Black Lives Matter L.A. Co-Founder Melina Abdullah
Melina Abdullah, talks during a Black Lives Matter rally in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles on Sunday, Dec. 23, 2018. Family, friends and community activists held the rally and a march for the recent deaths of a few homeless Black men, according to Black Lives Matter. They were also gathering for the death of another man killed in a shooting earlier in the year. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Melina Abdullah, a Cal State professor, activist and critic of Los Angeles police brutality, demanded justice for Wakiesha Wilson, 36, who was found dead in LAPD custody in March 2016. Wilson committed suicide, according to law enforcement. Her family claims she would not have taken her own life. Abdullah was charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, disturbing a public meeting and unlawful assembly during the city’s civilian Police Commission meetings in 2017 and 2018. What seemed to be the tipping point for the LAPD was when Abdullah allegedly grabbed an officer’s arm, the L.A. Times reported. Abdullah was arrested and charged with eight counts of something.
“These charges seek to criminalize Black protests and attempt to silence a loud, often angry, voice,” Abdullah’s attorney, Carl E. Douglas, wrote in a court filing. In February 2019, all eight criminal charges were dropped after sympathizers filled courtrooms, led rallies and filed petitions accusing the city of trying to silence its critics.
