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ellenrr

(3,864 posts)
Fri May 1, 2015, 08:12 AM May 2015

Palestinians in solidarity with Baltimore protesters

The United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) stands in solidarity with the brave people of Baltimore who are rising up in justified anger at another instance of vicious police violence against Black communities in this country. A few weeks ago, Baltimore resident Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American, was chased down and arrested by Baltimore police, who still have not offered probable cause for even approaching him. Gray died a week later of spinal injuries that he clearly suffered while in police custody.

Two days ago, USPCN-Chicago responded to a call from the Black Youth Project 100, joining close to 1,000 people in protesting Gray’s murder at police headquarters on the southside of Chicago. Members and supporters of USPCN also participated in many other protests across the country, as we have since the killing of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri, last year.

Enough is enough. That is what Black people in Baltimore are saying, and what they have every right to say. Police are killing Black people at an alarming rate, and the response from mayors, governors, even presidents, is nothing more than a call for calm. USPCN is not calling for calm. We are calling for unqualified support and solidarity with Black people in Baltimore, Chicago, New York, Detroit, Oakland, Ferguson, Miami, Milwaukee, and everywhere else police are killing their sisters, brothers, mothers, and fathers.

If there is no more discussion to be had, that is clearly understandable, as it would be if Black people were sick and tired of discussing race relations, and community relations with law enforcement, and issues of political representation. They have been victims of national oppression and racism for hundreds of years, and it is not their responsibility to remain calm. It is their right to do exactly what they are doing—rising up against white supremacy and systems of government that treat them as second-class citizens. We must stand with them.

http://uspcn.org/2015/04/30/uspcn-in-solidarity-with-the-black-community-of-baltimore/

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