Pan African Congress – North America Condemns Police Brutality and Trump’s Threat to Use Military Action Against Protestors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 2, 2020
Contact: PanaCongress@gmail.com

Washington, DC – The Pan African  Congress  –  North  America  condemns  in  the  strongest  possible terms  the  statement  by  the  U.S.  President  indicating  use  by  the  US  military  against American citizens on American soil.

After  a  week  of  peaceful  protests,  some  of  which  included  acts  of  violence  against persons and property where the perpetuators are not clear, more was expected from the head  of  government. These  protests  were  against  the  murder  of  a  cuffed  U.S.  citizen, George Floyd, under arrest for an alleged offense. In plain view of onlookers a member of the  Minneapolis  Police,  a  person  sworn  to  serve  and  protect  the  citizens  of  the  city, placed George Floyd on the ground and knelt on his neck for almost 9 minutes, although for  close  to  3  minutes  he  was  dead.  This  act  of  murder  was  conducted  with  the assistance of three other officers and with a rather casual air. George Floyd’s death, was preceded by the death of Breonna Taylor, a young Black woman that worked in the medical field. She was shot and murdered in her home by police in Louisville, Kentucky.

After a week of peaceful protests in over half the country, more was expected from the U.S. President after almost two months of being self-quarantined due to a disease that rather inexplicably began to affect African Americans disproportionately for both rates of infection and mortality. And the only response has been “underlying conditions” – a blame the victim type of analysis.

After   a   week   of   mostly   peaceful   protests   that   brought   representation   from   all demographics of American culture, more was expected from the Commander-in-Chief of all Americans, especially in light of employment figures that show, again, the disparate impact on African-Americans as the economy adjusts to the new normal.  Scholars and analysts have begun to dissect the “racial epidemic within the pandemic.” And the only explanation has been that this is due to pre-existing conditions ” – a blame the victim type of analysis.

After a week of protests in honor of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor but that also held up  the names and photos  of  other  African  Americans  who  have  been  murdered  by  U.S.  police  in  similar circumstances, there was an expectation that the U.S. President would acknowledge that something, perhaps something, was systemically wrong and needed to be addressed at a fundamental level. And yet there was silence on this topic as well.

What the US President has stated is that outsiders can’t be allowed to participate in these protests. But who is an outsider in America? And yet this didn’t apply to the outsiders who came to Virginia in 2017 for the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville nor to the armed protestors who stormed and intimidated state legislatures and governors in 2020.

What the  U.S.  President  has  stated  is  that protesters  who  overcome  the White  House security will be met with vicious dogs and unimaginable weapons. And when questioned as to why he would use such a racist trope, he claimed not to know the social history of such  imagery.  And  he  hasn’t  shown  any  empathy  with  the  connection  between  being lynched by a rope and a knee.

What the U.S. President would like for us and the world to believe is that these protests are being led, organized, and financed by professional agitators. And yet there is not only no evidence to the contrary, what each community has shown has been the spontaneous gathering  of  citizens  who  are  freshly  outraged  each  day  by  new  incidents  of  arbitrary police   power   and   the   failure   of   local   governments   to   acknowledge   and   show accountability.  And  we  strongly  condemn  the  accusation  of  outside  agitation  when  the President  himself  could  be  said  to  have  done  the  same  when  far  right  protestors occupied statehouse grounds throughout the Midwest just last month.

What the U.S. President has invoked is the Insurrection Act of 1807, when his office has no power under this act to arbitrarily invade a state and can only move at the request of the  governor.  And  yet  when  requested  repeatedly  to  invoke  the  National  Defense Procurement Act for the speedy production of personal protective equipment for essential workers  and  the  public  in  general  during  the  inception  of  the  pandemic,  he  refused, leaving  essential  workers  at  the  mercy  of  homemade  bandanas  and  no  gloves.  And hopefully  the  number  of  police  chiefs,  rank  and  file  who  have  “taken  the  knee”  during these  protests  reflect  that  the  U.S.  military,  which  itself  is  an  instrument  of  white supremacy, is capable of change.

What the U.S. President would want us to believe is that he and his political cronies have acted in the best interest of the majority of Americans. And he would have us ignore the reality that substantially less has been allocated for the majority of Americans (who must repay much of it) versus the $10.2 trillion provided to corporate interests with little to no accountability.

What the U.S. President has stated is that America must open or it will fail to exist as a country. And yet the statistics are very clear that African-Americans and other citizens of color  have  been  structurally  dropped  from  the  U.S.  economy  as  it  has  adjusted  to  the new normal – a normal that does not allow for service workers to work from home, nor for lesser skilled to find new jobs as they have simply failed to exist. Yet their bills continue. Their need to eat continues. Their health calls for professional support.

What the American President has stated is that he is the law and order president. And yet the symbols of oppression – entry level jobs with little to no future, direct symbols of state such as police stations and retail capitalism that has tied communities to mountains of debt – have been the targets of expressed rage, which is an historic response. And yet silence. No empathy.  No historical analysis  that shows that we as a nation have been here before. No statement of acknowledgement of the limited progress in selected areas.

We, all African descendants – have a collective knee on our throats.

We must all stand in solidarity with the victims of police brutality, their families, friends and community members who have been brutalized and traumatized by these events.

It is time for our friends and family from abroad, as has happened with the African Union and  supporters  in  the  U.K.,  Germany,  Venezuela  and  Iran,  to  support  our  progressive actions and condemn the reactionary leadership of the highest office in the land.

This will end. There will be a day when there will be no more demonstrations. We need to act  now  to  ensure  that  when  that  day  comes  the  U.S.  will  be  prepared  to  act  on  the historic,  underlying  conditions  that  consistently  act  to  ensure  that  African  Americans remain victims in a country that would not exist but for their labor. We need to act now to ensure that substantive democracy is the law of the land.

This  will  end.  As  Pan  Africanists  we  support  the  emancipation  of  all  people  of  African descent in the United States. In the context of police killings  that expose the structural fault lines of contemporary society, we call for justice that ends police brutality, provides access to affordable health care and ensures a productive income.

This  will  end.  As  Pan  Africanists  we  acknowledge  that  this  moment  comes  during  the United  International  Nations  Decade  for  People  of  African  Descent   (that  calls  for recognition, justice and development) which has formally assessed the United States as a bastion of racism. We support all struggles for unity and fight to defend the dignity of all African-Americans.  We  work  diligently  to  ensure  that  the  quality  of  life  of  all  Africans improves and does not decline, including the righteous struggle for reparations.

Until it ends, the Pan African Congress  –  North America stands with the protestors for justice and substantive democracy.

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