For Immediate Release: November 24, 2015
Contact: Michele Setteducato, 732-614-3818, michele@fitzgibbonmedia.com
New York, NY — Five protesters were shot and have sustained serious injuries after a group of white supremacists opened fire on an encampment of Black Lives Matter protesters in Minneapolis on Monday night. It is being widely reported that for several nights white supremacists have shown up to threaten and taunt the protesters, and that the shooters were equipped with bullet-proof vests.
The encampment and demonstrations were launched in direct response to the killing of 24-year-old Jamar Clark, who was fatally shot by the police earlier this month. Videos and statements on social media have been documented and released of white supremacists directing threats towards protesters, with no public response from local police officers. On social media as well as in the news, there have been multiple reports of police violence all week, escalating with the police spraying protesters with Mace following last night’s shootings.
Statement from Executive Director Rashad Robinson:
“Our hearts and minds are with everyone on the ground in Minneapolis, we hope for safety even as those on the front lines continue to confront the very conditions to led to last night’s horrific shooting.
More than 50 years after the civil rights movement, Black lives continue to be under attack. Peaceful protesters were gunned down while exercising their first amendment rights and the police responded by spraying those very protesters with Mace. There have been long-time concerns from the Black community in Minneapolis about white supremacist connections within the police department. The very president of the Minneapolis police union has been accused of having ties to white supremacists, and multiple charges of misconduct and police brutality targeting the Black community and Black fellow officers have been filed against him.
Meanwhile, this is happening mere days after presidential candidate Donald Trump, the Republican party’s leading nominee, published a grossly inaccurate image on his Twitter account, originally posted by a neo-Nazi, with made-up crime statistics meant to stoke the flames of violence, anger, intolerance and fear in the hearts and minds of his constituents.
Let this be a call to action for every person in America. The hard work of undoing systemic racism and building a country where black folks are free from both state and vigilante violence, cannot wait. Every presidential candidate has a plan to deal with ISIS but no plan to deal with the homegrown antigovernment terrorists and white supremacists who have been responsible for nearly twice as many murders in this country since 9/11. We are calling on all of them to make this a high priority agenda for their candidacy.
We stand in solidarity with the protesters in Minneapolis and across the country who continue to fight for justice and in support of a national people-led movement to transform policies, practices, institutions and culture that endangers Black lives. We are calling for a Department of Justice investigation not only into last night’s shootings but also into the negligence and the possible connection between white supremacist organizations and local police officers.”