“Hands up, don’t shoot” became the unifying cry of every Ferguson protester after 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot by police officer ?Darren Wilson.
It was allegedly what Brown cried as he was shot down: “My hands are up, don’t shoot.”
Whether marching down the streets of Ferguson, Mo., or around downtown Indianapolis, you’ve heard the phrase or seen it online, even read it on T-shirts. Even some St. Louis Rams players walked out onto the field with their hands up, a sign of solidarity with the protestors.
You could also read it on signs displayed on Indianapolis City-County Councilmen’s seats during the Aug. 18 council meeting, according to an Indianapolis Star report.
While some might have found the signs supportive or endearing, some chose to find offense in them and decided to raise a ?complaint.
Republican Councilman Jack Sandlin noticed the signs on five other council members’ seats and found them disrespectful toward police.
He claimed City of Indianapolis employees and residents found them ?offensive.
And so to protect their delicate sensibilities, he authored an ordinance to ban the signs from the council dais.
However, his views were not shared by his ?colleagues.
Sandlin’s fellow council members called the ban an “unwarranted attack” on the First Amendment and asked just what about the signs was offensive, according to the Star.
Monroe Gray Jr. was one of the five council members who displayed the sign.
In its defense he said he didn’t find it any more offensive than “some of the votes Sandlin had taken that evening,” according to the Star.
In the end, the ordinance was defeated in a 20-8 vote.
“Hands up, don’t shoot” is not an insult to police, though I can see where Sandlin would get that idea.
Ferguson has brought up many questions about the ethical procedures of police forces and concerns of police brutality and racism in the justice system.
People, especially those of color, have lost trust in those who are supposed to protect the public.
And as more bodies of unarmed black men hit the ground, the anxiety and distrust grows and has evolved into acts of violence.
“Hands up, don’t shoot” is not causing these issues — it’s drawing attention to them.
The fact that a black man or woman feels it is necessary to hold their hands up in the air and chant this line while crossing a street in order to keep their life casts a dark shadow on the state of our country.
Our people don’t feel safe, and that’s the meaning behind “hands up, don’t shoot.”
Instead of taking offense to this phrase, Sandlin should recognize it as an inspiration to make sure people in his state never feel the same way again.
lnbanks@indiana.edu
