Heather was shopping at a Wal-Mart in Kennett, MO with her cousin. The two were searching for the shortest line, so they split up. When Heather's cousin found the shorter line, she joined him. That's when things got strange.There could be several responses to this read, one being “how dare they?” or “what did she really do, that she’s not telling?”, “What can I do to help?”.There are many other responses to reading an article like this, but when understanding the root of this event, one must understand the discrimination behind it.
Heather was accused by a Wal-Mart employee of cutting the line, and an argument ensued. This led to the manager and security guard being called, and ultimately police intervention. Somehow Heather, an honors student who has only gotten two traffic tickets her entire life, ended up being charged with disturbing the peace, trespassing and two counts of assaulting a police officer.
After Heather rejected his plea deal, prosecutor Stephen Sokoloff became set on pushing for a felony trial against her next month. The young college student faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted, in spite of the fact that she has a clean criminal record and a good reputation in the community.
Now many of us have cut the line once or twice and people get upset, no big deal. Most of the time if we cut and someone says something to us we might move, or quietly stand ground. Most people don’t argue back. However this young woman was joining her friend. Its like when your in the store with your mom and she like “Stand in line. I’m going to get some soap, ill be right back”. Simple, right? Well in this case probably not. Why? Because Heather Ellis is an African American woman. Simply. This conclusion cannot be presented complexly, because it is in plain-sight.
Ellis brought attention to herself by cutting the line, secondly when the argument ensued with the cashier more attention was drawn to her. It is obvious that the cashier or other customers felt threatened by her response because they called the manager and police. This situation quickly grew out of hand because this woman spoke up for herself. Now I do not know the exchange of words, but it is hard to imagine that Ellis immediately starting throwing food off the shelves because someone accused her of cutting the line. She probably said something to the affects like “I'm just joining my friend”. However the cashier probably said no you didn’t, you cut or in some way insinuated she was lying. It is from that point Ellis probably got upset and had the right to get upset, because the cashier is basically calling her a liar in front of the customers.
Now we all act off our emotions, right? Well what if 1. You were called out and humiliated and 2. Then called a liar. You wouldn’t be too happy. Now I don’t know if her reaction after that point did or did not warrant her arrest, but the problem points back to black stereotypes.
Yes stereotypes- black women are often type casted as the usual Jezebel, Mammy, Sapphire etc. But black women are also seen as defensive, aggressive, immoral and sinful. So too many people, by nature African American women are liars and potentially thieves among other things. So they must continually be questioned to get to the truth of the matter. (Don’t believe me, just google it.)
We must also put to question about why she is being sentenced 15 years, is the so called justice system out of balance? It seems so. People are quick to say that color doesn’t have anything to do with this situation. However, can you see without color? Can you function without a categorization system? Can the eggs go in the cookie jar? We are so supersaturated with aspects of race that sadly we cannot function outside of it. It is this categorization system that is always tied to stereotypes. It is these stereotypes that make many of us victims of prejudice. It is a system that needs to be fought. I ask you to start are saveheatherellis.com.
Let’s start by saving one!
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