A-Infos (en) US, NYC, JOHN BROWN CAUCUS of SDS/MDS* statement on the NYPD Murder/Shooting]

Why is the NYPD still shooting young unarmed black men? How could the spectre of 
three African American males sitting in a car unleash a barrage of police 
firepower (50 bullets) enough to leave one man dead and two others fighting for 
their lives? Rather than preparing for his wedding day, why was bridegroom-to-be 
Sean Bell being zipped into a body bag?
We in the John Brown Caucus of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and 
Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) strongly condemn the latest shooting and 
cold blooded murder perpetrated by members of the New York City Police 
Department.   We have watched this same scenario played out too many times at 
the hands of the police.

We have seen the massacre of Amadou Diallo, the senseless  homicide of Qusmane 
Zongo, and the savage brutalization of Abner Louima and we say what we are 
witnessing is a systemic pattern of police violence against people of color.

We demand it be called what it is: state racism. The type of institutional 
racism that advances the idea that a young black man is a threat, worthy of 
suspicion, and should always be approached and treated as a threat. It's the 
type of racism that suggests that the sight of three young black men in a car 
requires several clips of ammunition, as in this case, one officer had to 
literally stop shooting and re-load before he could resume firing. Even officers 
of color are susceptible to this kind of racism. The only two colors that really 
matter for this racism to persist are the black shade of the targets skin and 
the set of ingrained presumptions and expectations that come from wearing a 
uniform of blue.

This weeks shooting and murder fits into a long trail of police misconduct and 
profiling. It is yet another in a history of racist shootings, abuses and 
arrests, and we demand the police be held fully accountable for their actions.

We urge all SDS/MDS activists to call actions on their campuses and in their 
communities to protest not only police violence against people of color but the 
internal colonization of people of color that facilitates it.

We urge all civilians to join Copwatch organizations or to start one should none 
exist in their community. Building wider public awareness of ongoing police 
misconduct and brutality is essential to combating it and external oversight and 
review is desperately needed.


FIGHT STATE RACISM! STOP THE MURDERS!
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* An antiauthoritarian anticapitalist network
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