By now, everyone who pays even the tiniest attention to the #BlackLivesMatter movement knows who DeRay McKesson is. He is one of the movement’s most prominent activists; hell, he has even been on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Well, apparently the cops in Baton Rouge, Louisiana decided that Saturday night would be a great time to arrest him while he was protesting the shooting of yet another young black man by police. McKesson live streamed the whole thing on Periscope, and cops can be heard roughly five minutes in saying, “City police. You’re under arrest. Don’t fight me. Don’t fight me.” McKesson responds, “I’m under arrest, y’all.”
McKesson then gave his phone to other protesters so they can continue to record his arrest as he is carted off to jail. Of course, the idiot Louisiana cops want to explain it all away, saying they were “clearly blocking the roadway.”
Here is a Tweet of one of them trying to justify running into a crowd of peaceful protesters for no good reason:
Here's @LAStatePolice Maj. Cain answering Qs about why cops apparently rushing crowd unprovoked #altonSterling pic.twitter.com/9n4Ix89Zj8
— Maya Lau (@mayalau) July 10, 2016
Here is video of McKesson’s arrest:
And here is the image that is going viral everywhere:
#BlackLivesMatter leader @deray Mckesson was arrested by Baton Rouge police: https://t.co/w8upeyAvum #FreeDeray pic.twitter.com/wUJE2Lf3Km
— Out Magazine (@outmagazine) July 10, 2016
As well as this truly powerful one.
Police violently tackled @DeRay at #AltonSterling #blacklivesmatter protest (photo: @AP/Max Becherer) #BatonRouge pic.twitter.com/JeykKOe8gV
— Free DeRay (@xeni) July 10, 2016
It should be noted that according to activists, there was no sidewalk where the protesters were marching. That was supposedly the “crime” - walking in the street while black. Cops in this country are out of control. This - the arrest of a prominent activist who CLEARLY makes it his business to know the law and his rights inside and out - shows just what many members of law enforcement in America for what they are: racist pigs.
Featured image via Andre Chung for The Washington Post via Getty Images