“A festive graduation party in Los Angeles spun into a nightmare for students at the University of Southern California over the weekend when a noise complaint was ultimately met with the force of more than 75 police officers who arrested six students.
For the students at the university, the incident has become a case study in police overreaction to complaints against African-American residents as well as how race can be a determining factor in how laws are enforced and how people are treated.” (via BET)
A good friend of mine, Nate Howard, was among nine students that were handcuffed this past Friday, May 3rd. What was meant to be a graduation celebration hosted by Nate himself (formally REGISTERED with USC’s Department of Public Safety), resulted in yet another blatant widespread act of racial-profiling by the LAPD. Responding to a supposed “noise complaint”, 79 LAPD Officers showed up in riot gear, equipped with taser guns and batons, using overwhelmingly excessive force against STUDENTS to shut down the party. While the majority of the party-goers in attendance that night were Black and Latino, another party (of the same size and ‘volume-level’) being held across the street at the exact same time, which consisted of predominately-white students, was NOT confronted or shut-down by the LAPD.
The LAPD is claiming that the student party-attendants reacted violently and were supposedly throwing objects at the officers that were responding to the “complaint”. According to nearly ALL witnesses (including the party-attendees from across the street), absolutely NO such violent resistance had occurred.
When I first heard the news, I was not shocked or surprised at all. The LAPD has never really “changed” since Rodney King and ‘92 riots, they’ve just gotten better at disguising their blatant racist demeanor. To say that racism is no longer an existing “issue” is extremely ignorant and naïve. Not to mention, the fact that some of my close friends (including my best friend, Frances Wang) were personally victimized in such a discriminatory manner makes me sick to my stomach.
But the LAPD messed with the WRONG group of students. With the help of social media and local LA news exposure, we’ve got ourselves a case. I couldn’t be more proud of my friends for leading this movement for social CHANGE. Stay tuned.I am reblogging this on all four of my blogs! Spreading this like an eagle! Sorry if you see this on your dash multiple times! Tired of this shit!
(via goandgetyours)
