Johnson also fought a lawsuit from the ACLU after he implemented a curfew. The ACLU pointed out their client, a young white girl, was a good student, a cheerleader who lived in an upper-middle-class white neighborhood, and had permission from her parents to be out after 2 AM. Johnson attacked the lawsuit, saying that the curfew wasn’t designed to punish kids, it was designed to protect kids pointing out that young white teenagers die just as easily when hit by a stray bullet as do poor minority children. He also stated that he did not want police officers trying to figure out which kids were good kids and which were bad kids. Johnson’s attack on the lawsuit was credited for building support for the minorities who originally opposed the curfew.
