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Hours after Roland Martin, host of NewsOne Now, challenged national women’s organizations to speak out on the McKinney pool party incident where a 14-year-old Dajerria Becton was brutally forced to the ground, the National Organization for Women responded to the injustice.

From the National Organization for Women:

Washington, D.C. – We can only look with revulsion on the images from McKinney, Tex., of a white police officer pushing a 15-year old Black girl in a bathing suit face-down on the ground and placing a knee on her back. Today, we are shocked, angered, and deeply worried for the well being of this young woman. Tomorrow, we need answers, and action.

If the girl had been white, would she have received the same treatment from the white police officers on the scene?

Would the white police officer involved have even considered pulling a white teenage girl by the hair while screaming “ON YOUR FACE!” and then sitting on top of her while she cries, “call my mother”?

Would the white police officers have responded to a similar incident involving unarmed white teenagers at a community pool by an outrageous use of violence and intimidation: brandishing weapons, placing the teens in handcuffs, and verbally and physically abusing them?

Placing the officer on administrative leave is an insufficient response, particularly in light of the fact that this police department has a history of racial tension. NOW calls for the immediate firing of the police officer who committed the abuse, and immediate leave without pay for the officers who abetted him. In addition, NOW calls on the U.S. Department of Justice to immediately launch a full-scale investigation into the conduct of the McKinney, Texas police department. We can no longer tolerate the racial injustice that seems to have become a hallmark of too many police departments across our nation. Black girls’ lives matter.

On Wednesday, NewsOne Now guest host Mo Ivory, Media Consultant/Host, WEAA 88.9FM Baltimore Catalina Byrd, Lifestyle & Political Blogger Dru Ealons, and Program Coordinator of Civil, Human & Women’s Rights, AFL-CIO Tiffany Dena Loftin, discussed the response from NOW.

Ivory began the discussion panel session by asking, “Where was NOW” for the 15-year-old African American girl who had been viciously forced to the ground and why did it take “pushing on a women’s organization to stand up for her?”

Dru Ealons responded to the question saying, “Traditionally when I think about feminism and the feminist movement, Black women were always at the back or the afterthought in that particular movement.”

She added that she was “not surprised that there needed to be some pushing in that regard.”

Tiffany Dena Loftin highlighted last month’s #SayHerName national day of action to end state violence against Black women and girls saying, “It’s not just NOW, it’s every organization” with a voice to speak out and “respond to what’s going on.”

Watch the panel discuss the response to the McKinney pool party incident in the video clip above.

Be sure to watch “NewsOne Now” with Roland Martin, weekdays at 9 a.m. EST on TV One.

Subscribe to the “NewsOne Now” Audio Podcast on iTunes.

See Also:

Roland Martin Calls On Feminist Groups To Speak Up On McKinney Abuse

National Organization For Women Responds To The McKinney Incident  was originally published on newsone.com