Confronting the Silence: November 3, 2015, United Nations
Panel Discussion
The View from America: Police Brutality and Structural Racism

This is a continuation of our report from the November 3 session at the United Nations ECOSOC Chamber in New York City that was convened to examine issues of structural racism in the African Diaspora as part of the UN’s ongoing effort to observe their recently-announced International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024).  Speakers from across the Diaspora, including activists, families of police brutality victims and well-known spokespeople such as legendary entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte fathered to lend their perspectives on the structural racism that people of African descent face every day.  The ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) Chamber was filled with activists, organizers and concerned citizens from New York, from across the Unites States and from around the Diaspora to listen to these analyses and, it was hoped, to begin to dialog and plan together on ways to turn the tide away from brutality and back toward justice.

This portion of our report includes statements from several speakers who gave perspectives from the United States.  We include the words of Alicia Garza (Black Lives Matter), Samaria Rice (mother of Tamir Rice), John Crawford Jr. (father of John Crawford III), Nicole Lee (Mothers Against Police Brutality) and Steven W. Hawkins (Amnesty International USA).

Alicia Garza
Black Lives Matter

Bruce Knotts, who chaired this session, introduced Alicia Garza as follows: “One champion woman who responds to the indifference toward Black lives is Alicia Garza.  She is an organizer, writer and freedom-dreamer.  She is the co-creator of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, a national organizing project focused on combating anti-Black state-sanctioned violence.  Alicia’s work challenges us to celebrate the contributions of Black Queer Women’s work within particular narratives of Black movements, and reminds us that the Black radical tradition is long, complex and international.  Please welcome Alicia Garza, as she reminds us that Black Lives Matter.”

According to an article on MSN (http://www.msn.com) titled One Slogan, Many Methods: Black Lives Matter Enters Politics by John Eligon for The New York Times, November 19, 2015, “The name Black Lives Matter was born when Alicia Garza, a California-based activist, used it in a Facebook post after George Zimmerman was acquitted two years ago in the killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, in Florida. She then teamed with two fellow activists to create the Black Lives Matter hashtag and social media pages. But the movement gained prominence after a white police officer killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, in Ferguson last year, and the Black Lives Matter founders arranged a national ‘freedom ride’ to Ferguson.”

These are the words of Ms. Alicia Garza, as she gave her analysis, supported by factual data, of the toll structural racism and the exercise of state power has taken on Black Lives.

“Good afternoon.  Thank you Chairman, thank you UN, and thank all of you for coming and being here this afternoon.  I start by saying that anti-Black racism saturates every aspect of our society in the United States.  In a country in which Black bodies were among the first currency in out economy, and where Black people were counted as three-fifths of a human being for the purposes of apportioning power to those who owned other people and away from those who were owned, it’s hard to find any system, any structure, any policy or practice that’s advanced by the United States that is not steeped in the our violent origins. 

“In 2014, Black people were 13.2% of our total population, yet this year alone, 960 people were killed by the police, with Black people being twice as likely to be killed as Whites or Latinos.  According to the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, every 28 hours in this country a Black person is murdered by police, security guards or vigilantes. 

“While Black men are more likely to be killed by the police, Black women are more likely to experience sexual violence at the hands of those who are sworn to protect and serve us.  Over the last ten years, women in prisons have increased by 138%.  90% of those women are single mothers, and often lose contact with their children forever.  In fact, we are the fastest growing prison population in the United States.  The majority of women who are locked up commit what we call ‘crimes of survival’ or ‘economic crimes’.  In fact, 80% of these women earned less than $2000 per year at the time of their arrests.  Black women are three times more likely than White women to be single heads of households with children under the age of 18.

“More than 21 transgender women, most of whom were Black, have been reported murdered since the beginning of 2015.  Though so many are not reported, and when they are reported they are misgendered, the average life expectancy of a Black transgender woman is 35 years old, and that is due to both murder and poverty.  Our mothers are being robbed of the ability to see our children grow up, and perhaps even have families of our own. 

“We are half the prison population in a country that incarcerates more people than anywhere else in the world.  Black women make 64 cents to every 78 cents that a White woman makes, to every dollar a White man makes.  Generations of structural racism have burdened Black communities with overwhelming debt, and today, while the typical White household is worth $141,900, the typical Black family in the United States is worth $11,000.

“One in 13 Black people born in the United States is unable to vote because of felony convictions, and the lawmakers in our country continue to pass restrictive covenants that deny Black people access to a robust democracy.  There are half a million undocumented Black immigrants within the borders of the United States, who are both criminalized for being undocumented and criminalized for being Black.  For Black people, especially those of us who exist at the intersections of gender, class, citizenship status and sexuality, it is a daily struggle to simply live while Black, much less thrive while Black.

“The United States has failed to adequately and robustly engage in truthful and honest reconciliation as it relates to the persistence, prevalence and dire consequences of anti-Black racism.  Any best practices or recommendations must be grounded in the willingness of the United States to admit that there is still a war on people of African Descent.  We question the ability of this nation-state to remain united, when people of African Descent are excluded, marginalized, disenfranchised, and murdered with impunity, and this misery is all sanctioned by the state.

“We agree with our allies at the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement that we need a comprehensive national plan of action for racial justice that looks at how to address the stark disparities facing people of African Descent in America.  We can drastically reduce the population of people of color, and especially Black people, in prisons and jails, by addressing disparities in our criminal system and in our economic system, paying attention to sentencing and diversion, investing in community programs that are culturally relevant, and interrupting bias with judges, prosecutors, district attorneys and, of course, the police.  We must end the Drug War as part of ending the war on Black communities.  An end to the criminalization of poverty and the militarization of civil society will go a long way in protecting the sanctity of Black life.  A social wage is required to ensure that all families have access to dignity in this country.  A more robust democracy with no barriers to access to it can only be achieved by the enfranchisement of Black people, which means enfranchising former felons and currently incarcerated people, and prohibiting any restrictions to access to democracy.

“Finally, perhaps most importantly, we must ensure that adequate resources are re-invested in Black communities that have been devastated by de-investment.

“Reparations for the Slave Trade, but also reparations … I’m going to say that again.  Reparations for the Slave Trade, but also reparations for the wealth that has been deliberately stolen from people of African Descent … is an important and relevant advance, especially in the context of predatory lending, sub-prime mortgages, and the gentrification that has ravaged Black communities for the last six decades.

“Let this Decade be the one where Black people throughout the Diaspora are seen as the solutions, the future to the sanctity of this world, rather than problems to be fixed.  Thank you.”

Samaria Rice
Mother of Tamir Rice, shot by Cleveland Police

We heard from two family members of young Black men who have been cut down in the last year by police murder.  First was Ms. Samaria Rice. Mother of Tamir Rice.  Bruce Knotts introduced her: “On November 22, 2014, her youngest son, Tamir Rice, 12 years old, was fatally shot by Cleveland police in Ohio.  Since that time, Samaria gas been engaged in a campaign to provide justice for her son’s death.  Ger life is dedicated to assisting children everywhere who suffer from official violence.  Please welcome Samaria Rice.”

Ms. Rice’s remarks were brief, personal and emotional.

“Hello everyone.  I’m here today, along with John Crawford Jr., Andrew and Deanna Joseph.  Our children are victims of police brutality.  My son, Tamir Rice, was 12 years old.  Tamir was shot and killed in less than two seconds vu Cleveland, Ohio police officer Timothy Loeman.  I want the world to know that letting a child out tom play, and never to return home, is a mother and father’s nightmare.  Tamir was a bright, loving child, who was very talented in many ways.  Tamir was a member of the Boy’s and Girl’s Club.  Tamir played many sports.  Tamir loved animals and arts and crafts as well.  Tamir was the glue, to keep our family flowing with love and laughter.

“Every morning I wake up, I think of Tamir, but I also wake up looking for change across this nation.  I wake up seeking justice for my son, and that’s why I’m here today.

“I would like to thank the United Nations for allowing me to speak.  I want to thank Bruce Knotts, and Grant Green, my team of attorneys, and my family and friends, and a special thanks to my Uncle Mike, who is here with me today.  May God bless this nation and this world.  Thank you.”

John Crawford, Jr.
Father of John Crawford III, victim of police brutality April 5, 2014 in an Ohio Walmart

Bruce Knotts introduced John Crawford Jr., father of John Crawford III.  His introduction implied that Mr. Crawford may not have intended to speak at first.  “I actually wanted to gave a father of a victim speak, and so, John, if you wouldn’t mind?”

Mr. Crawford agreed, and he clearly had something to say.

“First of all, I’d like to say praise to the Most High for allowing me to be here in sound body and mind.  Secondly, I would like to thank the High Commissioner and the UN for having me here.  Thanks for the invite.

“I must be honest and say that there’s a dichotomy that exists between my spirit right now, because I’m very grateful to be here, but at the same time I’m appalled.  Because it’s 2015 and we’re regressing and not progressing. …

“My son, along with Tamir – his name was John Crawford III – he was killed in a Walmart, last year on August 5, four days prior to Michael Brown and the situation in Ferguson manifested itself.  It was essentially a prank call by a guy – he was ‘swatted’ in criminal terms – he was ‘swatted’, and they came and shot him in thirty-three one-hundredths of a second.  So as you can imagine, that’s literally the blink of an eye.  So you can imagine, once we saw the footage, we were just overwhelmed.  But, keeping this thing in context, I hear all of this great dialogue and the perceptions are on point, but my background is in criminal justice as well … and I’m glad to be here in that regard because I get a chance to give homage to my African Ancestors and comrades.  Thank you for help in shaping my reasoning and rationale.  I appreciate that.

“What do we do?  The fundamental question I’m going to ask as a father, and there’s not many of us on the [speaking] circuit – I’m here with Mr. Joseph, Andrew Joseph – and there’s not many fathers on the circuit.  What so we do when we see things?  I’m hoping that this is a platform for me, personally, as well as Samaria and the parents to utilize and apply pressure, if you will, to the system because we could sit here and have dialog all day, and it’s great, we need to have it, it’s definitely needed.  However, if you know the problem, what do you do to combat the problem?  What is the resolution?  How do we get together and apply pressure?  And my argument was, until you have am equalitarian agenda, we can’t expect the oppressor to help the oppressed.

“Our condemnation is our contentment.  We’ve got to stop being so content. … 

“But then you hear the same stories with the officers involved, saying, ‘Well, I felt threatened for my life.’  They have misused – the law is the law, and it’s there, the Fourth Amendment [freedom from unreasonable search and seizure] is clear to me – but what is ‘reasonable’ in a court of law? … When you look at that aspect of it, when you look at the jargon … this is now they’re getting off.  You want to know how?  This is how.  They’re saying, ‘What is reasonable?’  When the prosecutor is going there to prosecute, he says, ‘What is reasonable?’  Well, that’s in there, that’s in the language.  However, the reasonableness is still predicated on something called ‘eminent risk of danger’.  So you must be at eminent risk of danger first, before something is found reasonable.  And this is the thing that we’re not addressing, frankly. 

“So I would like to find a way to use the UN as a platform to apply pressure.  When you’re disproportionate in numbers, as we are in government, when you don’t have enough Blacks in there to leverage the playing field, how do you expect to get results?  We can talk until we’re blue in the face, but until we become equal where the power structure is, the infrastructure is going to be Business As Usual. 

“And so, that’s my plea.  That’s the primary purpose that I’m here, is to try to form alliances.  When you’re economically disproportionate, you don’t have any power.  You’re powerless.  What so we do?  We know what the problem is.

“All of the speakers prior to myself so eloquently stated a lot of the problems.  And some of the solutions.  But now I ask, how do you go about the implementation of some of those solutions?  What do we do?  Do we get in a closed room, along with legislation?  And what do we do from that point? …

“In summation here … and I agree with you, Samaria, until there are proper sanctions given, it’s going to be Business As Usual, and I say that we are on the verge of a civil war here, and I’m trying to figure out along with yourself, all of this intelligence in the room right now, all the diplomats, all the intelligence, a lot of the power is right here in this room, right now.  What do we do to combat this civil war, in real language?  What do we do to implement a strategy that says, ‘okay, you cannot take anyone’s life.  You must follow the Fourth Amendment and its practices.  You must follow the law and its practices.  And if you do not, these are the sanctions.’  And until you give these officers, until you give the systems sanctions … There must be sanctions given!  I can’t stress that enough, because this is the reason they’re killing with impunity.  It’s not by chance. … If there were some sanctions given, obviously, they would think about it.  The same way that civilians think about it.  The only reason that there’s not a flat-out war between civilians and law enforcement right now is, frankly, we think about it. …

“So, I simply would like to pose that as a question, and hopefully use this as a platform to make that happen, make that a realization.  Thank you for having me.  I thank you for your time.”

Nicole Lee
Mothers Against Police Brutality

“Pulling grieving mothers together, Nicole Lee is General Counsel for Mothers Against Police Brutality.  She is a highly respected human rights lawyer, and thought leader.  She is presently working with the Organization of American States Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ Initiative on Police Use of Excessive Force in the United States.  Please welcome this champion of justice.” – Bruce Knotts

“Thank you Chairman Knotts, and all those that organized this important gathering.  I’m Nicole Lee, I’m a Washington-based attorney, specializing in human rights, but today I am speaking in my capacity as senior adviser to Mothers Against Police Brutality.

“Mothers Against Police Brutality was founded by Collette Flanagan, after a Dallas police officer shot her son, Clinton Allen, to death on March 10, 2013.  Clinton, a 25-year-old African American father of two, was unarmed when he was shot seven times.  There were no charges brought in this official homicide.  No indictment.  No prosecution.  No trial.  No loss of pay for the officer.  No punishment of any kind.  It was out of this experience of unaccountable police violence that Mothers Against Police Brutality was formed.  Our work is grounded in the lived experience of mothers and families who have lost their loved ones to police brutality.  We seek to unite these mothers and families nationwide in positive action for change.  By assisting families, mothers against police brutalities, we try to lift up their authentic voice, too often the missing voice, in the national conversation about police violence against the public.

“The purposes of Mothers Against Police Brutality are to stop the killing of unarmed and mentally ill persons by law enforcement agencies, particularly the killing of Black and Latino men and women, and to change deadly force policies and practices.  In pursuit of these foals, we employ the full range of citizen action strategies: letter writing, face-to-face meetings with public officials, legislative testimony, vigils, marches, development of model policies, legal action, and coalition-building with other national and local groups.  Additionally, we seek specific steps to make our police departments more accountable to the public.  These are specific steps that focus on the pressure points surrounding police killings and brutalities that include special prosecutors to replace the ineffective and compromised District Attorney investigations, timely drug testing of officers, psychological evaluation and cultural competence of officers, and compensation for victims’ families, use of body cameras and standardized deadly force training, approved by the Federal Justice Department, also re-evaluation of the criteria for civil rights violations in police shootings, and a national database of problem officers.

“I would like to close with brief reflections on the role of women in this current movement.  We are the backbone, the strategists, and the visionaries of the movement against police brutality.  We are the leaders, the organizers and the foot soldiers.  Mothers and daughters are the most affected, plating valuable roles in these struggles for justice across the globe, not just in the United States.  In Argentina, for example, the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo played a strategic role in the movement against fascism, demanding justice for their children that were killed and maimed during the Dirty War.  Today, women are battling displacement, unjust evictions and sexual assault in post-earthquake Haiti.  In the Dominican Republic, civil society women leaders fight against anti-Blackness and state violence through policies that render Dominicans of Haitian descent stateless.  And in the United States, Black women have always played a crucial role in the fight against anti-Black racism, whether it was Ida B. Wells in anti-lynching campaigns, the organizing and civil disobedience of Rosa Parks, or the strategic planning of Dianne Nash.  The roles that women have played were crucial to the victories that have been won across centuries.  Today, as then, in the spirit of Mamie Till, mothers who have lost their children pit aside their profound grief, and take up the cause for the benefit of all mothers and children.  Countless women who may never be interviewed by the media are leading and sustaining the movement for change locally and nationally.  Even within our government, we see that Black women are plating an important part in reform.  But we in Mothers Against Police Brutality know that reforming the system is simply not enough.  Mothers and family members know all too well that reforming police forces does not eradicate state violence.  It is just one of the many manifestations of structural racism that keeps people of African descent from achieving our full potential.  Thank you.”

Steven W. Hawkins
Executive Director, Amnesty International USA

Mr. Hawkins spoke about his recent visits to Ferguson and to Baltimore, where the Freddie Gray trials are getting under way with the first officer’s case being heard, and from there he discussed how their research from those points led them to focus on issues of policy with respect to human rights and police violence. 

“Thank you all, and thank you to the High Commissioner and honored guests.  Amnesty International took to the streets in Ferguson and in Baltimore because we recognized the human rights crises that were unfolding here in the United States with respect to police use of force against citizens, and particularly Black youth.  What we recognized is that the police here in the United States are relatively ungoverned in terms of their use of force.  Amnesty, as a result of being on the ground in Ferguson and Baltimore, undertook a study, a 50-state study, of the laws on the books in every state within the United States.  What we found was shocking.  Nine states had no law codified whatsoever with regard to how the police should use lethal force in any given situation.  None of the states met the standards prescribed by the international community.  And as a result, we’ve put together some model legislation that comports with international standards, and I’m pleased to announce that Maryland and a few other states are looking at adopting law, Maryland being one of those states that had no law at all on the books, and hopefully will adopt the standards that Amnesty has put forth. 

“What we face in terms of policy in the United States is extraordinary in terms of the fact that we have 18,000 local jurisdictions, totally atomized, totally decentralized.  So that four deputies in some small town can determine whether someone lives or dies on any particular day.  That is outrageous.  And when I look at the national response to the crisis after 9-11, when we had, in this country, in the United States, thousands of local airports, big ones like JFK, but also small, regional airports in rural areas and so forth, but within one year, the Federal Government was able to act, and create TSA, and do something about this totally decentralized approach to airline security.  Well, I believe that we face another crisis in this country, and that’s the crisis of how Black youth are treated by the police in this country.  And if the Federal Government can respond to one crisis, it can respond to this one.  And I think the families of Tamir Rice, of Eric Garner, of Michael Brown, of Andrew Joseph, and so many others, call for this government, call for the United States government, to act, to react to this crisis the same way.  Thank you.”

In our next installment, we will see how these issues of structural racism and police brutality affect us not only in the United States, but they also impact upon African Descendant communities elsewhere in the Diaspora, from Brazil to Jamaica.