As the dust continues to settle following the fake kidnapping of Carlee Russell last month, former ESPN host Jemele Hill is pushing back against State Sen. April Weaver’s (R-Brierfield) bill that would create a new felony crime for faking an abduction.
“Alabama gonna Alabama every damn time,” Hill said on social media, referring to the proposed bill.
Similar to State Rep. Juandalyn Givan (D-Birmingham), who proposed creating a special “Ebony Alert” specifically for when black youth go missing, Hill believed race played a factor in the response to Russell's fake kidnapping and in Weaver's bill.
“She’s already been charged and will likely have to pay restitution. Zero problem with that,” Hill continued. “What I’m saying is, this lawmaker is being overzealous because the Black woman was at the center of this hoax. I promise you had she been a white woman, nobody would be introducing a law to strengthen the laws about lying to the cops.”
When pressed on her assumptions that the proposed law was racially motivated, Hill tried giving other examples of similar cases in other states.
“Ok, I’ll play along, where the Susan Smith law in North Carolina?,” she said. “Where are the laws that strengthen lying to police when we have seen white women continually lie when they call the police on Black people for just existing in the spaces they don’t want us in? A white woman just lied in California about being kidnapped by two Latino people and it turns out she’d spent 3 weeks with an old boyfriend … where’s the new law?”
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email daniel.taylor@1819news.com.
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