Just as the entire world was recently and still being ravaged by a global corona virus pandemic, which is gradually fading and people are trying to recover from, so also in recent times many countries all over the world are experiencing an upsurge in police officers use of force, brutality and oppression.
A recent news report in Kansas City, narrated the story of Deja Stallings, a black pregnant woman who was arrested while police officer used force by kneeling on her. For many this is the height of oppression and insensitivity as well as dehumanization.
It is bad enough that excessive force is being applied how much more to note that the victim in question is carrying a pregnancy of almost nine months. It’s indeed shameful and disheartening according to an eye witness report.
Activists are therefore decrying what they consider to be excessive and oppressive force used in the arrest of pregnant Black woman. This recent methods of the force employed by officers of the law according to many citizens leaves little or nothing to be desired whenever such topics and issues are being discussed
Majority of the human right activists in Missouri sees and speaks out vehemently against these activities of the officer responsible and termed it as unnerving, triggering, and bringing disrepute to their city and humanity in general.
Meanwhile, Kansas City Police allege that Deja Stallings, 25, tried to prevent authorities from arresting a local activist named Troy Robertson by grabbing an officer and trying to pull Robertson away from them.
Deja Stallings, 25, who was arrested on Sept 30 outside of a local gas station after a security guard called police, claiming a fight had broken out in the parking lot. The guard reportedly said there were “15-20 individuals fighting on the business’s property.”
CNN is reporting that a witness to the arrest said that the gathering was organized by “a local Black activist” who was releasing balloons to honour a victim of violence.
In the disturbing video, a white Kansas City Police officer is seen pushing his knee in Stallings’ back. The woman, who is visibly pregnant, is being pinned to the ground. Witnesses nearby are voicing their concerns as another officer yells at them to stand back.
According to the Atlanta Black Star, Stallings’ attorney,
Stacy Shaw , said her nine-months-pregnant client went to a hospital after the arrest and has needed medical care on and off since. Stallings has been issued a municipal summons for hindering an arrest.
“The most recent act of brutality of a pregnant woman, an unborn child, is yet another example of the culture of brutality, callousness and disregard for the citizens of our community,” Kevin Woolfolk of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference told NBC 12.
“This cannot and will not be dismissed, this double assault on humanity,” said Rev. Rodney Williams, president of the Kansas City NAACP chapter, told the outlet.
Kansas City protesters are calling for the police department to be defunded at a rate of 50% and want that money redirected to social services for its Black community.
Anger and distaste are gradually building as hatred for officers and cops are daily gaining negative momentum. Hopefully we pray this does not spiral out of control when special demands and accounts for justice are made of the various officers by victims and families of those who have been unfortunate to witness this unpleasant situations, in another mass protest just as in the case of Floyd’s.
Gift Joseph Okpakorese
Staff Writer
