US ruling class pursuing ‘policy of 21st century apartheid’: Journalist

The US ruling class and its two main political parties, the Republicans and Democrats, “are pursuing a policy of 21st-century apartheid,” according to an African American journalist in Detroit.

Abayomi Azikiwe, editor at the Pan-African News Wire, made the remark during a phone interview with Press TV on Saturday while commenting on US President Joe Biden’s criticism of his administration’s treatment of Haitian migrants at the southern border.

“To see people treated like they did, horses barely running them over and people being strapped. It was outrageous. I promise those people will pay,” Biden said on Friday after images and videos circulated of American border patrol agents on horseback using whips on migrants seeking asylum.

Vice President Kamala Harris also condemned the US treatment of Haitian migrants at the southern border, saying images of American border patrol agents on horseback whipping the migrants evoked "times of slavery.”

In an interview broadcast on Saturday, Harris said the imagery, which circulated widely on social media, reminded her of tactics “used against the Indigenous people of our country" and that have "been used against African Americans during times of slavery.”

“Human beings should not be treated that way,” Harris added, referring to photos and videos of Border Patrol agents chasing and beating up migrants.

Images appeared of riders on horseback rounding up Haitian migrants and using their reins in an aggressive manner. The brutal treatment of the migrants by the border agents drew a swell of criticism toward the Biden administration's handling of the issue.

America remains ‘A White Man's Country’

Abayomi Azikiwe, editor at the Pan-African News Wire, said, “President Biden can make statements that seem to criticize his own administration's handling of the Haitian migrant crisis; however, the reality is that thousands of people were ethnically cleansed in Del Rio, Texas with no political response from the White House until the people were removed completely on Sept. 24.”

“The hostile policy towards migrants from Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America is not a new phenomenon. This posture is designed to continue to ensure that America remains ‘A White Man's Country.’ Although the population of people of color in the United States is rapidly increasing, rather than enhance democratization and social equality, the ruling class and its two political parties, the Republicans and Democrats, are pursuing a policy of 21st-century apartheid and Jim Crow,” he added.

“These migrants from Haiti being of African descent were not even given any rights to due process which is purportedly guaranteed until the Constitution as well as international law. The events over the last week in Texas has further exposed the hypocrisy of the ruling interests of the US which routinely criticizes countries around the world which mainly have dark skin peoples or do not fit into the Western European descendant model considered as acceptable in US society,” he noted.

US has interfered in Haiti for centuries

The journalist said, “Biden will continue to be condemned even by more conscious people in his own party until there is comprehensive immigration reform embedded in US law.”

“Due to centuries-long interference in the internal affairs of Haiti, Washington and Wall Street have an obligation to address the issues arising out of the legacy of blockades, occupations and economic exploitation,” he said.

“Haitians must be granted immediate temporary protective status with a path to residency and citizenship. This is the only response which could move towards rectifying the current situation,” the analyst concluded.

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