United States, failed human rights society: Activist

Press TV has interviewed Dr. Randy Short, human rights activist at the Autonomy Network Community Organization, in Washington, to discuss police brutality against African-American community in the United States.

What follows is a rough transcription.

Press TV:  Again we are speaking about police brutality in the United States that has become all so common. One the incident that took place in McKinney, Texas with a 15-year-old black teenage girl being slammed to the ground and then the white police officer sitting on her back. At one point actually sitting in a position that would remind me in many ways of what of course Eric Garner was saying ‘I can’t breathe’ because of the way he was sitting on her. Why are we seeing this just more and more and basically doesn’t seem like anything is being done because we continue to see the same thing?

Short: There is a human rights crisis in the United States. It starts with the power elite and then those who are puppets... There has always been violence against African-American people and the police are just the tip of the iceberg. This is the foundation of a society based on coercion and exploitation of people, in particular people of the African descent. This does not surprise me; in fact, I told you that Dallas area will be flashpoint for violence and protest. The police have been killing lots of people there like rabbits and it is not making the news but it doesn’t have to be Dallas and Chicago. Last week three blacks were stabbed multiple times and left for dead in Chicago. These things happen on a regular basis; the United States, the Anglo-American elite, and most people in the society have an existential hatred of people of the African descent.

Press TV: What has to be done? What can be done in order to stop this? We have been seeing more and more every week.

Short: Well, first and foremost, I also work with the Million Woman March movement. We are going to be issuing a declaration, demanding that something be done to protect the lives of African-American women and girls. This needs to happen. We don’t have leadership but we must have it; we need to be organized and we need to have international partners. Things like boycott as well as pushing the human rights crisis within the United States, which is a failed human rights society, needs to be put before the world. More people need to understand this and adjust their purchases and where they visit and which kinds of currency they wish to trade in. When there is pressure applied to the society, it will change but we have to make a change that won’t come through two parties, there is still more people cooperating with this association. There is time for a push for self-determination in freedom and human rights on the terms that restore and repair us, who have been victimized for hundreds of years and it continues.

MTM/KA

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