by Kali Akuno
Extra-judicial executions of African Americans occur with appalling, near-daily regularity in the United States, according to a report by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. Such carnage demands the creation of a movement that “challenges the various forms of state repression and internal colonialism, including racial profiling, extrajudicial killing, mass incarceration, mass deportation, economic exploitation and various forms of displacement.”
Every 40 Hours: New Report by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement Highlights Human Rights Violations Against Black People
by Kali Akuno
“Extrajudicial killing and mass incarceration are two sides of the same coin.”
In the 181 days of 2012, from January 1st through June 30th, a Black woman, man or child was killed every 40 hours by the police or someone “deputized” to act in their name. The “Report on the Extrajudicial Killing of 110 Black People,” compiled by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, is just the tip of the iceberg. When you consider the overall manner in which Black people in this country continue to be “policed,” it becomes clear that these 110 extrajudicial killings were about as accidental as the more the 2 million Black people incarcerated or under some form of direct state control throughout the United States. Extrajudicial killing and mass incarceration are two sides of the same coin. Together they are just one dimension of the overall strategy of containment rooted in the systemic and institutional practices of white supremacy and colonialism that give form to the national oppression of Black people.
What the Extrajudicial Killing report exposes is the fallacy of the “colorblind” propaganda actively promoted by Wall Street, the corporate media, and the two-party monopoly. As the facts in the Report clearly demonstrate, racism and white supremacy in the United States are alive, well, and deadly as ever. And virtually nothing is being said about it in the corporate media, and little, if anything, is concretely being done by the Obama administration to stop it.
“Racism and white supremacy in the United States are alive, well, and deadly as ever.”
The question is what can and must be done to stop this failure to protect the human rights of Black people? The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement believes that two things fundamentally have to happen. The federal government must institute a National Plan of Action for Racial Justice that is produced by the social movements of oppressed peoples and communities. And the Black community must organize its own self-defense networks and campaigns. Further still, we believe that a mass movement, composed of Blacks, Indigenous nations, Latinos, Arabs, Asians, and working class whites has to be built that challenges the various forms of state repression and internal colonialism, including racial profiling, extrajudicial killing, mass incarceration, mass deportation, economic exploitation and various forms of displacement.
We encourage everyone to read the report and then take action! Start by signing our petition demanding a National Plan of Action for Racial Justice at http://www.ushrnetwork.org/content/webform/trayvon-martin-petition. And to join us in the “No More Trayvon Martins” Campaign to enact critical changes on a local level such as Community Control Boards of the police that have the power to subpoena, supervise, discipline, fire, and prosecute police and other government sanctioned actors authorized to yield and utilize “deadly force” (see http://mxgm.org/no-more-trayvons-campaign/).
Kali Akuno is a member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.
This week’s featured author is Foluke Adebisi. Adebisi is Associate Professor at the University of Bristol. Her book is Decolonisation and Legal Knowledge: Reflections on Power and Possibility.
An exposé reveals the extent of collusion between big tech social media platforms and the surveillance state. Far from being independent actors, social media companies restrict access and de-platform…
The United States continues its theft of Afghanistan's assets. The economy has collapsed and the population suffer from poverty and hunger. The Black Alliance for Peace explains in its latest update.
Hyperbolic crime coverage by local media helped pave the way for former NYPD cop Eric Adams to become the mayor of New York City. But now that same media-manufactured crime panic is preventing Adams…
The struggle against fascism must include a struggle against liberal democratic collaborators.
