This is incredibly important. ALL the co-defendants on my case have their charges reduced. The gang enhancement and rioting F3s have been dropped completely.

This is a STEP, but nowhere near the end. This is a lesson in how whiteness protects its own. We have to keep going. 1/ https://twitter.com/paightenharkins/status/1296939188038725633

First of all, this isn’t good enough. Drop the charges. All of them. 2/ https://twitter.com/paightenharkins/status/1296939188038725633?s=21 https://twitter.com/paightenharkins/status/1296939188038725633

We absolutely cannot talk about or acknowledge this without being super clear about the fact that these reductions WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED without international outrage over a white woman facing life in prison. Full stop. https://twitter.com/paightenharkins/status/1296939188038725633?s=21 https://twitter.com/paightenharkins/status/1296939188038725633

You know who doesn't get the benefit of the doubt? Who doesn't get the protection of power, connections, and the determination of whiteness to protect its daughters? Black people. Native people. All people of color who are overpoliced and overcharged by a bloodthirsty system. 4/

These could have been our charges all along. @SimGillDA did not *need* to file so high, did not *have* to add the gang enhancement, was not *required* to take any of these punitive, aggressive measures. And people only noticed because he charged the wrong white girl. 5/

Don't get it twisted, I am HAPPY. I am so fucking relieved that an 18 year old won't be spending the rest of her life in jail for protesting her friend's murder. I am so grateful for all of the pressure that you all put on the DA and everyone else, because clearly it worked. 6/

But we *have* to talk about the fact that essentially, the system backtracked because it got caught treating white women the same way it treats BIPOC every day. George Floyd never got his day in court. Bernardo Palacios never got his day in court. I still will. 7/

Not to mention the things I've been charged over. (Allegedly) Shifting my weight at a cop? If I was a Black man I'd be dead, not facing a misdemeanor charge. Expired registration? Dead, not car impounded. I was able to Karen my way through this situation and that is a problem. 8/

I have a lot more to say, but right now here's the most important thing: do not shut up. Do NOT stop. Do not let up for one second on our abusive police infrastructure and the way it consumes human beings -- especially BIPOC. The work is far from over. You have momentum. Use it.