News / Interviews

Police brutality part of America's law and order landscape

Thursday, 06 August 2020 1:59 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 06 August 2020 1:59 PM ]

A US policewoman stands on July 4, 2020 in front of a fence erected near the White House and where protesters have fixed images of Black people that they say have been killed by police, during a small standoff between police and protesters in front of Lafayette Square in Washington, DC. (AFP photo)

By Myles Hoenig

Some would think it’s surprising that Amnesty International would take on police abuse in the US, considering it has been part of the American law and order landscape since nearly its beginning. But it is welcomed. When President Obama violently crushed the Occupy Movement, AI took note of it, so it stands to reason they would highlight President Trump’s attacks on peaceful protesters in Portland.

AI has a proven track record of freeing political prisoners abroad and putting pressure on repressive governments. Unfortunately, the US is immune to such pressures. Leonard Peltier is still an American political prisoner in spite of AI. Over 2 million people are still in prison in the US, mostly due to laws broken that were designed to persecute people of color and the poor, drug use being one of them.

Trump’s attack on the Portland protesters is no different than many repressive governments putting down people’s revolts, as Occupy in the US was just one of many. The people are protesting police brutality and the targeting of black Americans in particular, as death by the police is far more common in that community than in any other. Trump, as always, magnified the problem by declaring many American cities run by Democratic mayors to be left wing radicals, anarchists, and unable to control its population during this temporary uprising by Black Lives Matter. That they are Democrats is the only thing he is correct about.

A number of these mayors are not only African Americans, but also use such words as ‘thugs’ to describe people expressing their frustrations and anger over how the capitalist system regards and treats them.

Former Mayor Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore and President Obama each called them thugs during the Freddie Gray uprising in 2015.

For now, the protests continue, still peacefully, but the federal storm troopers have pulled back. We’re only four months away from the presidential election and it’s very probable that Amnesty International will need to continue to condemn excessive use of police brutality before November.

Amnesty condemns excessive use of force by US police against protesters

Amnesty International USA says it has recorded over 120 separate incidents of police violence against protesters during May and June protests.

Myles Hoenig is a political analyst in Baltimore, Maryland. He ran for Congress in 2016 as a Green Party candidate. He recorded this article for Press TV website.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir