The ongoing rash of police killings ranging from Salinas, Santa Rosa, San Francisco to Oakland, Fullerton, Albuquerque, and Anaheim, represents a clear and heartless message to the American people.
Besides leaving behind a trail of blood, and broken and grieving families and communities, the killings show that Americans of all hues and backgrounds are increasingly being considered worthless and disposable.
Paralleling the increase of military hardware being provided to local law enforcement as the Afghanistan occupation winds down is the mentality that views our youth, the unemployed, the homeless, and people simply exercising their democratic right to protest as “enemy combatants.”
Only by understanding that can we explain the use of deadly firepower instead of “non-functioning” tasers in Salinas, CA, for instance.
As human labor is increasingly replaced by new technology (which could benefit all society if it were in our hands), the lives and well-being of those who once produced the goods are now being sacrificed to the incessant pursuit of the bottom line and profit.
The corporations and the government that serves them—and the police forces that impose their will—have already indicated by their actions that they will not feed, clothe, and house the people in this country. Instead, they are killing them.
It is time to do something about that—not one more life cut short! From Oscar Grant’s family in Oakland, to Andy Lopez’s family and supporters in Santa Rosa, to the Salinas communities enraged over the slaughter in their backyards—people are joining forces and demanding justice.
This is an important and indispensable step in our struggle for a better world, one in which no one goes to bed hungry, where everyone has a decent and safe place to sleep, where everyone is free to pursue their dream of happiness, where our environment is preserved for future generations, and where there is a bright future for our youth.
The police should protect and serve us, not the corporations.
