‘American empire treats Blacks like a conquered people’
The American media does a good job lying to the world about how wonderful things are in post-racial America, in fact it is a failed human rights state, just like an empire, human rights activist Randy Short told RT.
In Charlotte, North Carolina an occasionally violent standoff has ensued between protesters and police.
The unrest started as a Black Lives Matter march over a fatal police shooting escalated into a full-scale riot.
On Tuesday, Keith Lamont Scott, 43, was shot and killed in a parking lot during a police search for a Black suspect.
During the ongoing street clashes, officers have resorted to crowd-control weapons, including rubber bullets and tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowds.
Some rioters hurled rocks at police and vandalized cars in the area.
RT: We've seen the tragic death of a civilian during the unrest in Charlotte, North Carolina. How dangerous is this situation?
Randy Short: This is the first time what has been happening in Charlotte has made the national news. There were several communal outbreaks as early as 2012. There were cases were at least one or two Black folks who shot themselves while handcuffed. There have been persons killed in their homes, or shot near their homes by police and this is now finally getting out. I think the people can’t take it anymore. In reality, the whole country is on edge. The American media does a wonderful job lying to the world about how wonderful things are in post-racial America. They have a liar in the White House by the name of Barack Obama, who thinks that Blacks who he can’t do anything about, for the police who he has militarized with combat-grade weapons. People don’t know what to expect. In America there are people wondering if you look like me, when the police come up am I going to get shot to death and are they going to lie and put some drugs on me and say I did that and of course they will win, or they will pay off someone. America is in a situation that is very obvious, that has been in this place for a long time. It is a failed human rights state as an empire. America is an empire. Just as much as there was an English empire, a French empire. And we are among the conquered people. And we are treated like conquered people.
"The thing is the police have been unleashed by the system to brutalize and even murder people and then when people refuse to continue accepting it, the police are unleashed to crush them standing up... The police are killing us, and everything that the system says you are supposed to do, people have done: they have elected officials who they thought would stop it, they have tried to get body cameras, they’ve held town hall meetings; tried to get reforms passed and still police continue to kill people and get away with it no matter how horrific the circumstances. And then they tell people, “Wait for the investigation.” But what is there to investigate? In Tulsa, Oklahoma the man had his hands up on the car and they shot him and they are saying “wait for us to investigate” and told outright lies that contradicted by the video. In Charlotte, they are saying “We have a policy that we can’t release the video.” So you should believe the police story until you learn different. But why should we believe them if they lie all the time?" - Carl Dix, founding member of the Revolutionary Communist Party.
RT: What's your take on the killing of Keith Lamont Scott? We've been hearing very different accounts from his family and police? Who should we believe here?
RS: There are always different accounts. Essentially, who are you going to believe? The people who get killed and shot down and oppressed or you are going to believe the powerful people who control the media, who can buy people. Are you going to believe these same people who told you that on 9/11 the building fell down because a plane hit it? Or that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction? What does it take people from the international community to recognize that the American elite lie just like any other oppressive elite…? Who would benefit from a Black man getting shot in the car? Certainly not the Black man or his family. Who would benefit from them saying that there is a gun if he didn’t have a gun? Ultimately, these killing are an act of social control and intimidation of a despised ethnic nationality grouping.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
