She’s home.
Brittany Martin, the South Carolina woman who spent nearly four years in prison after being arrested at a George Floyd protest in June 2020, has been released.
Martin, 36, had been separated from her five children and husband for nearly 1,000 days before her release on Wednesday morning. She was transferred from the Illinois Department of Corrections last week to South Carolina for an unexpected homecoming.
“I’m so grateful. I’m just so thankful,” Martin told Capital B in a phone interview on Wednesday. “I’m still in shock right now. It still feels so unreal at this moment. It hasn’t settled in with me yet that I’m free.”
Her husband, Eric Kennedy, drove 14 hours south from Lincoln, Illinois, to Sumter, the county they once called home, with the couple’s five children for the reunion. Martin and her family moved there after she was sentenced to four years in prison for protesting and raising her voice at police officers.
Martin was indicted by a grand jury after being accused of instigating a riot and other charges for her actions during a protest in 2020. She was released seven months early.
“I walked the whole 2½ years, with my integrity, my dignity and my respect — I kept my head up,” Martin said. “I went through so much pain, and I have seen so much pain over the last 2½ years. It hasn’t done nothing but truly humble my spirit and humble my soul.”
Martin, was convicted of breach of peace of a high and aggravated nature. The jury acquitted her of violent offenses that included five counts of threatening the lives of those police officers. She continues to maintain her innocence.
Martin and her family, like millions of others around the world, left their homes during the pandemic to protest the police murder of George Floyd. Kennedy, 38, was also arrested while protesting at the same event in June 2020; charges against him were dismissed.
Kennedy, like many other civil rights and prison reform activists, has questioned the legality of his wife’s charges from the beginning. Legal advocates argued that Martin was being made an example of, and her conviction was meant to send a message about the consequences of protesting in South Carolina.
Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Grassroots, told Capital B hours before Martin’s release early Wednesday morning, that she is “sharing a sigh of relief with Black mama and freedom fighter — Brittany Martin.”
Martin’s attorneys say her conviction could be added to the list of 1,822 other Black men and 105 Black women whose convictions have been overturned since 1989, according to the National Registry of Exonerations’ database.
Following multiple requests from Black Lives Matter Grassroots for Martin’s release, Capital B spoke to her on the phone in February from prison. At the time, Martin asked the public to “help her survive” her time behind bars. She had just been transferred 900 miles from home to Lincoln, Illinois, without her family’s knowledge, after protesting jail guards cutting off her locs, and alleged mistreatment such as being underfed while she was nearly 8-months pregnant during her time in a Sumter County prison.
“Give that same energy that I was given when I was out there. The same love, candor and care,” Martin said, adding that “is what I need for my life to be saved so that I can come out and celebrate that moment with everyone, of my exoneration.”
Advocates say they will continue to fight in court for Martin’s conviction to be overturned, arguing that she was exercising her constitutional right to protest and speak her mind, regardless of the tone she used.
“We are asking the South Carolina Supreme Court to hear Brittany’s appeal and reverse her conviction, even if she is released,” said Paul Bowers, a spokesman for the ACLU-South Carolina, in an email to Capital B. “The purpose would be both to clear this conviction from her record and to protect the rights of protesters in our state going forward.”
As a returning citizen, Martin may face a list of challenges when it comes to adjusting to having a felony on her permanent record, while also tending to her mental, physical, and emotional health. She was separated from her five children, one of whom she gave birth to while incarcerated.
During the 925 days that Martin was in jail, the number of Black people killed by police officers continued to average well over 250 per year since Floyd.
“To be clear, her release is not justice. Brittany should be celebrated for standing in the name of #GeorgeFloyd, not maligned and caged,” Abdullah said in a text message. “The criminal system of injustice continues to prove how utterly irredeemable it is and demonstrates the urgency of the fight to make Black Lives Matter.”
These kids need their “momma”
Kennedy received confirmation on Monday morning from the South Carolina Department of Corrections of Martin’s arrival at the prison. Martin was transferred back to the Sumter County prison, where she was first sent following her conviction in May 2022.
Kennedy says it’s “surreal” that she’s finally getting out.
“It has been a journey,” Kennedy told Capital B on Monday morning. He received instructions from prison officials on when to arrive at the prison Tuesday night for her pickup — “I’m ecstatic.”
Abdullah said she and the organization’s Charleston chapter were outside the prison to greet Martin with her family and trial attorney, Sybil Rosado.
After being showered with gifts wrapped in holiday wrapping paper and enjoying the giggles of her toddler — who she named Blessing — Martin returned to the Sumter County courthouse Wednesday afternoon to meet with her parole officer. While there, Martin was shocked to see two of the officers who had testified against her, but she said she was proud of how she reacted.
“This is how I know God has changed me. God has grasped me, and kept me and healed me. Because I didn’t feel not one bit of anger,” said Martin, whose 18-year-old son was murdered before her trial started. “I didn’t feel not one bit of malice in my heart. I didn’t feel no hatred. I just looked at him and laughed [in] my head and said, ‘How you doing, sir.’”
One of the officers, who was a woman, embraced her with open arms and apologized, Martin said. When Martin went back to the car, she cried for the first time.
Before this moment, Martin had two other chances to get out of prison before her parole eligibility date of May 15, 2025: the first in May before a parole board, which denied her release, and the second in a rare case when the ACLU became involved in her criminal case.
The national nonprofit civil rights organization’s South Carolina chapter filed an appeal on the grounds that Martin’s First Amendment rights were violated by Sumter County’s prosecution — that appeal was denied in July. In the appeal, they also highlighted the racial disparity in Martin’s sentence, which ACLU lawyers said was excessive.
Read More: South Carolina Punished a Black Woman for Protesting. Her Supporters Demand Her Release.
“Brittany has remained faithful and strong throughout her unjust imprisonment and unimaginable abuses,” said Abdullah, co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter. “What a tremendous honor it is to fight alongside her and her loving and courageous family and community that has sustained her throughout this period.”
Before Martin’s release, Kennedy said he had been financially strained because he had to uproot the entire family to keep the children — especially their young child, whom she was still nursing — close to their mother. Despite Kennedy’s efforts, he said communication with Martin was infrequent because prison officials had put her on “restricted” status more than once following her sentencing.
But now, Martin wants to pause to be with her children, husband, and family to catch up on lost time. And she wants to enjoy their giggles.
Nevertheless, Kennedy says he held onto his faith that his children will close out 2024 with their “momma” back home.
“I really can’t believe this day has come.”
The post Brittany Martin, Convicted for Protesting Police Brutality, Is Home at Last appeared first on Capital B News.
