Dear community,
On Monday, a St. Louis grand jury failed to bring charges against Ferguson County Police Officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed 18-year old Michael Brown.
This verdict is horrifying and devastating for Michael’s family, and for folks in Ferguson who have been organizing for justice and healing, and our hearts are with them. Also devastating is the fact that the verdict was unsurprising to communities where police and other state agents have shown systematic devaluing of Black people’s lives for generations. From police departments to courts and healthcare systems, institutionalized racism results in violence and death for our communities.
The uprising we are witnessing in Ferguson, St. Louis, Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and throughout the nation is also no surprise. Resistance is a form of healing, and organized resistance can transform oppressive systems and structures.
As grandmothers, mothers, sisters, and daughters, we understand the fear, horror, and outrage at the grand jury’s failure to indict Darren Wilson, and at this stark evidence of persistent racial bias that regularly turns deadly in encounters between police and Black bodies. We stand in solidarity with Ferguson and will see you in the streets. #BlackLivesMatter.
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About the Author: pwnusa
Reblogged this on Blackness, Queerness & Flows of Survivance.
Yes!!!!!!! We stand in solidarity with the family of Michael Brown and all young black men who are at risk of being gun-down while being “unarmed” Condolences to the family of the young child in Cleveland. Ohio…. My heart just cries for you….
So happy to see that this fantastic organization is standing in solidarity against another infringement upon bodily autonomy, the deprivation of life and liberty, and display of injustice. The discrimination evident in these recent criminal justice system fails, mirror those faced by women living with HIV. We must stand together.