Defund the Police Gets Its Anthem
When a security officer named Julius Locklear grabbed Johnniqua Charles earlier this year outside of a South Carolina strip club, the confrontation became a concert. In a video filmed on the scene, Charles repeatedly asks why Locklear is holding her without reason. Then, with a wiggle and a shimmy, she starts singing, “You about to lose yo job, because you’re detaining me for nothing!” At one point, she tells the camera to make sure to “get this dance.” Locklear seems to stifle a laugh even as he maintains a grip on Charles’s arm.
Charles’s impromptu protest happened in or , but amid nationwide synced up footage of Beyoncé, the rapper Bobby Shmurda, and the muppet Elmo dancing to the beat—and included mugshots of the four officers charged in connection to the killing of George Floyd. Protesters in multiple cities began using “You about to lose yo job” as a as a , and as backing for .
