African Americans oppressed like Palestinians: Activist
An American activist believes that African Americans are oppressed and treated the same way as the Palestinians in the occupied territories are being victimized by the Israeli regime, Press TV reports.
In yet another shooting incident, an African American teenager was shot and killed by a white man following an argument over loud music in the US state of Florida. Officials said that 45-year-old businessman Michael Dunn shot and killed 17-year-old Jordan Davis on Friday in Jacksonville, Florida.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Dr. Randy Short, a member of the Dignity, Human Rights and Peace Organization in Washington, regarding the issue. The following is an approximate transcript of the interview.
Press TV: What is your impression about this, another racial profile killing?
Short: It is more of the same and you will find that the logic that will be given in defense, if you read what his attorney, Mr. Dunns attorney, said that he acted very responsibly and that he is a responsible fire owner.
He should have acted the same, well, under the circumstances. So you already see that they are going to basically make this a justifiable homicide which is basically a legal code for it is OK to kill black people in America, it is very similar to President Obamas saying that Israel has the right to defend itself when it slaughtered people in Gaza.
Press TV: If the case was the other way around, a black man shooting a white man in the same circumstances, what would the story be, do you think?
Short: No, remember that the young man was with 4 people. Had he shot that man, those other three guys would have been in jail even if they did not pull the trigger; the families would be accused; there would be a litany of how violent and dangerous black people are when we have been the victims of oppression and exploitation in this country for four hundred years.
Press TV: And do you expect any more protests taking place in the US?
Short: Well, it depends. If you need to understand that African American people are an internal colony group, we are very similar to the Palestinians. We are in a very similar situation. And so we have a very corrupt leadership.
By the way, I am with a group; we will be picketing the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on February 1 at their phony image awards because we want to get rid of a corrupt and wicked black leadership like Mahmoud Abbas for the Palestine Authority.
We do not have good leadership. The corrupt people like Al Sharpton are responsible for the murder of Trayvon Martin. Mr. Zimmerman, he is walking free. I mean more than a year, almost a year after he killed the kid, he is not even in jail.
So we have a very crooked, venal, cynical African American elite structure that is dignified to the one percent and it hates the 99 percent. They do not lead our people and they are responsible for allowing a huge number of murders of black people since this strange man, Barack Obama, became president. I mean murders are all over the place in this country.
We have lynching in Dover, Delaware and the vice presidents son Beau Biden, the Attorney General for the state of Delaware, refuses to stop lynching. We have people executed, hung ritually right now and nothing is being done.
Groups like the NAACP have refused to do anything about it. So our people are just sitting ducks for whoever wants to kill us.
PressTV - African Americans oppressed like Palestinians: Activist