Justice for All

John Carpenter and Sara Azari represent dozens of peaceful protesters who were detained, arrested, and subjected to horrific conditions after authorities hastily imposed curfews on those speaking out against the murder of George Floyd. The curfews were illegal and directly violated the protesters’ first amendment rights to assembly and free speech.

In the summer of 2020, thousands of people took to the streets in support of the Black Lives Matter movement seeking systemic change, a cornerstone of which is criminal justice reform. In response, multiple cities throughout Southern California enforced broad unfettered curfews, charging protesters with misdemeanor crimes – namely failure to obey the curfew and failure to disperse. For hours, those arrested were driven from precinct to precinct in dark, crowded buses, without water, safety measures, or PPE, and without the ability to use the bathroom or take their medications. Some were assaulted, hit with batons, and shot at with rubber bullets; many protesters sustained injuries.

As John Carpenter said: “The path to justice begins with the truth. When the government enacts and enforces an illegal curfew to infringe on an individual’s expression of the truth, it creates a tool of oppression to benefit those peddling a false narrative and undermines the foundation of our society.”

While some cities and counties are declining to prosecute charges against the protesters, that decision does not address the core problem: the curfews squashed free speech and criminalized protesters for doing nothing but speaking truth to power.

The government-imposed curfews unlawfully silenced the voices of people begging for justice. Even in its wake, the chill of the illegal curfew persists.  The only way to ensure this never happens again is by holding these jurisdictions financially responsible – and that is what Truth Love Justice aims to do.

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