US judicial system based on white supremacy: Activist

Press TV has conducted an interview with Yejide Orunmila, a member of the African People’s Socialist Party in Washington, to discuss the acquittal of a white police officer in who shot dead an unarmed black teenager in the state of Wisconsin.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Many accuse the American judiciary system of being full of flaws. Until when do you think white officers are going to walk freely like this?

Orunmila: The American judicial system is based on a worldwide system of white supremacy, and that is capitalism and imperialism. It is all tied into the foundation of having control over African people and control over other oppressed people of the world. That is the only it is able to function. And what we are seeing right now is the police acting in the United States in the manner in which they were established to control populations of blacks and other peoples who were not meant to be in this country, who they want to control in order to continue to exploit and oppress as a way to exploit and gain resources from my community.

And so therefore there is not going to be a change underneath this system. The change will only come only as Africans and other oppressed people can rise up and overturn this system that continues to oppress us and exploit us and kill us and murder us in the streets.

Press TV: Besides the judicial system, we are speaking at a time when police brutality is at its highest. What can be done to usher in a whole new police culture do you think?

Orunmila: I do not think that the police brutality or violence is at its highest. I think what we are seeing now is we are seeing more visual and more stories come to light. This has been happening since this country was established. It is a purveyor of violence. It continues to kill and maim people especially African people, it hung people from trees, it murdered people in mass, it burnt down entire villages and communities of black people, it murdered the Indians. This is the continuation of a culture that is part of the fabric of the United States.

So in terms of white officers, I think that we have to understand that whether they are white or black or any other color, ... it is their responsibility to act in the interest of the people that control them, which are white people. And so we need to understand that when we band together as people who are just tired of seeing this violence, we have a chance now to have power in our hands by really taking it to the streets and really pushing the agenda being bold and being action-based.

Press TV: Speaking about those demonstrations you are talking about, they say if it weren’t for the demonstrations, the six officers involved in the Baltimore case would have not been arrested. How far do you think the people are going to take their demonstrations?

Orunmila: I think the demonstrations are going to be taken as far as they could possibly go. What we are calling is for people to get organized. So it is great to go out into the streets and really bring the type of power and bring the type of response but the reality is that whether or not these cops have been indicted, let’s see if they are going to go ahead and be put to jail. Let’s see if all six of them go to jail for the murder of our people and we have to get organized. That is the fundamental question. How are we going to change this system and we cannot do that by just being angry and going to the streets for ten days. We need to change our relationship to the police, we need to change that relationship to the state and the government.

AHK/HSN

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