The Oklahoma House of Representatives recently passed a bill to charge protestors with misdemeanors for obstructing traffic. Typical. But, another part of the bill? Drivers who “unintentionally” KILL protestors would receive criminal immunity! Meaning: they can run us over and not be held accountable by law.
To be clear, this bill doesn’t just mean they think protestors are a “nuisance” blocking traffic. Running over protestors is a popular white supremacist tactic! It recently started happening a lot more this summer – there were several instances of Black Lives Matter protesters getting run over. Many were hospitalized, and some were even killed.
A bill like this is only going to further criminalize and brutalize Black people, who are trying to protest for their right to live in a country without brutality in the first place. But – that’s the point, isn’t it?
During the House debate, Rep. Kevin McDugle claimed the bill just means “please stay to the peaceful protests.” However, he also defended the white truck driver who ran over peaceful BLM protestors in Tulsa last summer.
We are right to be outraged about this bill. That's why we need to be there if it goes into action and gives the white supremacist criminal legal system more power. If they want Black protestors jailed or run over, we need to disrupt their whole system!