Pay Us Like You Owe Us: Atlanta College Students May Receive $2 Million Settlement For Police Abuse During 2020 Protests
Source: Elijah Nouvelage / Getty
This time four years ago, America was on fire literally and figuratively. The world had watched George Floyd and countless other Black bodies be killed or physically abused by a group of men and women who swore to “serve and protect.” We were all sick of it and we stood up, made noise, and exercised our American right to say “F**k this system and the people who codify it.”
The irony of the protests of summer 2020 is that in exercising those rights, the system and the people who codified it took to the streets to prove our point. Police enacted egregious and overzealous violence against those who were denouncing them, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy of the very worst kind, and more innocent people were hurt or killed.
“I thought [we] were going to die.” College students Taniyah Pilgrim and Messiah Young speak out after graphic video shows Atlanta police using stun guns and dragging them from their car during protest. https://t.co/nYkiImeO9R pic.twitter.com/JxzqGth72O
— Good Morning America (@GMA) June 2, 2020
Two of those people were Messiah Young and Taniyah Pilgrim who were students at Morehouse College and Spelman College respectively. Young and Pilgrim became the subject of outrage when a viral video circulated the internet showing them being dragged from their vehicle and tased by unruly Atlanta police officers as they tried to make their way through a heavily congested area of downtown. Sadly but unsurprisingly, most of those officers were African-American…
Hear from Taniyah Pilgrim and Messiah Young:pic.twitter.com/9QlsvQg6Qr https://t.co/CeZRZP5Goq
— Off Colour (@OffColourOrg) June 4, 2020
What’s more galling is that although arrest warrants were issued for all the “men” involved, the criminal charges were eventually dropped. God forbid that “blue lives” be held to the same standard of behavior as the rest of society.
According to a new report by WSB-TV, the Atlanta City Council is set to vote on a settlement for Young and Pilgrim to award them $2 million each. The vote will take place on Monday, July 1. BOSSIP will have coverage of the outcome as soon as it becomes available.
We hope they get every red cent.
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