Last Saturday sixteen year old Kimani Gray was shot seven times (at least three times in the back) by two police officers in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. Although the police report recovering a .38 caliber pistol from the scene, at least one eyewitness has claimed Kimani was unarmed. In the days since the shooting, community residents and activists from throughout the city have been demonstrating in East Flatbush. The community is outraged at this latest episode of police shootings which target young African American men. Many, for example, still remember the incident involving Ramarley Graham – the young unarmed man who was gunned down by police officers in the Bronx last year.
(photo via twitter)
The unrest in East Flatbush is a direct result of the long history of police violence towards minorities, the poor and working class. The New York City Police Department continues to view these communities as occupied “war zones” and the residents as potential enemy combatants. With an unemployment rate that stands at 75 percent among young black males, the residents of these communities are, at best, treated as second-class citizens.
The NYC Local of the Socialist Party USA views the current policies of New York City’s administration and police department, such as the notoriously racist stop-and-frisk program, as instrumental in perpetuating racism, violence, and poverty. We stand in solidarity with the community in East Flatbush in their sorrow and fully support their protest of the death of 16 year old Kimani Grey at the hands of the NYPD. This continued racist targeting of youth of color must end.
I stand in solidarity with the community in East Flabush in protesting the tragic death of 16 year-old Kimani Gray. Only when we have a Socialist State that directly represents the interests of the masses of people will the killings of children of color be prevented. In a Socialist State, “police” will be public safety officers whose role will be the protection of the lives of people instead of, as under Capitalism, the protection of class and property. Public Safety officers will be drawn from the city and be an intergral part of the communties they protect. Those from outside the communties will not be permitted to come in as an occupying force like the Germans in the Warsaw ghetto. Until the transition to such a Socialist State, we all must continue to protest and fight for our brothers and sisters in East Flatbush, the Bronx, and all over the city and country. Mothers in these communties are afraid to allow their children out on the streets. This must end. Not only is it a violation of Human Rights guaranteed by the UN Charter, it is also in violation of natural law, domestic law against the use of excessive force, and common human decency. This must end.