Sometimes it can seem like justice doesn’t exist for our people. Racist cops keep getting a pass for killing us. But these women decided to fight anyway, and because of them, we’re making progress.
#1: Madame Stephanie St. Clair – She may have been involved in “questionable” activity at one time, but that didn’t stop her from playing a major role in having dirty cops removed from the force in the 1920s.
#2: Casey Young – She organized thousands to send birthday cards to the attorney general on Breonna Taylor’s birthday. Now Louisville has outlawed the “no knock” warrants that led to Taylor’s death.
#3: Audley “Queen Mother” Moore – In 1945, when dirty cops murdered a 14-year old boy for supposedly peeping in a window, Moore publicly called for an end to police violence and helped support his mourning family. She refused to let the boy be demonized in the press as well!
#4: Fannie Lou Hamer – Though a survivor of police brutality herself, at least Hamer lived to tell the story. Racist cops beat her to near death, and her injuries from the beating eventually contributed to her death years later. She was dedicated to organizing people against racist cops and demanded justice and accountability for families.
As these women demonstrated, fighting police violence isn’t just a man’s game. All of us must always challenge any system that seeks to kill our people. If we follow their examples, justice will come!