A.N.S.W.E.R.-LA STATEMENT ON THE LAPD KILLING OF DEVIN BROWN

A.N.S.W.E.R.-LA STATEMENT ON THE LAPD KILLING OF DEVIN BROWN
Stand against racism here and abroad! Stop police brutality!

On Sunday, February 6, a Los Angeles police officer shot 10 bullets into the back of 13 year old Devin Brown in South Los Angeles, killing him instantly. Brown was an eighth grader at a local school for gifted youth. He was Black. The cop shot him for allegedly stealing a car. Brown wasn’t armed.

The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism), Los Angeles, condemns unconditionally the Los Angeles Police Department for the brutal murder of Devin Brown, and all acts of latent and racist brutality against the people of Los Angeles. We demand that Mayor Hahn and all city officials take immediate action to bring those officers involved in the murder of Devin Brown to justice.

RACIST ATTACKS ON THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY

The murder of Brown is the latest racist attack on the African- American community in Los Angeles. The last few weeks alone have produced one outrage after another.

Brown was killed just three days after the LA county district attorney declined to press criminal charges against a cop who repeatedly hit Stanley Miller, a Black man, with a large metal flashlight in June 2004. The vicious beating of Miller was caught on videotape, drawing comparisons to Rodney King.

Two weeks ago a jury awarded $2.4 million to two Inglewood police officers who sued the city after one was fired and the other suspended for beating Donovan Jackson, a 16 year old Black youth, on videotape. Jackson--the real victim--has yet to receive justice.

From these incidents, and countless others like them, it is clear that police brutality against African-American, Latino and other oppressed communities in Los Angeles is the norm, and not the exception. This is the case not only in LA, but in poor communities across the nation. Such a widespread and consistent problem isn’t caused by a handful of "bad cops."

Cops are not in communities to solve problems like drugs or crime. They exist to enforce the exploitation of oppressed communities. They inflict violence and terrorize men, women and children. Police brutality is institutionalized and deeply entrenched in this society.

LAPD chief William Bratton promised quick reform after the shooting, but this won’t solve the problem. Bratton is an unrepentant racist who has called Black youth "tribal thugs" and "terrorists." The LAPD has a long history of the most virulent racism among its ranks.

FIGHT AGAINST RACISM AND POLICE BRUTALITY

The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition-LA mourns the tragic death of Devin Brown. We send our condolences to his family, and to the families of all victims of police brutality.

ANSWER also condemns the brutal shooting of Bassim Chmait, a 19 year-old Arab American youth, killed in Orange County on Saturday, February 5, by an off-duty Homeland Security Department officer. Bassim was visiting a friend in an apartment complex in Mission Viejo when the officer approached him and his friends, pointed a gun at them, and shot Bassim at point-blank range.

ANSWER demands that the perpetrator of this crime be brought to justice. We denounce racism against Arabs and Muslims in Orange County, LA and beyond.

Fighting against racism and police brutality must be a top priority for the anti-war movement and progressive organizations. We stand with the African-American community, the Latino community, the Arab and Muslim community and all oppressed people in Los Angeles as they demand justice. We support every effort to organize and challenge LAPD repression.

At the upcoming March 19 march and rally in LA, commemorating the second anniversary of the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition-LA will march with millions people around the world that stand against racist violence and police terror here and abroad.