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Community Solidarity Makes the Difference Rodneka Shelbia – Stood Up to Police Abuse

By Antranette Scott

I first met Rodneka Shelbia over a year ago at the Peoples’ Assembly Community Sing as she shared her song ‘Thankful’ with the group. As her voice rose, her hands clapped, and she expressed that every moment is something to be grateful for, I found myself nodding in agreement. Then she shared her story with us.

For coming to the aid of a young woman and infant who were being abused by an NOPD officer in the name of an unwarranted arrest, Rodneka was falsely accused of battery on a cop and resisting arrest. In her pleas with the cop to “be human”, Rodneka stood firm in her unwillingness to be desensitized to police brutality and injustice. Rodneka knew that she needed support and solidarity but was unsure of where to turn to for it. After the Sing, I introduced myself to Rodneka and invited her to the People’s Assembly weekly organizing meeting. I knew that the Peoples’ Assembly could offer on the ground support, magnify her story to our working-class community, and most importantly, provide comradeship and solidarity. When Rodneka joined the PA, the motion to stand with Rodneka’s fight for justice was overwhelming. With many other justice organizers, we created social media outreach for her upcoming court dates, formed community coalitions to get folks to fill the court room, and a variety of other tasks to get Rodneka’s story out to the working-class community.

We stood with Rodneka through a yearlong struggle of 12 court date postponements, subpoenas being served back and forth, change of legal representation, and a myriad of other obstacles. Rodneka was just as much a pillar of strength for the PA as we were for her. It was a symbiotic relationship that affirmed that only through collective strength is our liberation guaranteed. A few weeks ago, Rodneka closed that chapter of her life a free woman who has now welcomed her warrior daughter Iamme into this world, and I gained a beloved comrade and sister heart friend.

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Dr. Barnwell Brings Fellowship and Harmony to New Orleans with Community Sing

By Antranette Scott, Peoples’ Assembly Organizer

On April 7, the Community Sing, headed by Wendi Moore-O’Neal, hosted a weekend of events that featured Dr. Ysaye Maria Barnwell. The weekend started with a welcoming dinner for Dr. Barnwell. Wendi and The Heart Team broke bread and fellowshipped with Dr. Barnwell; sharing the work that various members of the Heart Team and each individual’s passion for our collective liberation from white supremacy and freedom for all people in the city of New Orleans and around the globe.

The Community Sings acts as a bridge between the front lines of struggle and a way to recharge and energize ourselves for the work ahead. By focusing on songs of struggle, liberation, and freedom, we connect the past with our present day fight. These songs give us a type of technology that can be used to flex our collaborative muscles, practice intentional vulnerability, and realize that there is no safe space, only spaces that we step into courageously.

On Saturday, at the White Buffalo Community Center (CORE USA), Wendi and Dr. Barnwell lead a workshop centered on Singing in the African American Tradition and Organic Harmonizing. Voices were lifted and attendees were given a sweet sample of the power of communal sound. Black Swan Food Experience prepared a lunch that fed everyone body and soul. After lunch attendees worked with a song written by local freedom fighter and songwriter Rodneka Shelbia “I Am the Prize”. By utilizing her phenomenal understanding of sound, Dr. Barnwell transformed the community singers in ways they had never imagined and brought out the power of Rodneka’s song in new ways.
Later that evening Dr. Barnwell closed out Tulane’s “What is the Sound of Freedom?” concert. Dr. Barnwell was joined by Dr. Courtney Bryan, Dr. Tyshawn Sorey, as well as William and Patricia Parker.

The highlight of her visit, was when Dr. Barnwell led a Community Sing held at Southern University’s Dr. Millie Charles Building of Social Work. Over 200 folks were in attendance to learn of Spirituals as Storytellers. Dr. Barnwell harvested the power of our vocal community and truly transformed the space. The Peoples’ Assembly presented a call to action for equity and equality of the working class people of New Orleans by recognizing we have to wage relentless struggle against symbols and systems of oppression.

We are forever grateful to Dr. Barnwell for answering the call and sharing her knowledge with the Community Sing. Also thank you to Wendi Moore-O’Neal, Jaliyah Consulting and The Heart Team.

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Local Woman Stands Up to NOPD Brutality

By Quest R

In capitalist society, where we are surrounded by violence every day, many of us become desensitized. After years of never-ending police brutality and murder, some people have started to look at it like a permanent feature of reality that cannot be stopped.

This is not the case for Rodneka Shelbia, a brave New Orleans native who is now in a legal battle with NOPD and the criminal justice system. The New Orleans Workers Group along with a diverse array of community activists and organizations have been working with Rodneka for months to fight for justice in her case.

We interviewed Rodneka for Workers Voice to shed some light on this important local case in her own words. The following is based off of that interview:

Rodneka is from the Ninth and 13th Wards, and went to F.A. Douglas High. She graduated from Southern University and has worked at the Post Office for 6 years. She is also a singer and songwriter, “I write songs about my life, and what I witness,” she said.

In April, she noticed a scene of police brutality. Unfortunately since the case is ongoing in court, Rodneka cannot be quoted on the events of that night. From our investigation, it has been gathered that she saw an officer abusing a women who was holding a baby. She took the baby and screamed for the cop to stop and be human. When other officers came on the scene, the first cop pointed at her and told them to arrest her for battery. At the whim of one cop, Rodneka went from a courageous bystander who stepped in to protect a child to a victim of police violence herself.

Since that day, the legal system has put her through the works, as is the norm for the thousands of New Orleanians who pass through it every day. “Since then, I don’t feel safe in this system. I don’t trust the enforcers, the protectors, or any other beneficiaries of this justice system any more. Justice is at my expense and for the one who has been exposed,” she said.

Rodneka has refused to stand down, and many in the community have responded. “I’ve received love, time, money, hope, commitment, education, solidarity. In my case the community is diverse. There are others who are just numb. They don’t even know why I’m trippin’. They know I can’t win against the powers that be. I know I’m already winning. My community assures me that.”

She believes that her experience represents much more than an isolated incident “It represents why people revolt, buckle, and don’t fight back all in one. It represents slavery… I would like people to believe and know that they are worth a fight. Their humanity is worth a fight. And suppressing their humanity is not normal if they say its not.”

Rodneka has started the hash-tag #IWillNotBeDesensitized to spread awareness about her case, and to highlight how we cannot allow ourselves to accept inhumane mistreatment of ourselves or each other at the hands of police, regardless of how they try to normalize it. Check out the Justice for Rodneka Facebook page for more updates.