Five police officers reportedly filed a lawsuit against the city of Palo Alto, located in the Silicone Valley area of California, for a Black Lives Matter mural. The police officers claim that the mural was aggressive and discriminatory for perpetuating anti-police practices.
The mural, which was painted across the street from Palo Alto’s city hall last June after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, was supposed to remain there for a year. It has since been removed back in November before the full year transpired.
The mural had a painting of Assata Shakur and a logo of the New Black Panthers, which was met with fury by the officers. Assata Shakur, who was a Black Panther Party activist, was arrested in 1973 for killing a State Trooper in New Jersey. She escaped from prison, fled to Cuba, and was never found.
The officers felt that the actions of Assata and the Black Panther Party, which was a movement co-founded by historical black revolutionary Huey P. Newton in 1966 was hateful. To walk by the mural was highly offensive to them.
“Law enforcement officers, including Plaintiffs, were forced to physically pass and confront the Mural and its offensive, discriminatory, and harassing iconography every time they entered the Palo Alto Police Department,” the lawsuit said.
The officers claimed that they complained to officials that the mural violated the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act. But the city “ratified the conduct and insisted that it remain and persist,” according to the lawsuit, The Washington Times reported.
City Attorney Molly Stump reportedly stated that the city has yet to be served with the lawsuit. She declined any further comments, according to The Associated Press.
The officers claim they've suffered discrimination because of their opposition to elements of a BLM mural that Palo Alto commissioned last year. https://t.co/9B7cd7gCyN pic.twitter.com/jNuYPsLY5s
— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) July 10, 2021
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