Help for Black Teacher Brutalized by Police

Hello, family. It is a sad and infuriating thing that we have to share that someone else in our community has been brutalized by the police. Below are the details which we warn, are difficult to take in, but even more difficult to have lived & be living through. Please trust that help is needed and donate & share widely.

Less than 2 weeks ago, NaTosha Briscoe was visiting Mississippi with family to bury her uncle. NaTosha was going to visit her cousin's hotel room, just two floors away from her own, when she noticed that the police were at her cousin's door. The police accused her cousin of smoking weed and when asked why they came to her door, they pointed at her cousin's partner, a Black man with dreads, ignorantly revealing their own deep internalized anti-Blackness.

The police claimed that regardless of whether there was marijuana in the room, they would not be arresting NaTosha's cousin and that they would let hotel management take it from there. The police left. NaTosha and her cousin were in the room recounting the experience when they heard a knock at the door. A representative from the hotel was kicking NaTosha's cousin out. NaTosha and her cousin asked why and where she was supposed to go when their uncle's funeral was in a matter of hours in a small town with limited options. The hotel worker said that she was being kicked out because NaTosha's cousin had smoked in the room, to which NaTosha responded, "That is a lie." Just as soon as NaTosha had uttered those words, she heard a bellow and the same 2 White police officers from earlier appeared directly in the doorway angrily screaming that they weren't liars. NaTosha and her cousin asserted their need for her to stay in the hotel and that no one was smoking, but the police present continued to escalate, eventually telling NaTosha that she had to go to her room and that they would escort her there. As NaTosha walked down the hallway to her own room, with the police following her from behind, she began to message her family about what was going on, when all of a sudden, a police officer furiously tackled NaTosha to the ground. NaTosha frantically asked what was happening and the officer said she was being arrested for resisting arrest. NaTosha asked how she could be resisting if she didn't even know she was being arrested. To that the officer responded that he would also be charging her with failure to comply. NaTosha's cousin had gone to grab her phone to record what was happening. The other officer pointed a taser directly at her, said she was not allowed to record, and that now she would be going to jail as well for possession of marijuana.

Because of this brutal and unwarranted arrest, NaTosha is currently suffering from a broken collarbone, a fractured wrist, and a swollen eye. Her cousin was forced to spend the night in jail barefoot and with only her intimate clothing on as NaTosha navigated lack of medical attention for hours. NaTosha is a full time teacher at an Atlanta High School. She also teaches courses at two universities. She has a PhD in African American studies. NaTosha has two young children. She works 3 jobs to afford them a good life, but still makes time to volunteer at her church, work to create a better school setting for her children, and gives her own students constant, commpassionate care and attention.

NaTosha's life is completely off balance, to put it mildly. She is suffering from anxiety attacks and processing the most terrifying moment of her life with each passing day. She is having trouble sleeping. She is unable to teach because of her injuries, both physical and mental. She is navigating the healthcare system, as she is navigating the legal system: NaTosha must hire a crimininal and civil lawyer if she hopes to drop or reduce the charges and get some form of justice for herself and her family.

Abolitionist Teaching Network stands by NaTosha as she navigates something no one should have to navigate. We are calling upon our community to take a first step in financially supporting NaTosha so that she can retain a lawyer, get the mental health care she needs to process this traumatizing event, and so that she doesn't have to worry about providing for her two children. Please stay tuned as NaTosha navigates her path to justice. These are the educators who have given their life over to public service and yet other supposed public servants, the police, see nothing but a Black body to brutalize. We deserve the world and we will not settle for this.

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