsely arrested is 1-866-459-1220.  Mr. Spence said the coalition will be offering services until people feel their voices have been heard and there’s no need to protest.

Abdullah Muflahi, owner of Triple S Food Mart where Mr. Sterling died in the parking lot, filmed a second video of the altercation with police. A lawsuit was filed against the Baton Rouge Police Department for infringing on his civil rights. The petition states Blane Salamoni, the officer cited as Mr. Sterling’s shooter entered Triple S without a warrant, confiscated the store’s entire security system and took Mr. Muflahi into custody. The document also states other officers took his cell phone and held him in the back of a police car for four hours, not allowing him to call his family or his lawyer.  Mr. Muflahi, brought to tears while speaking about Mr. Sterling at his funeral, said he wasn’t even allowed to properly relieve himself that night.  He wasn’t allowed to go back into his own establishment and was forced to relieve himself on the side of his building in public view, he said. The lawsuit also claims he was driven to the Louisiana State Police Headquarters and illegally detained for an additional two hours.  Mr. Muflahi’s attorney, Joel Porter, said officers had no consent to search his client’s business, seize his property, or detain him.

The Baton Rouge Police Department has a history of brutality, especially against Black people. Even officers have reported the racist and corrupt behavior of their colleagues. One official report came from a Michigan state trooper who relocated to Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina. He alleged Baton Rouge police officers offered to let him beat an incarcerated prisoner as thanks for his work.

“This is nothing but modern day slavery,” said protestor Sherry Clark. “All this talk about our rights being violated … well, what rights do we really have? The laws weren’t made for us,” she said. “They weren’t thinking of us when they said we have a right to bear arms, if they were, Philando Castile would be alive,” she said of the 32-year-old Black man killed by a Minnesota police officer during a traffic stop. The shooting victim had a legal right to carry a weapon and his fiancée said he told the officer he was reaching for his ID but did have a weapon.

Now that the Justice Dept. has stepped in, some concerned Baton Rouge residents expect a promised fair, just, and an impartial investigation.