American Muslims Strongly Condemn All Forms of Policy Brutality

 Courtesy of : Suad Abdul Khabeer

Recently  an unarmed African American teenager, Mike Brown, was shot and killed by the police in Ferguson, MO. Brown’s death comes just weeks after the NYPD killed Eric Garner, an unarmed black father. We do not see these as isolated incidents but as evidence of the continuing sickness of white supremacy that has plagued this country since its inception. These recent events are an extension of the state violence that targeted the indigenous peoples of the Americas and enslaved Africans.

We see these deaths as part of the systemic project of state violence at work not only in the past but in racist policies and attacks against immigrants domestically and in the conquest and war mongering of US imperial policy abroad. We believe black life matters. We believe all life matters.  We condemn all forms of police brutality and state violence perpetrated by our government in the strongest terms possible.

Cornel West Arrest Photo 1
October 13, 2014 FERGUSON, Mo. -- Pounding rain and tornado watches didn't deter hundreds of protesters who stayed outside Ferguson police headquarters for more than four hours Monday, the same amount of time that the 18 year olds body was…

October 13, 2014

 

FERGUSON, Mo. -- Pounding rain and tornado watches didn't deter hundreds of protesters who stayed outside Ferguson police headquarters for more than four hours Monday, the same amount of time that the 18 year olds body was left in the street after he was fatally shot by police.

Will the Violence in Ferguson be a catalyst for change?

Organizers of the four-day Ferguson October protests dubbed the day "Moral Monday" and committed acts of civil disobedience across the St. Louis region.

In addition to the initial march on Ferguson police headquarters, protesters blocked the entrance to a major employer, held a loud rally inside St. Louis City Hall, disrupted business at a Ferguson shopping center and a Wal-Mart and tried to crash a private fundraiser for a St. Louis County executive candidate where U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill was scheduled to appear. On Monday night, protesters announced plans to picket a second Wal-Mart in the St. Louis suburbs.

All told, more than 50 people were arrested, including scholar and civil rights activist Cornel West