Hands up, don't shoot

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Hands up, don't shoot
MeaningOne has their hands in the air, a common sign of submission, and is therefore not a threat
Context Shooting of Michael Brown
"Hands up!" sign at a protest in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014 Protesters with signs in Ferguson.jpg
"Hands up!" sign at a protest in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014
Group of people in Shaw, St. Louis with their hands raised in October 2014 Shaw Day 2 Photo 4.jpg
Group of people in Shaw, St. Louis with their hands raised in October 2014

"Hands up, don't shoot", sometimes shortened to "hands up", is a slogan and gesture that originated after the August 9, 2014, police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and then adopted at protests against police brutality elsewhere in the United States. The slogan implies one has their hands in the air, a common sign of submission, and is therefore not a threat to an approaching police officer. Witness reports from the Brown shooting are conflicted as to what Brown was doing with his hands when he was shot. One witness claimed Brown had his hands in the air before being killed, which was the basis for the slogan. [1] [2]

Contents

Investigation

On March 4, 2015, the Department of Justice, headed by President Obama appointment Eric Holder, released their report of the investigation into the events. President Obama said of the investigation that he had "complete confidence and [stands] fully behind the Justice Department...” This report found that physical and forensic evidence contradicted witnesses who claimed that Brown had his hands up when Wilson shot him. It also stated that witnesses whose testimony aligned with the physical and forensic evidence never "perceived Brown to be attempting to surrender at any point when Wilson fired upon him." The report concluded there was no justification for a federal prosecution of Officer Wilson. [3] [4]

Origin and backstory

The first recorded incident of "Hands up" being chanted at a protest was during student protests in London in 2009. Trapped by riot police on Westminster bridge, some protesters raised their hands to demonstrate that they were not instigating the police violence and shouted "Hands up" to encourage others to do the same. [5]

On Saturday, August 9, 2014, Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson were walking together in Ferguson, Missouri after Brown robbed a convenience store. They were stopped by Officer Darren Wilson. There is still no clear report of exactly what transpired between this point of the incident and when Brown was shot because of major inconsistencies in the witnesses' stories. Wilson claimed that Brown reached into his police SUV for the officer's gun, but prosecutors were neither able to confirm nor disprove this. [6] After the altercation near the vehicle, the official incident report says that Brown ran away from the vehicle. Then, Brown turned back around and started moving back toward the officer. Officer Wilson claimed he feared for the safety of his life, and that is when he shot and killed Michael Brown. [7]

One recurring feature in Dorian Johnson's eyewitness account of the incident was that Michael Brown put his hands in the air during the encounter with Officer Wilson. This claim was never investigated or vetted by anyone in the mainstream media, and was repeatedly broadcast as fact, causing more tension over this narrative. A typical recollection by Dorian Johnson was phrased as "[Michael Brown] turned around, and he put his hands in the air, and he started to get down." [8] Three days after the killing of Michael Brown, Johnson told MSNBC that Brown said, "I don’t have a gun, stop shooting!" [9] On March 4, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a report on the shooting, [10] which said, "There is no witness who has stated that Brown had his hands up in surrender whose statement is otherwise consistent with the physical evidence" and "our investigation did not reveal any eyewitness who stated that Brown said 'don't shoot'." [11] [12]

In addition to Johnson, several witnesses to the shooting of Michael Brown described him as having his hands up during the encounter. However, no one else recalled Brown asking Wilson not to shoot his firearm. [13] [14]

Impromptu protests erupted immediately after the shooting. Tension between the community and the police escalated quickly. [15] Shortly after the shooting, Brown's stepfather held a placard that read "Ferguson police just executed my unarmed son!!!" By 8:30 that same evening, demonstrators were chanting "We are Michael Brown!" They also marched to the headquarters of the Ferguson Police Department, where they chanted "No justice! No peace!" Residents also held their hands in the air and said to police officers "Don't shoot me!" [16] The St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographed protesters with their hands in the air shouting "Don't shoot us!" at the police. [17]

The community reaction to Michael Brown's death continued through Sunday, August 10 with a variety of actions, including more protests and a vigil, as well as widespread looting and arson attacks on local businesses. [18] On Monday, August 11, as the FBI promised to investigate the shooting, and the NAACP organized a meeting in the community, the hands up gesture was continuing to be employed by protesters who were emulating what they understood to be the final posture of Michael Brown. [19] After the looting on Sunday, police officers were equipped with rubber bullets and tear gas on Monday night. During a standoff with police, several men approached officers with their hands raised saying, "Don't shoot me." [20]

The hands-up pose had been widely adopted by protesters throughout the weekend. The gesture was often paired with the phrase "Don't shoot me" or "Don't shoot us." During the demonstrations on Monday, the media first documented the posture and the phrase being combined into the slogan "Hands Up, Don't Shoot." [19]

Brown's death took place after the deaths of Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin. In the wake of Trayvon Martin's death, the BlackLivesMatter movement exploded in mainstream media. [21] According to the movement's website, it “began as a call to action in response to state-sanctioned violence and anti-Black racism.” [22] From that moment forward, it was an ongoing protest that was only amplified by the deaths of Michael Brown and the others. Many Black Lives Matter activists traveled to Ferguson in Protest of Brown's death. These activists claim that social media has exploded the conversation about these movements, and police brutality in general. The “Hands up, don’t shoot!” slogan/gesture was adopted and is still used by BlackLivesMatter activists because of the synonymous origins and causes of both movements. [23]

Use

Protestors chant "Hands up, don't shoot" after the murder of George Floyd

By Tuesday, August 13, "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" had become a defining slogan of the protests in Ferguson. [24] The hands up gesture used widely by black males when dealing with Ferguson police was transformed into a weapon of protest. Al Sharpton encouraged demonstrators to use the gesture by saying, "If you're angry, throw your arms up. If you want justice, throw your arms up. Because that's the sign Michael was using. He had a surrender sign. That's the sign you have to deal with. Use the sign he last showed. We want answers why that last sign was not respected." [25]

Student protest in Barcelona against police brutality with hands up Up hands barcelona protests.jpg
Student protest in Barcelona against police brutality with hands up

The phrase became a rallying cry for protesters and others trying to draw attention to the killing of Brown and other African Americans by police officers. In November 2014, some members of the St. Louis Rams ran out on the field during pregame introductions with their hands raised above their heads, an action repeated by four members of the Congressional Black Caucus on the House floor in December 2014. [26] The hybrid slogan "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" quickly spread beyond the Ferguson protests. It was often said in solidarity with the protesters in Ferguson. [27] [28] [29] [30]

Black Lives Matter

Though the Black Lives Matter activist movement began in response to the death of Trayvon Martin two years earlier, it staged its first in-person national protest in the form of a "Black Lives Matter Freedom Ride" to Ferguson, Missouri three weeks after the shooting of Michael Brown. One of the rallying cries at those protests was "Hands Up, Don't Shoot". [31] This became a common chant at Black Lives Matter protests, along with the dying words of Eric Garner ("I can't breathe"), [32] and "No justice, no peace". [33]

St. Louis Rams protest

On November 30, 2014, several players on the St. Louis Rams, (Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey, Kenny Britt, Jared Cook and Chris Givens) [34] entered the field during an NFL game making the gesture.

The St. Louis Police Officers Association said the act was "way out-of-bounds" and the organization "is profoundly disappointed with the members of the St. Louis Rams football team who chose to ignore the mountains of evidence released from the St. Louis County Grand Jury this week and engage in a display that police officers around the nation found tasteless, offensive, and inflammatory". [35] [36]

Rams Coach Jeff Fisher and a team spokesman said that they were unaware of the players' plans before the game and the players "were exercising their right to free speech". [37] Against the St. Louis Police Officers Association's request, the NFL did not punish the players, because the gesture was political and unlike other major professional sports leagues NFL does not punish players for political gestures. [34] The NFL's vice president of communications said, "We respect and understand the concerns of all individuals who have expressed views on this tragic situation." [34]

Jared Cook, one of the Rams players, received threats after making the gesture. [38]

Capitol Hill

Reps. Jeffries (D-NY), Lee (D-Tex.), Green (D-Tex.) and Clarke (D-NY) making the gesture Cspan hands up don't shoot.jpg
Reps. Jeffries (D-NY), Lee (D-Tex.), Green (D-Tex.) and Clarke (D-NY) making the gesture

On December 1, 2014, several lawmakers in the United States House of Representatives made the gesture to protest the shooting and police brutality. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said on the floor:

Hands up, don't shoot. It's a rallying cry of people all across America who are fed up with police violence. In community, after community, after community, fed up with police violence in Ferguson, in Brooklyn, in Cleveland, in Oakland, in cities and counties and rural communities all across America. [39]

Other members of the Congressional Black Caucus joining Jeffries were Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-New York), Al Green (D-Texas) and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), who praised the football players who made the gesture the night before. [39]

On December 11, more than 150 black congressional staffers staged a walkout and silent protest in a display of unity with demonstrations against the Eric Garner and Brown grand jury decisions. Senate Chaplain Dr. Barry Black led the crowd in prayer. They were gathered there, Black said, to be a "voice for the voiceless". After prayer, the crowd of staff and lawmakers posed while making the gesture. [40] [41]

CNN Newsroom

On December 13, 2014, after a story about the ongoing protest, three members of the CNN Newsroom panel held up their hands while a fourth held up a sheet of paper reading "I can't breathe", a reference to the death of Eric Garner. "Our hearts are with [the protesters]" was stated, but "hands up, don't shoot" was not said during the broadcast. The gesture attracted criticism because it appeared on a program that was not supposed to be opinion-oriented. [42]

In music

A Verge article stated that during Pharrell Williams' performance of the song "Happy" at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, the singer and backup performers made the hands up gesture; however, the connection to the incident is speculation by the article's author. [43]

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis reference the chanting of "hands up, don't shoot" in their song "White Privilege II". [44]

On December 9, 2015, Daye Jack released the song "Hands up" about police brutality, in which he sings: "Living with my head down – Hands up – no no don’t shoot, don’t shoot" as a direct reference to the killing of Michael Brown. [45]

American rapper Kanye West references the gesture in his song "Feedback" from his 2016 release The Life of Pablo with the lines "Hands up we just doing what the cops taught us. Hands up, hands up then the cops shot us." [46]

Kimya Dawson's song "At the Seams" references the gesture, saying "Hands up, don't shoot, I can't breathe. Black Lives Matter, no justice no peace." [47]

Experimental hip-hop group clipping. quotes the "hands up, don't shoot" motto in their song "Blood of the Fang," which largely deals with themes of racist violence in the American Civil Rights movement. [48]

In religious art

In 2015 Rev. Mark Francisco Bozzuti-Jones, a priest at Trinity Episcopal Church in Manhattan, commissioned the icon Our Lady of Ferguson, which depicts the Madonna and Child with their hands up, in response to the Shooting of Michael Brown. [49]

Criticism

The Washington Post

In the wake of the report, many pundits began to refer to the "Hands up, Don't Shoot" slogan as "a lie" or "based on a lie". [50] [51] [52] The Washington Post 's Fact Checker feature gave "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" four Pinocchios denoting it as an outright lie. [53]

Despite this, the slogan has an enduring symbolic meaning for activists. As one protester remarked, "Even if you don't find that it's true, it's a valid rallying cry... it's just a metaphor." [54] [55] [56]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferguson, Missouri</span> City in Missouri, United States

Ferguson is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. It is part of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. Per the 2020 census, the population was 18,527, and predominantly black.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferguson Police Department</span> Law enforcement agency of the city of Ferguson, Missouri, United States

The Ferguson Police Department (FPD) is a law enforcement agency serving Ferguson, Missouri.

Black Twitter is an internet community largely consisting of the Black diaspora of users in the United States and other nations on Twitter, focused on issues of interest to the black community. Feminista Jones described it in Salon as "a collective of active, primarily African-American Twitter users who have created a virtual community proving adept at bringing about a wide range of sociopolitical changes." A similar Black Twitter community arose in South Africa in the early 2010s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Michael Brown</span> 2014 fatal police shooting of a black man

On August 9, 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferguson unrest</span> Aftermath of the shooting of Michael Brown on August 9, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri

The Ferguson unrest was a series of protests and riots which began in Ferguson, Missouri on August 10, 2014, the day after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by FPD officer Darren Wilson. The unrest sparked a vigorous debate in the United States about the relationship between law enforcement officers and Black Americans, the militarization of police, and the use-of-force law in Missouri and nationwide. Continuing activism expanded the issues by including modern-day debtors prisons, for-profit policing, and school segregation.

Hands Up United is a social justice activist organization based in Ferguson, Missouri, formed after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer. The organization seeks justice in the Michael Brown case and prevention of future incidents nationwide as well as more accountability for police and improving transparency in police and justice departments across the United States. It also offers web technology training workshops to address issues related to the digital divide and economic equality.

Ferguson Action was an organized social movement that uses protests and resistance to oppose police violence in the United States. The movement became notable after organizing protests that gained national attention following the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. In October 2014, the movement organized a four-day event, called the Weekend of Resistance, in which more than 1000 protestors from across the United States marched in downtown St. Louis.

Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan and social justice activist organization based in St. Louis, Missouri focused on improving economic equality for citizens of Missouri. The organization partners with a number of activist networks in the United States including New Economy Coalition, Rising Tide North America, and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Lives Matter</span> Social movement originating in the US

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people and to promote anti-racism. Its primary concerns are police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people. The movement began in response to the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Rekia Boyd, among others. BLM and its related organizations typically advocate for various policy changes related to black liberation and criminal justice reform. While there are specific organizations that label themselves "Black Lives Matter", such as the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, the overall movement is a decentralized network with no formal hierarchy. As of 2021, there are about 40 chapters in the United States and Canada. The slogan "Black Lives Matter" itself has not been trademarked by any group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Ezell Ford</span> 2014 homicide by Los Angeles Police Department

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In the wake of civil unrest and protests in Ferguson, Missouri, Professor Marcia Chatelain of Georgetown University created the #FergusonSyllabus Twitter campaign. Ferguson syllabus provides a space for educators to discuss integrating the events that happened in Ferguson into classrooms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DeRay Mckesson</span> American activist

DeRay Mckesson is an American civil rights activist, podcaster, and former school administrator. An early supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, he has been active in the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland and on social media outlets such as Twitter and Instagram. He has also written for HuffPost and The Guardian. Along with Johnetta Elzie, Brittany Packnett, and Samuel Sinyangwe, Mckesson launched Campaign Zero, a policy platform to end police violence. He is currently part of Crooked Media and hosts Pod Save the People.

Johnetta "Netta" Elzie is an American civil rights activist. She is one of the leaders in the activist group We The Protesters and co-edits the Ferguson protest newsletter This Is the Movement with fellow activist DeRay Mckesson.

The Ferguson effect is an increase in violent crime rates in a community caused by reduced proactive policing due to the community's distrust and hostility towards police. The Ferguson effect was first proposed after police saw an increase in violence following the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The term was coined by Doyle Sam Dotson III, the chief of the St. Louis police, to account for an increased murder rate in some U.S. cities following the Ferguson unrest. Whether the Ferguson effect really exists is subject of discussions with many published studies reporting contradicting findings concerning whether there is a change in crime rates, number of 911 calls, homicides, and proactive policing. Furthermore, the effect and influence of the portrayal of police brutality in the media is also contested.

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The 2014 Oakland riots were a series of riots and civil disturbances that took place in Oakland, California and surrounding areas in November and December 2014. On November 24, 2014, following the decision of a Grand Jury in St. Louis to not charge Darren Wilson in the shooting death of black teenager Michael Brown, protests and rioting broke out in Oakland and later spread to other Bay Area cities. For more than two weeks, the Bay Area was the site of civil unrest as protesters clashed with police and damaged public and private property.

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Our Lady, Mother of Ferguson and All Those Killed by Gun Violence, simply known as Our Lady of Ferguson, is an icon of the Madonna and Child. The icon, which depicts the Virgin Mary as a Black Madonna, was created in 2015 by Mark Doox, an iconographer, and was commissioned by the Rev. Mark Francisco Bozzuti-Jones, an Episcopal priest at Trinity Church in New York City. The icon, created after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, has been referenced as a symbol against gun violence, particularly towards members of the African-American community in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Lives Matter movement in popular culture</span>

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