UPDATE: BLACK MAN MURDERED BY COPS! AGAIN!! THIS MUST STOP!!!
By Jaymes Powell
The police killing
of Michael Brown
has inspired a
heinous beauty
across the
country, but still
hasn’t stopped
the epidemic of
police killings
and violence
against
unthreatening
AfricanAmericans.
The shooting
of unarmed 18year old Brown
in Ferguson
earlier this
year sparked
uprisings and
ripped the
veil of law
enforcement
brutality
against
minorities
away for
much of the
world. The
time inbetween has
beautifully
congealed
the AfricanAmerican
community
and showed
others the
struggle
for racial
equality continues.
But still, dead and unthreatening
African-Americans have covered
American streets as law enforcement
has killed even more black people
since Brown’s death. From Cleveland,
where 12-year old Tamir Rice was
shot down by police, to New York,
where unarmed Eric Garner was
strangled to death by police on
video - black life is uneasy and often
unattainable.
Across the nation, African-American
organizations are building coalitions
to combat the killing of black men,
which goes to the nation’s founding
23
and even the shores of Africa. From
Washington D.C. to New York to
grassroots to Capitol Hill - make sure
these killings stop,” Fleming said.
the world to protest the treatment
of black people by America’s law
enforcement. White, Hispanic and
other races from Los Angeles to
Paris have joined in the worldwide
movement to finally stop what has
been true for centuries – that black
lives don’t matter.
“Blacks Lives Matter” has become
the new mantra of a movement that
slowed during the post-racially
desiring period of the 1980’s and
90’s, when unarmed black people like
Rodney King and Amadou Diallo
were brutalized by police. “Hands
up, don’t shoot” and “I can’t breathe”
have become international chants
as the names of abused AfricanAmericans like Hammond, Indiana’s
Jamal Jones, who police was tasered
and beaten in front of his family.
The officers in that case were not
indicted and have returned to duty.
Former Ferguson officer Darren
Wilson was not indicted for shooting
Brown, but is no longer with the
force and is in hiding. The officer who
choked Garner to death has not been
charged. Nor was the officer who shot
12 year old Rice in Cleveland.
Durham to Oakland, protests
for black life have begun.
In North Carolina, the state
Democratic Party, its AfricanAmerican Caucus, Legislative Black
Caucus and other leaders have decided
to form a coalition to stop America’s
habit of victimizing black people.
Willie Fleming, President of the
African-American Caucus of the
North Carolina Democratic Party said
all Americans must stand together to
stop injustice.
“By building a coalition between all
of these groups, we can - from the
Concurrently, the rise of anti-black,
racial violence may have risen and
resorted to pre-World War II style,
when African-Americans were usually
killed by private citizens instead of
paid officers. Unarmed, 18-year old
Lennon Lacy may have been lynched
in Bladenboro, N.C., leading the
FBI to investigate after local law
enforcement ruled the death of the
college freshman football player a
suicide.
“Building coalitions with all
groups to stop these injustices is a
way to empower our community. By
combining our strength, maximizing
our voices and voting power, we
hopefully insure the next generation
of black people matter. Because,
obviously, to much of America and
North Carolina, we currently don’t.”
The advent of social media, the
gruesome images of black people
being brutalized and going viral
may change the nation. AfricanAmericans, who have long been
divided, have come together all over
SPECTACULAR MAGAZINE | December 2014 | www.spectacularmag.com
“These incidents of questionable
interactions by law enforcement have
been too long been glossed over and
not addressed,” said N.C. General
Assembly member Rodney Moore,
who recently introduced legislation
to stop law enforcement profiling
and create community review boards
in cases of police violence. “We
must do all we can to build trust by
addressing these disturbing trends
against blacks and other minorities.
Law enforcement needs to be seen to
as protectors, not an occupying and
destructive force.”