Not many good things come out of Florida. Coming from someone who was born and raised in this hell of a peninsula, it can be a joyous occasion when something or someone good comes out of it. One of those good things is the first African-American state attorney, Aramis Ayala. Not only has she made history with her position but she has one amazing story with her journey to obtaining a law degree was halted by a terminal cancer diagnosis that eventually forced her to drop out of school. Yet after successfully winning the fight against the disease, Ayala was able resume her studies and graduated. A true certified girlboss.
Recently, footage of her being stopped by Orlando police for no reason on June 19th surfaced that literally will leave you speechless. Truly, this video will clear your skin and add a year to your life. The video shows police officers approaching the car and after checking her ID, one officer asks her what agency she is with. She confidently states, “I am the state attorney.”
Immediately, the officer begin to struggle with a legitimate reason to pull her over. You can easily hear the nerves in the officers voice as he tells her that they had pulled Ayala over after a check of her license plate came up empty. He also blames the fact that her windows were really tinted, despite not even having a tint measure. The video ends with Ayala smiling and asking for their business cards, like a queen.
This isn’t Ayala’s first rodeo with injustice. Back in March, Ayala announced that she would not issue the death penalty in her 9th Judicial Circuit. This led to governor Rick Scott reassigning 21 murder cases to another state attorney. Ayala was not aware of Scott’s actions until he released it to the media. Since then, Ayala has been vocal about Scott’s abuse of power against her and how he has, “compromised the independence and integrity of the criminal justice system.”
Ayala has since confirmed she was stopped on June 19th and she does intend to follow up with the incident even though she says it was “consistent with Florida law.”
“To be clear, I violated no laws. The license plate, while confidential was and remains properly registered. The tint was in no way a violation of Florida law,” she said.
There has been heavy debate on whether or not this was a racially profiled incident. Shaun King, who is a writer for the New York Daily News and civil rights activist, wrote on his Facebook, “Aramis Ayala is Florida’s first and only African American state’s attorney — making her one of the most powerful and influential figures in their justice system. That didn’t stop police from pulling her over for no reason whatsoever, then struggling to explain themselves.”
The Orlando police claim that the stop was completely lawful and that officers routinely run tags. They also point out that the windows were tinted, so the officers had no way of seeing who was inside.
I want to live inside that hand gesture she makes when she asks them for their cards
— Amanda Duarte (@duarteamanda) July 12, 2017
So keep Aramis Ayala in mind the next time you hear the term, “Girl Boss,” because she is a true embodiment of it.
