Black Lives Matters Petitions Governor Jerry Brown to Overturn Organizer Jasmine Richards’ Conviction

Black Lives Matter has launched a second petition in support of Black Lives Matters Pasadena founder Jasmine Richards, this one aimed at convincing California Governor Jerry Brown he should overturn Richards’ conviction and sentence this month in a Pasadena courtroom.

Richards was sentenced June 7 to 90 days in jail and three years of probation after having been convicted of “attempting to unlawfully remove a suspect from police custody” during an incident last August, 2015 in Northwest Pasadena.

Like a petition addressed to the Judge in the case (which gathered 89,000 signatures), this the petition is hosted online by The Color of Change, a nationwide organization which says it “exists to strengthen Black America’s political voice.”

“Our fight for Jasmine ‘Abdullah’ Richards’ freedom is now in the hands of Governor Jerry Brown, who has the executive power to right Judge Lu and District Attorney Lacey’s wrong-doing,” the group said. “Brown has a track record of using his pardon powers liberally. During his terms as Governor, he pardoned hundreds of people. With enough public pressure, we can make him do the same for Jasmine and send a strong message to prosecutors who think they can use their power to silence protest.”

The Color of Change gathered over 80,000 votes for BLM for its previous online petition that called on the Pasadena Superior Court to release Richards before the sentence was handed down.

Color of Change leaders said they were in Pasadena on June 7 when Richards was sentenced.

“We chanted ‘I believe that we will win’ and in a way we did,” the group said. “Jasmine could have received as much as four years in prison but, with time served, she will be home in about two and a half months. Still, without a pardon, Jasmine will be regulated to second-class citizenship as a convicted felon.”

Following the sentencing, BLM Co-Founder, Patrisse Khan-Cullors said sentencing decisions like Richards’ “show all too clearly that there are different, if unspoken, rules in our country’s justice system depending on one’s race, gender and class.”

“We will continue to fightback to abolish the oppressive, unwritten rules for sentencing in this country,” Khan-Cullors said.

The new online petition carries with it a draft letter addressed to Brown, which BLM supporters and anyone sympathizing with Richards can sign and send to the state governor.

The letter accuses L.A. District Attorney Jackie Lacey and the Pasadena Police Department of having “trivialized an anti-lynching law meant to protect Black communities,”

“Now, Judge Lu validated that persecution by allowing them to use her courtroom as a tool to silence Richards and intimidate other Black activists,” the letter said.

The petition is accessible online through www.act.colorofchange.org/sign/tell-gov-jerry-brown-pardon-jasmine-abdullah-richards-sentence.

Richards will return to court July 14 for pre-trial hearings in her two pending misdemeanor cases.