Last year, all around the country, people took to the streets in an unprecedented uprising for racial justice. After the police killing of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter movement reignited in all 50 states.
And we also saw brutal crackdowns by the police on protesters. In just the first few days of demonstrations, police around the U.S. arrested more than 10,000 protesters. Many arrests were for violating curfews and failing to disperse.
And this year, more people are beginning to take to the streets to protest the continued barrage of police killings. But as demonstrations continue in the U.S., some lawmakers around the country are looking at stricter legal penalties for protesting. Oklahoma and Iowa recently passed laws that grant immunity to people who strike protesters with their cars. And in Florida last week, Governor Rick De Santis signed legislation to create harsher penalties for existing public disorder laws.
The Takeaway spoke with Nora Benavidez, the director of U.S. Free Expression Programs at PEN America, and Elly Page, senior legal advisor at the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, working with the U.S. Protest Law Tracker.
