Johnetta “Netta” Elzie and DeRay Mckesson are among the handful of activists who stayed in Ferguson, Mo., long after the Michael Brown protests died down. They organized conference calls and panels and put together a newsletter to keep the nation and media outlets aware of the ongoing efforts to fight police brutality in the working-class community.
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Elzie was arrested Monday in St. Louis during protests to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Brown’s death. Her arrest was partially captured in a video clip released on Vine and Twitter.
— deray (@deray) August 10, 2015
Eerily enough, Elzie had posted a message on Twitter earlier that day saying that if she was arrested and died, she was “not suicidal”—a direct reference to Sandra Bland’s arrest, a woman in Texas who died while in police custody in early July. Texas officials say that Bland committed suicide in her jail cell. Her family disputes that finding.
If I'm arrested today please know I'm not suicidal. I have plenty to live for. I did not resist, I'm just black.
— Johnetta Elzie (@Nettaaaaaaaa) August 10, 2015
People who attended Monday’s protests said that Mckesson was also arrested, as well as Cornel West.
https://twitter.com/LorenadlaCuesta/status/630808058197729280
A Huffington Post reporter explained that Elzie and Mckesson would be getting the legal equivalent of a slap on the wrist and would be released later Monday.
https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/630831248064311298
Since Elzie and Mckesson are two public figures in the #BlackLivesMatter movement, activists on Twitter posted encouraging messages.
https://twitter.com/kelseyjoy/status/630835688598994944https://twitter.com/cdisquick/status/630828874235027457https://twitter.com/Marmel/status/630817230393995266https://twitter.com/NatFromTheThing/status/630825358741245952https://twitter.com/Keethers/status/616984817935253504