By MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
(Audio available here.)
Guess what? The world is on fire. I’m not referring to environmental degradation or global warming here. No, although, that too is true.
I refer to protests – not just all across the United States, but all around the world. Protests from London to Paris. From Berlin to Nairobi. From Toledo, Ohio to Tokyo, Japan.
Protests in solidarity with Black Lives Matter against police aggression and racism. Protests stemming from the cruel brutality that led to the slow-motion killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The solidarity from Sydney, Australia stems in part from long-standing discontent from the “dark” Aborigines, the indigenous communities of Australia and New South Wales, who, like Black folk in America, have suffered from generations of state repression.
For example, the recent killing of David Dungay, an Aborigine who, like his brothers and sisters in America, last words? “I can’t breathe,” as they choked him to death.
How have police responded to this challenge? By having temper tantrums, and by attacking protesters – men, women, and even a 75-year-old white man, who was pushed to the ground as they stepped over his fallen, bleeding body.
America is on fire. And the world has caught the blaze.
This commentary was originally published at PrisonRadio.org and recorded by Noelle Hanrahan.
