JOHN BROWN CAUCUS of SDS/MDS Statement on the NYPD Murder-Shooting

Why is the NYPD still shooting young unarmed black men?
How could the spectre of three African American males sitting in a car
unleash a barrage of police firepower (50 bullets) enough to leave one man
dead and two others fighting for their lives?
Rather than preparing for his wedding day, why was bridegroom-to-be Sean
Bell being zipped into a body bag?

We in the John Brown Caucus of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and
Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) strongly
condemn the latest shooting and cold blooded murder perpetrated by members
of the New York City Police Department.

We have watched this same scenario played out too many times at the hands
of the police.

We have seen the massacre of Amadou Diallo, the senseless homicide of
Qusmane Zongo, and the savage brutalization of Abner Louima and we say
what we are witnessing is a systemic pattern of police violence against
people of color.

We demand it be called what it is: state racism. The type of institutional
racism that advances the idea that a young black
man is a threat, worthy of suspicion, and should always be approached and
treated as a threat. It's the type of racism that suggests that the sight
of three young black men in a car requires several clips of
ammunition, as in this case, one officer had to literally stop shooting
and re-load before he could resume firing. Even officers of color are
susceptible to this kind of racism. The only two colors that really
matter
for this racism to persist are the black shade of the targets skin and the
set of ingrained presumptions and expectations that come from wearing a
uniform of blue.

This weeks shooting and murder fits into a long trail of police
misconduct and profiling. It is yet another in a history of racist
shootings, abuses and arrests, and we demand the police be held fully
accountable for their actions.

We urge all SDS/MDS activists to call actions on their campuses and in
their communities to protest not only police violence against people of
color but the internal colonization of people of color that facilitates
it.

We urge all civilians to join Copwatch organizations or to start one
should none exist in their community. Building wider public awareness of
ongoing police misconduct and brutality is essential to combating it and
external oversight and review is desperately needed.

FIGHT STATE RACISM! STOP THE MURDERS!