Last December, National Guard Sgt. Valerie Deant went to a shooting range in Medley, Florida for her annual training for weapons qualification. While there, she saw some mug shots of young black men that snipers with the North Miami Beach Police had been using for target practice. Even worse, one of the pictures full of bullet holes was that of her brother.
Deant was disgusted and outraged that police officers would use pictures of black people in target practice. Her family and comrades in the National Guard were similarly disgusted. They and many others called for the police chief’s resignation.
According to the Washington Post, clergy in Florida and elsewhere formed their own response to protest the actions of the North Miami Beach Police Department. They set up a Facebook page and the hashtag #usemeinstead. They then posted pictures of themselves, telling the police snipers to use their pictures for target practice, rather than those of young black men.
One pastor taped a paper target on her forehead and commented, “I’ll make it easy for them.” Some clergy added the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag to their comments as well, generally in some variation of “#BlackLivesMatter, please #usemeinstead.” One clergyman posted a picture of himself holding a baby and advised the officers not to aim for the baby. Some clergy thanked the policemen for their services to the community and then added #usemeinstead.
