LOS ANGELES - The Rev. Al Sharpton has weighed in on the Knight High School scuffle in Palmdale, California, saying that the rough handling of three students by school security and their subsequent criminal charges is "a miscarriage of justice" akin to the racially charged controversy in Jena, La. "We have said all the time that Jena is happening all over the country," Sharpton said.
"You have a young ... lady with a broken arm here, with a video of the man assaulting her, and she's charged with battery. In some cases, that may be even more egregious than Jena." Sharpton was referring to 15-year-old Pleajhai Mervin of Palmdale, who was arrested along with her mother, Latrisha Majors. Majors and Mervin stood with Sharpton at Friday's press conference and met privately with him beforehand. "Our goal is to seek justice and to make sure this never happens to another child again," Majors said. "My daughter didn't deserve this."
On Sept. 18, Mervin dropped a cake in the Knight High lunch area and was detained - roughly, by her account - by security guard Chris Niemeyer. Another student, 14-year-old Joshua Lockett, was detained by security guards after videotaping part of Mervin's arrest. His sister, Kenngela Lockett, was then detained after trying to pull guards off her brother. Majors was arrested as well, and all four were arrested for investigation of battery. While the others were released the same day, Joshua Lockett remained in custody because of an earlier incident. He was released Friday, said Najee Ali, a Los Angeles-based activist who has been in close contact with Majors and the three students.
Talking to a reporter after the incident, Mervin said Niemeyer "grabbed me and put my hands behind my back and pushed up on my arms until it hurt" then "slammed me on the table." The reverend said the incident has clear racial overtones - Majors and the three students are black, Niemeyer is white - and that the students are "really charged with (being) black and going to school."
"It would be inconceivable in the state of California for black guards to break limbs and bones of young whites and then walk away with no punishment, and then the whites be charged with assaulting them," Sharpton said. "Therefore the reverse should not be tolerated. ... Nowhere in America should young blacks be treated any differently than young whites."Niemeyer is on paid administrative leave from the Antelope Valley Union High School District. School officials said the incident is being investigated to determine if excessive force was used against the students. Mervin and Kenngela Lockett have reported that they have broken wrists.
Sharpton indicated that a rally will be held in Palmdale on Nov. 19. "Just as we took a stand in Jena, we will take that here," he said. Along with the rally planned for Nov. 19, Ali, executive director of Project Islamic Hope, said there will be a protest Thursday at the Antelope Valley courthouse. Protestors will be demanding that the district attorney's office drop all charges against Majors and the three students, Ali said.
Sharpton said he is attending a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington this week. The hearing will focus on the situation in Jena, but Sharpton said he plans to discuss the Knight High case with committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich.