The killing of an unarmed black man by white police over the weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota, underscores that police brutality against African Americans continues unabated in the US, an author and social activist in Washington.
Jamar Clark is “another name in the long, long list of unarmed black men and women, and people of color in general, who have been killed by the state sponsored apparatus of the police,” Solomon Comissiong told Press TV on Thursday.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think that it’s going to end anytime soon. This is something that continues to be supported by everyone from the mainstream media to the US government to obviously the police itself,” Comissiong said.
The fatal shooting of Clark by a Minneapolis police officer has raised racial tensions in the city and led to a tense standoff between the police and protesters.
Clark, 24, was shot in the head Sunday during a scuffle with police and died at a hospital the next day.
Protesters who have camped out at the local police station since Sunday are demanding that police release video of the shooting.
“There’s been little to no accountability regarding police misconduct... police terror, police brutality, police killings that continue to go on pretty much unabated in the United States of America,” Comissiong said.
“Communities of color, especially African American communities and Native American communities continue to be the ones who are suffering the most,” he added.
Some community activists say racial disparities in Minneapolis, including high unemployment rates for blacks, a disproportionate number of arrests for minor crimes and inequities in housing and the school system, have been going on for a very long time.
"We call Minneapolis a tale of two cities: The best of times if you're white, and worst of times if you're black," said Nekima Levy-Pounds, president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP.