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24 Hum. Rts. Brief 77 (2020-2021)
Rubber Bullets and the Black Lives Matter Protests

handle is hein.journals/huribri24 and id is 92 raw text is: 77 ARTICLES RUBBER BULLETS AND THE BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTESTS by Tala Doumani* and Jamil Dakwar Linda Tirado, a freelance photographer and activist, drove to Minneapolis from Nashville to photograph the protests that had erupted on May 26, 2020. She had just taken a photo and lowered her camera when she felt her face explode. Screaming I'm press! I'm press! Linda had been shot in the left eye by a rubber bullet. After being rushed into surgery, doctors told her she was not likely to regain the vision in her eye.1 Stories like Linda's have become common during the recent Black Lives Matter protests. Sparked by the horrific murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 and the killings of other Black people, protests erupt- ed in more than 140 cities across the United States2 and 40 countries around the world.3 Since May 26, 2020, there have been more than 400 instances of *Tala Doumani is a second-year student at Harvard Law School. Tala served as a legal intern at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Human Rights Program during the summer of 2020 where she conducted legal research and writing regarding law enforcement response to protests. This Article is partly a product of that research. Jamil Dakwar is the Director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Human Rights Program. He formerly worked with Human Rights Watch and Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. He is an adjunct professor at Hunter College and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. 1 Frances Robles, A Reporter's Cry on Live TV: 'I'm Getting Shot! I'm Getting Shot!', N.Y. TIMES (May 30, 2020), https://www.ny- times.com/2020/05/30/us/minneapolis-protests-press.html. 2 Weiyi Cai et al., Photos From the George Floyd Protests, City By City, N.Y. TIMES (June 1, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/inter- active/2020/05/30/us/george-floyd-protest-photos.html. 3 Savannah Smith et al., Map: George Floyd Protests Around the World, NBC News (June 9, 2020), https://www.nbcnews. com/news/world/map-george-floyd-protests-countries-world- wide-n1228391. police detaining, assaulting, or otherwise preventing journalists from performing their duties.4 Protestors have experienced injuries, and sometimes death, from tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and other crowd-control tactics used by police.' This Article argues that instances of peaceful Black Lives Matter protestors and journalists being target- ed by rubber bullets are not only incompatible with international human rights law but often contradict, when available, police forces' own internal policies. Comparing recent incidents of protestors targeted with rubber bullets with internal police department manuals on the use of force shows a clear disconnect between policy and practice. Drawing on internation- al standards on the use of force, this Article further argues that, to protect First Amendment rights to peaceful assembly and association, the use of rubber bullets as a crowd-control weapon should be banned in the context of mass assembly. I. BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTESTS Rubber bullets have been used widely by law enforce- ment and in the majority of states where Black Lives Matter protests have been held. While there has been a lot of media coverage on the misuse and dangerous overuse of tear gas and pepper spray against protes- tors, far less attention has been paid to another weap- on that is equally as harmful. The use of rubber bullets has often been indiscriminate, targeting protestors, journalists, and minors, and has resulted in serious and sometimes life-threatening injuries, including blindness, head fractures, and even loss of fertility. Journalist Scott Reynhout documented more than six- ty-three instances of neck or head injuries from rub- ber bullets, of which thirty-two were eye injuries and thirteen led to a permanent loss of vision.6 Many of 4 Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath and Patrick Strickland, Blinded, Arrested: Police Attack Journalists Covering U.S. Protests, AL JA- ZEERA (June 16, 2020), https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/ features/blinded-arrested-police-attack-journalists-covering- protests-200616023545157.html. s ACLU Statement, Interactive Dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association Statement by the American Civil Liberties Union at the 43rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council (July 10, 2020). 6 Scott Reynhout, Head Injuries From Less-Than-Lethal Rounds in the United States Since May 26, https://tinyurl.com/Shotln- Face (last updated Tune 23, 2020) (used with permission). Vol. 24 Issue 2

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