From PSLweb.org
A press conference and rally in support of the Palmdale 4 was held on Nov. 19 in front of the Michael D. Antelope Valley Courthouse.
Representatives from the Antelope Valley Parents’ Union, Project Islamic HOPE, the Nation of Islam, the Southern
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The Palmdale 4 are three high school students and a parent who were falsely arrested on Sept. 18 after 16-year-old Pleajhai Mervin was brutalized by a white high school security guard for dropping a piece of cake.
Mervin accidentally dropped a piece of cake on the floor, was ordered to pick it up by the guard, did so, but then was assaulted by the guard for not picking it up as he wanted her to. The guard broke Mervin’s wrist. She was later arrested and charged with misdemeanor counts of assault and battery on a school officer. The students who came to Mervin’s aid, Kenngela and Joshua Lockett were also brutalized and arrested. Joshua
Latrisha Majors, Mervin’s mother, too was arrested and charged with assault after she demanded and explanation of the incident from school officials.
The school guard who broke Mervin’s wrist, Chris Nieymer, was cleared of all charges and reinstated to work in the school district.
The Nov. 19 rally happened the day before Mervin and Kenngela Lockett went back to court.
Speakers at the press conference included Najee Ali, Project Islamic HOPE; Tony Muhammad, president of the Los Angeles NOI chapter; Sherman Mitchell, president of the Victorville SCLC chapter; Molly Bell, Compton resident and activist; and Ian Thompson and Carlos Alvarez of the ANSWER Coalition.
Thompson pointed out “the need for all to come together and stand up in defiance against any injustice, regardless of where it happens.”
Alvarez emphasized that the attack on the Palmdale 4 is the nature of this system: “This is a systematic oppression that happens all over, and it needs to stop. What about the incidents that don’t get caught on tape? That’s what we are fighting for. Take this further than Palmdale, further than Louisiana. We need to bring multinational unity.”
Ali delivered a message from Rev. Al Sharpton in support of the case, linking the Palmdale 4 case to the struggle to free the Jena 6.
Latrisha Majors also spoke in front of the cameras and shared a warm, mother’s hug with her daughter Pleajhai Mervin. The county dropped the charges against Majors on Nov. 18.
Chants of “No justice, no peace” were said throughout the rally. ANSWER Coalition signs reading “Support the Palmdale 4” and “Stop Racism” were at the forefront; the most noticeable one being held by Mervin.
Although the charges against Majors have been dropped, the county is pursuing the bogus charges against Mervin and the Locketts. Their next court date is Jan. 7.
Organizers vowed to continue to fight for all charges to be dropped.
