Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan and District Attorney Devon Anderson announced yesterday that they were dropping the Southlawn gang injunction lawsuit. The following is a statement by Tarsha Jackson, Harris County director of the Texas Organizing Project:
“The community rose up against this injunction as soon as it was announced. It was the wrong solution that unfairly targeted young black men and made them criminals for the simple acts of visiting family or going home.
“It was because of the efforts of community activists like Loretta Brock, Charles X. White, the ACLU, Black Lives Matter Houston and the members of the Texas Organizing Project that this lawsuit was dropped. This shows that when the community comes together, we can win real reforms to our justice system.
“We also commend the county attorney and district attorney for listening to the community and dropping this lawsuit.
“While there are very real crime problems in the Southlawn area, the injunction was the wrong solution. Preemptive measures that make people guilty when they have not committed a crime don’t serve the community.
“We will continue working to implement measures that keep the community safe without circumventing our founding belief of innocent until proven guilty.”