FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 28th, 2020
WASHINGTON D.C. — The Afghan Diaspora for Equality and Progress (ADEP) issued the following statement in response to the incident that resulted in the death of George Floyd:
“Yet again, we find ourselves horrified having to bear witness to police brutality in our country. Since Monday, reports and videos from Minneapolis recorded and exposed the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year old African-American man, at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers. Floyd is the most recent victim of state-sanctioned police brutality, marking the 1,014th murder by U.S. police in the past year. Violence towards black communities has been the norm in America for too long. But it does not diminish our outrage or our demand for justice.
We are furious that the machinery of white supremacy and state-sanctioned violence does not rest even during a pandemic. It’s been 8 years since Trayvon Martin, 6 years since Eric Garner, 5 years since Sandra Bland, 7 months since Atatiana Jefferson. Time and time again, efforts to correct the system have failed for the system is working precisely as intended: to police and harm black communities.
We stand in solidarity with the families of George Floyd, Breona Tayler, Ahmaud Arbery and all other victims of police brutality. We will continue to yell “BLACK LIVES MATTER” until black lives matter.
As Afghan-Americans, we must recognize and challenge our biases and complicity in anti-black racism. Are we confronting racism in our own household when the n-word is thrown around? Are we doing enough to resist relying on a police system that ends up harming our black neighbors, friends, and families? Many of us feel angry and hopeless but we can be better allies and be more critical of one another by having more uncomfortable conversations in our social circles and by standing in solidarity with the oppressed.”
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