The George Floyd Verdict and Asian Confusion

The issuance of a guilty verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the cop who murdered George Floyd lead to an interesting reaction among some of my very young, very sincere Pakistani friends. They all live in Pakistan, and are ardent supporters of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman political prisoner held by the U.S. government. Very active on Twitter, they launched a coordinated campaign to comment on Twitter posts issued by Black politicians, journalists, socialites, and others living in the U.S., relating to George Floyd. 

The only problem was the Pakistani youth, who had never set foot in the U.S., (and therefore seemed almost completely unaware of racial dynamics here), compared Floyd's suffering with that of Aafia (almost as if it were a contest!). They insisted that Floyd's family had gotten justice, and now so should Aafia. They were commenting (on Twitter) on almost every post a public personality issued about the George Floyd verdict. Their comments were taken as highly offensive by some Black activists and writers. And not surprisingly, the Pakistani youth were blocked by the Tweet authors. The Pakistani youth seemed bemused as to why anyone would be offended by what they'd written or block them, when they were just trying to get justice for Aafia.

Since the youth and I were all members of a small "Free Aafia" WhatsApp group, I gave them this free advice over that medium:

"I've been reading the discussion here on trying to use the occasion of the George Floyd verdict to get attention for our sister Aafia's case. As a Pakistani who has grown up in the U.S., I would strongly discourage this. Black people suffer on a daily basis under police brutality and oppression in the U.S., even though they are born here. They are generally very sympathetic to the plight of Dr. Aafia when they are told about it. And- I've had many of them stand with me in protests here for Aafia, when most US-based Pakistanis are too cowardly to do so. The Pakistanis, in my opinion, are more concerned about what might happen to their nice jobs, image, etc if they speak out for Aafia.

A very large percent of Pakistanis as well as Arabs living here in the U.S. are doing great, in terms of dunya. And they don't care either about Aafia, or about Black Americans who are suffering under police brutality/racism. Many of them have convenience stores in the Black areas ("ghettos"). These areas are typically very poor, and have very few nice grocery stores etc to buy healthy food. The Arab and Pakistani convenience store owners sell liquor and cigarettes to Black people. It gives a bad name to Muslims.

The shop owner who called the police on George Floyd was an Arab Muslim. He thought Floyd was shoplifting/stealing some very minor item from his store, so he called them. But, he did not have to. His shop was similar to the ones I describe. (He apologized later, but the damage was done.)

The best thing Pakistani Muslims can do, in my opinion, is to support Black people in their struggle against racism and White Supremacy. And that is a struggle for justice which Muslims can support. (In fact, Qur'an Kareem commands us to stand with all oppressed people.) We do not need to compete with them on who is more oppressed, or try to overshadow their struggle.

In other words, I would strongly recommend keeping the two issues (justice for George Floyd and the Aafia Siddiqui case) separate."

Standing with Black Lives Matter-Columbia

So I finally made it to my first Black Lives Matter-Columbia vigil today, a few hours after completing the B&A Trail Marathon. The vigil is held at a very busy intersection at one of the entrances to Columbia Mall. It was an excellent turnout, with an entire shoulder on one side of the road filled with folk holding signs saying "Black Lives Matter," invoking the names of Philando Castille and other victims of police murders; decrying the school-to-prison pipeline; or calling for justice for all. There was a smaller but energetic group of activists on the other side of the road as well.

I stood with the larger group of activists in my shalwar kameez, seemingly the only Pakistani in attendance (unfortunate because the Columbia area has a very sizable Indo-Pak population).

Amazingly, the young white woman next to me, whom I'd met at a recent NAACP meeting, was also a marathoner. (She was preparing to run Boston in a little more than a week!) She told me she attends the vigil each month. I carried a sign saying "We stand with the family of Terrence Sterling; Stop Police Murders," which I'd hastily penned after running the 26.2 that morning.

Sterling was a 31-year old resident of Fort Washington (a DC outskirt). In 2016, he was riding his motorcycle--unarmed--when he was shot in the neck by police, who claimed he deliberately backed his motorcycle into a police cruiser. No criminal charges were brought against the officers involved.

Participants at the BLM-Columbia vigil were of all races and ethnicities, with a high degree of White participation. The Howard County NAACP chapter was there in force. Numerous candidates running in the upcoming local elections were also present. The vigil was entirely peaceful, with the greatest perturbation being the constant beeping of horns by passing motorists in support of the vigil.

It was a great day to stand up for justice.

Tyrone West Anniversary Protest

By Nadrat Siddique
Special to the New Trend

July 18, 2014

Baltimore, MD -- Tyrone West was a tall, dreadlock-sporting Baltimore native who grew up on the city's east side. He loved his family, sporty cars, and his artwork, and had a joie de vivre about him. On July 18, 2013, Tyrone's life was snuffed out, when he made one "wrong" maneuver in the vicinity of Kitmore and Kelway Road, not far from Morgan State University. Police noticed him driving under the speed limit as he went over a speed hump on a quiet side street (Kelway), and stopped him. They pulled him out of his vehicle, it is said, by the locks and started beating him. According to the States Attorney's report, they hit him with batons on the knees to get him down. However, eyewitnesses report far greater use of force, saying Tyrone was surrounded by a "sea of blue" and that police continued to punch and to kick him even after he was already down. When it was over, Tyrone lay dead. He had not been charged with a crime, arraigned, tried, or convicted. He was a victim of a police force of control and unaccountable to the People.

Ten to fifteen police officers, including a Morgan State University police officer, were identified as participating in the murder. None of them was suspended or fired. The States Attorney Gregg Bernstein, known for his racially predicated prosecutions--and withholding of prosecutions--did a perfunctory investigation and found the officers had acted according to police protocol. Despite a plethora of eyewitness testimony supporting the view that excess force had been used against Tyrone, not a single indictment of a police officer was handed down in the case, leading many to surmise that the police were above the law in Baltimore (as in many other major cities). When Bernstein was unseated in the subsequent election by a relatively underfunded and lesser known challeger, many said the West case had been a determining factor--one one-sided prosecution too many. In the meantime, Tyrone's murder still went unprosecuted and the medical examiner's office continued to withhold the complete autopsy report.

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On the one-year anniversary of Tyrone's murder, activists and supporters of the West family rallied at the site of the murder. The event was called by the family and facilitated by a local grassroots collective called the Baltimore Bloc. The activists included young and old; Muslim, Christian, Jew, and atheist; Black American, Asian, African, Caucasian, and Native American; students, blue-collar workers, health care workers, attorneys, candidates for office, and even a delegate.

The candidates included David Anthony Wiggins (Baltimore City Sheriff candidate, running on a platform against police brutality and judicial corruption, and for the empowerment of the People); Russell Neverdon, Sr., (candidate for States Attorney); and Duane G. Davis (candidate for Lieutenant Governor). Wiggins, Neverdon, and Del. Jill P. Carter (Maryland House of Delegates) spoke, expressing solidarity with the family.

Wiggins promised that when elected Sheriff, he would prosecute police engaging in abuses such as that against Tyrone West, as this was a power endowed to the Sheriff (Editor's note: Sadly, the standing Sheriff, Anderson, in office for decades, has never employed it in defense of his constituents, who, like West, are brutalized by police or otherwise abused by corrupt government officials).

Several Christian preachers, including Baltimore's social conscience Rev. Heber Brown III (Pleasant Hope Baptist Church), Rev. Kinji Scott, and Rev. C.D. Witherspoon, were present. Masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen, in Baltimore's Govens neighborhood, sent its imam, Dr. Kaukab Siddique, mosque administrator Ashira Na'im, and a contingent of half a dozen others to "stand with the family of Tyrone West and all victims of police brutality." Red Emmas', a well known Peoples' bookstore, was also well represented at the event.

Baltimore native Abdul Salaam, a Muslim, was beat by police in a manner very similar to Tyrone West just 17 days prior to the latter's murder. Salaam, a soft-spoken, slightly built man, addressed the crowd briefly. He described how he had passed police conducting a stop near his home. The cops followed him home, pulled him out of his car, and attacked and beat him in his own driveway, in front of his 3-year old child. They claimed he was not wearing a seat belt (he has steadfastly maintained that he was wearing one). Salaam was body slammed to the ground twice at the start of the attack, hogtied (with his hands and feet behind his back), and beat further. He was never charged with a crime.

He eventually ran across the West family at one of their weekly protests, dubbed “West Wednesday,” and was shocked to find the similarities between their story and his. Most alarming was the fact that the two police officers who beat him--Chapman and Ruiz--were among those who had participated in the murder of Tyrone West. Both families were befuddled as to why the officers had been allowed to continue on the police force after attacking Abdul Salaam. If normal judicial procedure had been followed, they would have been removed after the attack on Abdul Salaam, and hence been unable to participate in the attack on Tyrone West. Abdul Salaam and the West family have since joined forces and filed a civil suit against the police.

Initially torn by whether or not to hold the event at the very spot where the murder occurred, with all its horrific associations, the West family eventually decided to proceed with it. Despite the emotional toll involved, the family felt they owed it to Tyrone to come together at the very spot where a completely gratuitous act of savagery took his innocent life. They released black balloons, shared Tyrone's beautiful art, received messages of solidarity, said prayers, and marched. They left just before sunset with the awareness that their beloved Tyrone had not been forgotten.

© 2014 Nadrat Siddique

A Day of Amr Bil Mauroof and Nahi Unal Munkari

Muslim Activists and Others Rally at MLK Day Parade, Challenge Mayor, Governor, States Attorney, and Police

By Nadrat Siddique

It was an unusual and thought-provoking day at Baltimore’s MLK Day Parade. As much of the crowd jumped and pranced as if at a football game, an adhoc group of activists, calling themselves the "No More Jim Crow Justice" Contingent, brought attention to critical issues in Baltimore. It was one of the first times that parade-participants and attendees alike were challenged to consider the cynicism of holding a parade in the name of a man who fought for race and class equality--in a city where neither exists. The  activists carried signs bearing messages such as "NO—to Baltimore’s System of Jim Crow Justice” and “King Had a Dream?? Tell That to Baltimore Killer Cops.”

The parade start was announced, and the procession slowly began, led by the Governor, the Mayor, and the States Attorney.  Suddenly, one of the protestors, David Anthony Wiggins, shouted through a megaphone at the smug trio “You have blood on your hands!” He demanded justice for Maurice Johnson, Anthony Anderson, Tyrone West, and other Black men murdered in cold blood by racist police in Baltimore. Wiggins, who is a senior fellow at the Baltimore Black Think Tank and considering a run for Baltimore City Sheriff, told the trio “You have the power to stop police brutality.” His previous run for Sheriff propounded a platform emphasizing accountability for public servants, including police.

Float after feel-good float passed, only to be challenged by the band of committed activists, who were strategically located near the Master of Ceremonies booth.  

Planned Parenthood—known for its racist roots—was challenged for its complicity in population control. More recently, the organization pushed for Norplant, Depo-Provera, and similar birth control devices amongst Baltimore’s Black population on a scale unparalleled in other populations here. White Supremacist organizations, often-times in cahoots with the government have a history of similar practices on Native American reservations, where vast numbers of indigenous women have been sterilized against their will.

The primarily Black drivers of a fleet of corvettes were tossed questions on the infrequently discussed topic of D.W.B. (Driving While Black). The Jerusalem Temple No. 24 Prince Hall masons (Freemasons) were challenged for their grab of world markets.  A Black Motorcycle riders club was asked to "Ride Against Police Brutality."

In a sign that officials are aware that Baltimore—rife with corruption, social inequality, and massive disenfranchisement of the majority Black population—is a pressure cooker, and that failure to allow some dissent might result in a broad scale unrest, a limited number of progressive groups were permitted official participation in the parade. The Workers and Peoples Assembly and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union--both protesting abuses against drivers by Veola;  Healthcare Now;  Veterans for Peace; Community Mediation; and others proudly marched in the parade. The Women in Black, an anti-war group active against the Iraq War since its inception, with its eye-catching props of women in hijab, drew a great deal of attention from the crowd. One of its members carried a sign de-crying the use of drones.

Nearing the end of the parade, a phalanx of police marched down the parade route. Before they could reach the MC’s booth, Wiggins, followed by the growing group of activists, walked up on them. “No more killer cops! Justice for Maurice Johnson! Justice for Anthony Anderson! Justice for Tyrone West,” he shouted via megaphone at the Boys in Blue. Some of the police twittered. Wiggins waxed didactical. “I know you’re not all bad cops,” he said. “If you’re not a bad cop, turn in the bad cops.”

It seemed the phalanx was surprised. With the cushion of a (Zionist) attorney general, Greg Bernstein, ready to exculpate any officer accused of wrongdoing on the wrong side of the railroad tracks, they seemed unaccustomed to any organized challenge.

Activists, whose near and dear ones had been murdered by police, loudly shamed the police contingent, which was now at a standstill. A female activist, whose boyfriend was murdered by police, took the megaphone to chastise them for crimes against the population they ostensibly served. Some of the police appeared embarrassed or chagrined, while others were in denial. A lone Black woman supporter of the police, carrying a placard bearing an American flag, approached the scene, commending the police on their work in the community. Interestingly, as the police phalanx bore down the parade route, the primarily Black crowd thinned, until the few who were left ran off. It was clear they did not view the police as their friend. And—in yet another indication of the deeply compromised state of the local corporate media—Fifth Branch of the Government, some would opine—a major challenge to government officials and police earned scarcely a passing reference, not even for the purpose of selling papers with news of the highly unprecedented action.

In another groundbreaking development, members of Masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen, a small grassroots mosque in the Govans area of Baltimore’s West Side, attended the parade in force. Clearly identifying themselves as Muslim, and operating on the principles of amr bil mauroof (enjoining the good) and nahi unal munkari (forbidding the evil), mosque members offered strong support to the protestors calling for an end to police brutality. Masjid members held signs saying “Muslims Honor Dr. King” and “Islam Advocated Racial Equality 1400 Years Ago.”