INDReporter

Police reform movement arrives in Acadiana

by Patrick Flanagan

From the frustration over the police killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and subsequent grand jury decisions clearing the involved officers, there’s a growing voice rising up throughout this country in protest of America’s police forces, and it’s starting to be heard here in Acadiana too.

From the frustration over the police killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and subsequent grand jury decisions clearing the involved officers, there’s a growing voice rising up throughout this country in protest of America’s police forces, and it’s starting to be heard here in Acadiana too.

Acadiana got its first taste of the fledgling police reform movement last weekend with a rally and march through Downtown Lafayette during the monthly ArtWalk. The event attracted a little more than 40 people bearing signs protesting the growing number of unarmed black men dying at the hands of American police officers. Some of the messages alluded to specific examples of black men killed at the hands of a cop, with messages like “I can’t breath” and “Hands up don’t shoot” — allusions to Eric Garner and Michael Brown, respectively. Several signs also bore the name of Victor White III, coupled with the message “Handcuff Homicide” ‑ a comment on his death in April while in the back of an Iberia Parish Sheriff’s cruiser with his hands behind his back and cuffed; he’s alleged by sheriff’s deputies (and even the local coroner) to have had super-human-like flexibility, which supposedly explains how he was able to fire off a round into his chest with his hands shackled behind his back. (Like Eric Garner and Michael Brown, White’s death is also being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice; read more on that here.) An assortment of other messages also were seen on the signs of Saturday’s protestors, messages ranging from “Police Reform Now” to “Everything Hitler Did In Germany Was Legal” and “If You’re Not Outraged You’re Not Paying Attention.” The rally was highlighted by what rally organizers called a “die in,” in which protestors laid out on the concrete in front of the AcA as if they’d too had been shot by police.

Following the Lafayette protest, a similar rally was staged Thursday evening just north of here, as over 60 people gathered outside the St. Landry Parish Courthouse in Downtown Opelousas. Like the Lafayette protestors, their message was the same: “Black Lives Matter,” “Hands Up Don’t Shoot,” and “Do Unto Others,” to list a few.

One of the main organizers behind Thursday’s rally, Tyrone Glover — a community activist who was recently elected to a first term on the Opelousas City Council — made it clear the rally was a nonviolent protest and that law enforcement officials were just as welcome as anyone else. According to a report from The Daily Advertiser, at least one former deputy with the St. Landry Sheriff’s Office was in attendance. There also were a number of no-shows from public officials, despite verbal RSVPs from the city’s new Police Chief-elect Donald Thompson, Mayor-elect Reggie Tatum and St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz. According to the Advocate, Guidroz at least had an excuse, “citing a scheduling conflict,” the paper reports.

Source: Facebook

Yet, despite the no-shows, after the event, Glover, wearing a hoodie with Eric Garner’s dying words — “I can’t Breathe” — emblazoned on his chest, told news outlets he felt good about what they’d accomplished. “We made it work, and that was the point: to show that we could come together.”

Another of the organizers, Shonda Brooks of the Family Strong Foundation — a nonprofit with a mission of community outreach and empowerment — took to Facebook following the rally, and while she too was happy with the event, she’s by no means satisfied and ready to end the fight for change.

From Brooks’ Facebook:

Source: Facebook
Source: Facebook

On Saturday, Lafayette protestors will again take to the streets with a rally and march slated for the city’s south side. Read more on the event here.