Advocacy

The streets are for Black people too. Transportation Equity for Deonte Williams, Cody Mayes, and Kevin Wilson.  Screen Shot 2017-08-28 at 6.20.18 AM

The Blk Grrrl Anti-Racist Book Fair along with VELOmynameis is working with bicycle equity advocate Teka-Lark Lo and Ville Platte Civil Rights Activist Arthur James Sampson Jr. for Justice for Ville Platte Pedestrians.

Pedestrians Deonte Williams, Cody Mayes, and Kevin Wilson were charged with the crime of WALKING WHILE BLACK. 

“A Ville Platte man and two teenagers are recovering after all three were hit by a truck. However, they are facing charges, and the driver isn’t. Police have fined the three for not wearing reflective clothing at night and charged them with obstructing a public passage…”  via Kendria LaFleu at KATC an ABC affiliate. 

We want:
1.Charges and fines against Deonte Williams, Cody Mayes, and Kevin Wilson to be dropped.
2. The Law/ordinance of walking without reflective clothing repealed.

We have begun a petition with Color of Change which we need for you to sign and share.

The city of Ville Platte has had complaints filed against it on behalf of the Civil Rights of its residents by the NAACP and ACLU. The Ville Platte Police Department and the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office were both found to engage in racist institutional practices by the Department of Justice in December of 2016, but none of this seems to matter to the city council.

Ville Platte continues to find new ways to harass Black people who practice their right to walk on public streets. This has to stop.

We’re going to shine a light on their racist policies and give this transportation inequality a more national forum.

Sign the petition share the story.

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