Texas pool party incident shows that Jim Crow’s ‘black codes’ may still be in effect

(theGrio)  Swimming while black is a crime? Or having a black pool party? Maybe the police in Texas have lost their minds. Then again, maybe the Lone Star state still denies black people the freedom to assemble, just like the black codes.

A police officer was placed on administrative leave after a video surfaced of police detaining, manhandling and cursing at black teenagers at a pool party in McKinney, Texas, a Dallas suburb. The officers reportedly broke up the party after complaints in the neighborhood that there were too many black young people in the area. An officer is seen pinning a 14-year old girl to the ground and grabbing her by the breasts, and pulling a gun on young men who attempt to intervene. “Call my mama, oh God!” the young woman is heard shouting as the officer forces her to the ground. “On your face!” the officer orders her as he slams her, crying, to the ground, face first.