African-American anger boils over police lynching of black man

Ensuring Socio-economic Justice

Crescent International

Rajab 10, 1436 2015-04-29

Daily News Analysis

by Crescent International

Police brutality against blacks has escalated alarmingly in the US. There appears to be no accountability for these mass murderers in uniform that are being increasingly militarized. Baltimore City has witnessed the latest incident of a 25-year-old black man being lynched by police in their custody.

Baltimore,
Wednesday April 29, 2015, 23:18 DST

Thousands of people gathered outside Baltimore City Hall today (April 29) to protest the lynching of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in police custody. Gray, an African-American, died in custody on April 19 after Baltimore police had arrested him a week earlier. Over the weekend, anger in the city boiled over leading to some violence that the corporate media led by CNN and Fox News pounced on. They condemned the protesters’ violence—breaking some window-panes and setting on fire some police cars—but not the breaking of a black person’s back by the police.

This year alone, police in different parts of America have killed more than 300 black persons. And there appears no let up in police brutality against blacks and Latinos. Instead, there is an increasing resort to the militarization of the police force as people get angry at increasing incidents of violence. The demonstrators in Baltimore today were carrying placards bearing the message “Black Lives Matter” and “Justice 4 Freddie Gray”. Other signs said "End Police Brutality Now," Justice and Equality For All" and "Stop Police Militarization Killings."

Protesters included people of all colors and backgrounds. There were blacks and there were whites; there were latinos and there were Asians (Chinese) in the huge crowd. Other cities across the US also witnessed protests at the killing of Gray as people have become alarmed at increasing police brutality. There appears to be no accountability for their criminal conduct. Over the last few months, there have been a numerous incidents of police brutality in which unarmed black men have been murdered by white police officers.

The young black boy Michael Brown’s case in Ferguson, Missouri led to weeks of protests and was widely reported even globally but it was not the only incident of its kind. There was the case of Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio; Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York and Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina, all shot and killed by white police officers. Such killings have escalated since the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States.

Far from leading to reduction in police brutality and violence, Obama’s assumption of the top office has in fact heightened racial discrimination. Many establishment whites resent his occupation of the White House. Instead of addressing concerns of the people arising out of police brutality, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency in Baltimore on April 27. He called out the National Guard and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake placed the city under curfew starting April 28.

These measures only added to people’s resentment. Schools were closed on April 28 and thousands of students joined the protests earlier today. America’s racial divide, especially because of police brutality is deepening even with a Black man in the White House. Obama is nothing but part of the white establishment whose orders he carries out dutifully completely ignoring the concerns of the African American community.

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