LEXINGTON, MS–July 3, 2024– Today, arrest footage of Attorney Jill Collen Jefferson was published in an article by The Washington Post which details her journey in civil rights and unlawful arrest by Lexinton, Mississippi Police. This is a critical moment of awareness for Jill and the legal non-profit, JULIAN Civil Rights & Human Rights, which she founded. 

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Over the past three years, Jill & the team JULIAN have been making impactful progress in making a scalable strategy for law, policy, and community organizing that holds corrupt police and procedures accountable for racism, brutality, and harassment. In the article, a 4 minute video of Jill was published for the first time. The arrest happened on June 10th, 2023 in Lexington, Mississippi. Although it has been just over a year from the initial incident there is still much work to be done in policy reform in Lexington, and many small cities across the south whose citizens (especially of color) experience grave harassment from law enforcement with now foreseeable justice. 

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In the video, you will find Jill being requested to stop by two Lexington, Mississippi police officers who could not offer Jill an appropriate reason to stop and search her vehicle. When she stated her name and position, the officer replied “we know who you are.” Officers proceeded to search her car without a warrant making comments that hinted at wanting to find any evidence or reason to arrest Jill. This is no coincidence as a year prior, Jill and the team at JULIAN made impactful progress at getting the Department of Justice to open an investigation on the Lexington Police Department.

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This incident is a mark of retaliation and intimidation to halt the efforts of JULIAN and their progressive work in policy and policy reform in the south. Attorney Jill Collen Jefferson has since begun the process to open a legal suit against the Lexington Police Department. JULIAN will continue all policy, legal, and organizing work in Lexington and Mississippi in general with the plan to scale the game plan to end qualified immunity in cities across the United States. 

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About JULIAN

JULIAN is a national civil and human rights organization providing legal, policy, advocacy, crisis management and movement-building services to victims and survivors of discrimination. JULIAN’s mission is to attack discrimination in all forms in order to exact justice, foster equality, and advance the doctrines of civil and human rights law. The organization’s intention is to revive the spirit, effectiveness, strategies, and impact of the civil rights movement.

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