Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Gets Involved After Protestor Is Arrested During Demonstration

Roc Nation is calling for justice after the Charleston Police Department arrested a protestor for allegedly refusing to follow police orders.

Givionne Jordan, known as Gee, was the only one to be arrested out of 38 people during a peaceful protest on May 31. Now #JayZ and his social justice team are demanding answers from  Charleston officers, claiming Jordan’s arrest violates the constitutional rights of peaceful protesting. In the video, you can see Jordan yelling at police officers, pleading with them to understand the purpose of the #BlackLivesMatter movement and explaining that no one should be treated differently based on the color of their skin. While Jordan speaks, officers are standing about 20 feet away from the demonstrators. Despite Jordan’s calm approach, he was arrested anyway for reportedly disobeying a lawful order. He was later released on a $465 bond. TMZ reports that Charleston began enforcing city laws against unpermitted public gatherings of 50 or more individuals in an effort to deter rioting.

While the young man was released, Jay-Z and Roc Nation are looking into his arrest and plan to help fight Jordan’s charges. Attorney Jordan Siev sent a letter to the Charleston Police department calling Jordan’s arrests“unconstitutional,” and demanded the officers involved be punished and the charges dismissed. In response, Charleston PD wrote back, “The City is continuing to navigate through the unprecedented and violent attack by rioters on the City and its citizens on Saturday, May 30, 2020, and continues to hold the safety and security of citizens and visitors as a top priority.”

Director of Philanthropy, Dania Diaz, said “We are outraged by the Charleston police department’s reprehensible arrest of Givionne Jordan Jr. — not to mention their dismissive response to our concerns about their conduct. Giovionne’s arrest was unlawful, and the Charleston police clearly violated his Constitutional right to peacefully protest. We applaud Givionne and demand that his charges are immediately dismissed.”

On Friday, Charleston Police Chief #LutherReynolds responded to Jordan’s arrest saying, “Mr. Jordan is part of an important movement that truly needs to be heard at this time, and we hope to continue to meet with him and others soon to discuss how we can work together to address the longstanding inequities that persist in our community.” Reynolds went on to tell TMZ that “At the appropriate time, I will have the opportunity to make recommendations in these cases, and will be requesting that prosecutors exercise leniency, up to and including dismissal, as the circumstances warrant.”