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!