News / Interviews

US police ‘occupational force’ in black communities

Saturday, 11 April 2015 3:34 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 11 April 2015 3:37 PM ]

Police brutality against African American males is an “ongoing phenomenon,” says Abdul Alim Musa, a renowned public speaker and director of Masjid Al-Islam in Washington, DC.

Law enforcement agencies in the United States are an “occupational force” in African-American neighborhoods, which have brutalized minorities for centuries, a Muslim American activist says.

Police brutality against African American males is an “ongoing phenomenon,” said Abdul Alim Musa, a renowned public speaker and director of Masjid al-Islam in Washington, DC.

Police violence against blacks in the US has taken place for “hundreds of years” since the time of slavery but is beginning to receive more press coverage now, Musa told Press TV on Saturday.

“The black community has always been over-policed and extra-policed,” he complained.

“The police here are considered an occupation force in all black communities, we consider the police as an occupational force like the Israeli army occupies Palestine; we feel exactly the same way.”

Police treatment of African Americans and other minorities has become a big issue in the United States over the past year.

A newly released video shows a white police officer fatally shoot an unarmed mentally ill African-American man in Florida in February. The family of the victim, Lavall Hall, released the footage captured from within a police car on Wednesday.

A recent poll has found a significant distrust of police in the United States, where many Americans believe police unfairly target minorities and often lie for their own interests.

The killing of several unarmed black men by white police officers in recent months, and decisions by grand juries not to indict the officers, has triggered large-scale protests across the United States.

“There is a black male killed by the police on an average of every 28 hours, that’s almost one a day,” Musa said.

The activist said police reform requires a “wholesale solution” in the United States. “You’ll have to change the whole system.”

“There’s no way to stop police brutality by amending the laws, or changing a few judges, or police chiefs, or civilian review boards, or (through) body cameras,” he continued.

AHT/HRJ

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