On April 22, 2018, after 25-year-old Chikesia Clemons was assaulted by three police officers in a Waffle House in Saraland, Alabama. They threw her to the ground, pulling her dress down to expose her breasts. One of the officers choked her and threatened to break her arm.

This was not simply a brutal police beating; it’s sexual abuse. Chikesia was violated, humiliated, and then, like so many Black women before her, arrested and charged for her own assault.

This is standard practice for Waffle House and in police departments across the country. Just two weeks after Chikesia's assault, Anthony Wall, a 22-year old gay Black man, was subjected to homophobic abuse from a Waffle House employee in Warsaw, North Carolina. Police arrived, violently assaulted and choked Anthony, and placed him under arrest. He, too, has been charged for his own assault.

This is victim-blaming at its most dangerous. We will not sit quietly while women and queer people of color are beaten, violated, and punished for surviving.

Tell Waffle House: Demand the Saraland Police Department and the Warsaw Police Department drop all charges against Chikesia and Anthony and offer them both a public apology.

It's time to decide: Is violence against women and queer communities something you will sit back and tolerate? Or will you stand with us to demand #JusticeForChikesia and #JusticeForAnthony?