https://www.truthdig.com/articles/on-this-earth-day-demand-freedom-for-siwatu-salama-ra/Her mother, Rhonda Anderson, added: “She’s using her car as a weapon. When I could not move, that’s when I was the most frightened. She was so close to hitting me that I can feel the car on my clothes.”
Siwatu continued: “That’s when I made the decision to reach for my firearm, that was unloaded, with no bullets. I was afraid. And I told her, ‘You have to leave now.'”
Siwatu was licensed to carry a concealed firearm. The assailant quickly snapped photos of her holding the gun, then fled to a police station, where she filed a report. Siwatu filed a police complaint as well, several hours later. Unbelievably, the police contend that whoever in a conflict files the police report first is considered, automatically, the victim. The second person is automatically considered the aggressor.
Following that bizarre logic, the police never followed up on Siwatu’s complaint. Rather, several weeks later, a SWAT team descended on her home and arrested her.
The jury trial went twice as long as the judge predicted. As the jury began deliberating, a massive snowstorm was heading to Detroit, adding pressure on jurors to render a verdict quickly. Critically, the jury was never told that the charges carried a mandatory minimum two-year sentence, meaning that the judge could not use any discretion. The jurors found Siwatu guilty of two of three charges. Her conviction is on appeal.
Siwatu is the co-director of the East Michigan Environmental Action Council, where she started as a youth leader in her teens. Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in a statement: “Siwatu has spent her life fighting environmental injustice and pushing back against the big polluters who are violating the law to poison her community. She does this difficult work against the backdrop of a legal system and society that disproportionately oppress people of color, particularly Black women, at every turn.”
Brune continued: “Her unjust incarceration during a high-risk pregnancy is just one example of the racism people of color in our country experience every day. Her story underscores the reality that our struggles are all deeply connected — from environmental justice to the fight against racialized oppression in the criminal justice system.”
