Stand in solidarity with the Black lives matter movement

Black people are dying in the US and no one is doing anything about it.

It is with concern that we have noted the recent killing of black people in different states of the United States of America by the police. In the context of the pervasive institutional racism that has for a long time plagued the US, it’s important that these are not seen as separate cases but along the same thread as the deaths that have taken place in the recent years. The murder of Alton Sterling and Philando Castille put the 2012 and 2014 killing of the teenagers Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown respectively into sharp focus. This is in addition to at least 136 black people killed in 2016, according to a project by the Guardian that tracks police killings in America.

The shooting of police officers by the former military officer cannot be seen in isolation but as a part of a response to the condition that black people are faced with. The time in which the police are allowed to unjustifiably shoot and kill with impunity has to come to an end.

In the spirit of the long-standing collaboration between progressive individuals and organisations in our respective countries and the need for an international solidarity network, we call on you to stand in solidarity and condemn the unnecessary deaths (in just two years) of;

-Dontre Hamilton (Milwaukee) April 30, 2014
-Eric Garner (New York) July 17, 2014
-John Crawford III (Dayton, Ohio) Aug. 5, 2014
-Michael Brown Jr. (Ferguson, Missouri) Aug. 9, 2014
-Ezell Ford (Florence, California) Aug. 11, 2014
-Dante Parker (Victorville, California) Aug. 12, 2014
-Tanisha Anderson (Cleveland) Nov. 13, 2014
-Akai Gurley (Brooklyn, New York) Nov. 20, 2014
-Tamir Rice (Cleveland) Nov. 22, 2014
-Rumain Brisbon (Phoenix) Dec. 2, 2014
-Jerame Reid (Bridgeton, New Jersey) Dec. 30, 2014
-Tony Robinson (Madison, Wisconsin) March 6, 2015
-Phillip White (Vineland, New Jersey) March 31, 2015
-Eric Harris (Tulsa, Oklahoma) April 2, 2015
-Walter Scott (North Charleston, South Carolina) April 4, 2015
-Freddie Gray (Baltimore) April 19, 2015

These are all killings that cannot be justified. Added to this is that the police officers involved have not been brought to book. South Africa is not immune to the abuse of authority by the state as we are starkly reminded by the recent unnecessary death of Andries Tatane in the struggle for basic services, the more than 34 miners who died fighting for a living wage at a Lonmin mine in the Marikana, Mido Macia, a Mozambican national who died in South Africa for no clear reason but trying to make a living. It is in this context that your pain is our pain and we sit with no alternative but to stand with you and the many other places in the world where black lives are not seen to matter.

The struggle we are in is a continuation from where the likes of President Nelson Mandela, Dr Martin Luther King and Malcom X among others left. We stand firmly behind the rallying call that #BlackLivesMatter and anyone or institution taking this for granted should face the full might of the law.

Let us not sit back and watch as our brothers and sisters are killed for no reason. Sign and share to show solidarity and support for those fighting for the lives of black people, alive and killed.

Read more:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/nicholasquah/heres-a-timeline-of-unarmed-black-men-killed-by-police-over

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/07/two-police-officers-shot-at-dallas-protest-rally-nbc-5-reports-amid-outrage-over-alton-sterling-philandro-castile-shootings.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-people-killed-by-police-america_us_577da633e4b0c590f7e7fb17