Photo Courtesy: YiouTube/Melina Abdullah
Today’s police officers “evolved” from “slave catchers,” according to a Black Lives Matter organizer who spoke at a California State University, Fullerton, event last week.
Melina Abdullah — also a professor and chair of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles — described Black Lives Matter as “police abolitionists” because of the history of American law enforcement, the Daily Titan reported.
“Police that we now have were the slave catchers,” Abdullah continued, the paper reported. “So that is where it comes from. You literally have a target on your back. That is what policing was founded on, and that is what it evolved out of. So the former slave catchers or paddy rollers, they were called slave patrols.”
When Abdullah asked the audience what slave patrols are called today, the Daily Titan said the response was “patrolmen.”
LA Weekly characterized Abdullah as a “key figure” in the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter and noted she called the city’s police department “the most murderous police force in the country.”
Law Officer
Latest posts by Law Officer (see all)
- Disbarred lawyer ripped off 9/11 victims fund, police officer of nearly $1M settlement - October 31, 2020
- New Orleans officer shot in face during ambush attack, second officer injured, suspect captured - October 31, 2020
- Texas state capitol sees spike in violent crime, officers leaving after budget slashed by $20 million - October 30, 2020
- New York State trooper dating governor’s daughter gets the spotlight - October 30, 2020
- Vandal turns himself in after latest destruction of Trump’s Walk of Fame star - October 30, 2020
