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![]() Dallas Police Shooting (pt 1) | ![]() Dallas Police Shooting (pt 2) | ![]() Blue Lives Matter Bill (pt 1) |
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![]() Blue Lives Matter Bill (pt 2) | ![]() First African American Norfolk Mayor |
“I think that this law down here is a knee jerk reaction to the black lives matter movement,"
said Ernest Johnson, president of the Louisiana NAACPJ. "I don’t think that it’s constitutional."
Louisiana’s Blue Lives Matter Bill Makes Assaulting Police a Hate Crime
Louisiana has become to first state to equating attacking police officers to a hate crime. On August 1, more than 400 new laws went into effecting including Act 184 which is also commonly known as the Blue Lives Matter Bill. This bill creates additional penalties for targeting police officers firefighters and EMS personnel. In Louisiana, a person convicted of a hate crime can have an additional five years to their sentence and a $5,000 fine for additional felonies. Many other states, including Louisiana, already have additional laws for assaulting members of law enforcement.
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Stock photo of student protestors by Jerica Deck
When 21-year-old Lauren Hendricks planned on protesting against police brutality, the last thing she expected was to be right in the middle of a mass shooting.
The Hampton University journalism student was at a peaceful protest organized by the social justice group Next Generation Action Network in Dallas Tx. to protest the killing by police officers of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile when Micah Johnson allegedly killed five police officers and injured nine. Johnson was eventually killed by the police with a remote control robot bomb.
“It kind of showed the real evils of the world and just how hateful people can be. I think that’s just another reason to protest,” Hendricks told the AFRO. “I believe that you can still be against police brutality and still support the police.”
Exclusive: First Hand Account of Dallas Police Shooting
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