Black Lives Matter Leaders Sue Sacramento Sheriff for Censoring Them on Facebook
It is unconstitutional for Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones to ban people from his public Facebook page based on their speech, identity or views. That is the basis of a lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of two leaders of the Sacramento chapter of Black Lives Matter by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California along with the law firm Rogers Joseph O’Donnell.
Tanya Faison and Sonia Lewis lead the BLM chapter in California’s state capital. Their chapter has demonstrated for racial justice in Sacramento, called for the district attorney to hold police officers accountable in use-of-force cases that have turned deadly, and been critical of Sheriff Scott Jones and his deputies.
In May 2018, deputies from Jones’ department shot and killed 32-year-old Mikel McIntyre, a black man suffering from mental and emotional disabilities who was described by his mother as being deeply depressed and suffering from anxiety. According to the Sacramento Bee, his family said he had been acting strangely.
On the shoulder of Highway 50 in Sacramento, McIntyre threw a rock at one deputy, striking him in the head. He then turned and ran away, and as he was running, he picked up another rock and threw it, hitting a police dog and another deputy in the leg. Then he kept running.
Although he was otherwise unarmed, McIntyre was shot in the back and killed. The shooting took place on a busy highway at the end of rush hour. Three deputies fired 28 shots at McIntyre. According to the report, one of the deputies—Gabriel Rodriguez—fired 18 shots alone, pausing to let a car pass by before firing at McIntyre again.
When DA Anne Marie Schubert declined to press charges against the deputies, there was—understandably—a great deal of criticism.
Jones—who is quoted by the Bee as having said he is not subject to oversight—responded to the criticism by refusing to allow any investigation of his deputies, according to the Bee. He took to his Facebook page to ratchet up support for his actions as well as criticize the highly vocal BLM chapter. When Faison and Lewis posted criticisms to his Facebook page, he deleted their comments and blocked them from his page.
“This attempt to silence us shows how little the sheriff values black lives and the movement to combat injustice and inequality,” Faison said in a statement released by the ACLU. She remains blocked and unable to CONTINUE READING: ACLU Files Lawsuit Against Sacramento Sheriff for Censoring BLM
