On Friday, Tennessee passed a law that makes “illegal camping” on state property a felony, setting up the state to sentence anyone protesting around the capitol to up to six years in jail. And because felons in Tennessee lose their rights to vote, it also means that even peaceful protesters are risking being labeled as felons and being permanently cut off from participation in democracy. If that wasn’t enough, they dropped mandatory sentences for anyone involved in “rioting”—with the definition of rioting left to a declaration of local officials.
Not to be outdone, Texas has come down hard on the subject of police brutality … but not against the police. Instead, the Texas Department of Public Safety has spent hundreds of manhours investigating protesters. That has included the gun-point arrest of at least a dozen protesters for “violent crimes”—like spray-painting a door.
As the Texas Tribune reports, the grandmother of an 18-year-old suspected of throwing a water bottle was met at her home by a squad of police with their guns drawn. Despite the huge investment of time and resources, and the aggressive nature of the arrests, most of the 14 people jailed to date as part of an investigation lasting months are “suspected of only misdemeanor crimes.” That doesn’t include the thrown water bottle—that’s a felony.
But on top of spray-painting or refusing to leave a designated area, most of those arrested are also accused of “participating in a riot.” Some of them have been arrested, released, arrested, and released multiple times, with new warrants being issued for each individual act. All of those arrested are young. Half of those arrested are Black.
When questioned by the Tribune, the Department of Public Safety denied that officers had done anything wrong at the protests—meaning there are no investigations underway of police actions. Instead they brushed off claims of violent arrests and abusive treatment as “completely false.” Instead, the department has spent all its time tracking down these violent painters, bottle-tossers, and standers-in-the-wrong-place.
As the Tribune points out, protests in Austin were not just in response to the police murder of George Floyd, but the April murder of Black and Latino man Mike Ramos (WARNING: Linked video shows violence and police shooting Ramos). The incident came after a 911 caller reported that Ramos had a gun in the car. Four police arrived and ordered Ramos out of the car with rifles directed at him. While he was standing with hands up, clearly frightened and asking to know what was going on, one of the police shot him with an impact weapon. Ramos, clearly hurt, gets back in the car and attempts to drive away from the police, who are still pointed rifles at him. After multiple shots, Ramos was killed. There was no gun in his car.
Still, the Department of Public Service is devoting its resources to going after people who spray-painted anti-racist slogans onto buildings around the Texas capitol. The Travis County jail reported at least 20 positive tests for COVID-19 as of mid-July, with over 100 inmates in isolation … the perfect place to hold someone whose crime was graffiti.
As The Root reports, attorneys for the protesters have declared that the investigation is nothing short of a “witch hunt” conducted by people who would rather attack people seeking police accountability than investigate police abuses. The overly-aggressive arrest of people charged with minor offences only serves to underline the need for massive restructuring of public safety.
It does not appear that police are seeking to arrest any of those from the April protest led by InfoWar’s Alex Jones, where armed protesters demanded an end to regulations designed to protect the public against the pandemic.
