This episode we are excited to be joined by Tifanei Ressl-Moyer, the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Fellow at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. She breaks down the police violence we’ve been seeing in the streets of Sacramento, as well as the deeply unjust legal system in the region.
In light of Mayor Darrell Steinberg instating an unconstitutional curfew on the city of Sacramento, we have seen an uptick in police harassing and arresting demonstrators, then hitting them with trumped up felony charges in order to tag them with unrealistic bail price tags that will keep them in jail as long as possible.
Even when demonstrators have money to bail others out, the Sacramento County Jail has worked overtime to make the process impossible — deleting the option to pay bail on their website and refusing payment methods when people show up in person. Tifanei shares all about the region’s racist and immoral criminal justice system, and what people can do to fight back.
Sacramento law enforcement has been terrorizing Black and brown communities ever since the police forces were around. But with Mayor Steinberg’s unconstitutional curfew in place, we are witnessing their brutality in new spaces. A Sheriff’s deputy shot a peacefully demonstrating Black teen through the mouth with a rubber bullet. Another peaceful protester shot multiple times by police — including two rubber bullets and a gas canister to the head — now needs extensive surgery (you can support them here).
“I honestly believe that Sac law enforcement were trying to kill me, because they went for my head,” they said from the hospital.
We’ve even seen police violence against National Lawyers Guild legal observers and journalists — third-party entities out there for the purpose of documenting the events.
Nevertheless, demonstrators continue to come out in remembrance of George Floyd and in support of Black lives, while the police appear more fatigued by the day.
Thanks for listening and, as always:
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