For Immediate Release: Monday, Nov. 24, 2014
Contact: Donna De La Cruz, [email protected] (202) 339-9331
Community Change Condemns Unjust Darren Wilson Decision
(WASHINGTON)—Kica Matos, Director of Racial Justice and Immigrant Rights at the Center for Community Change, condemns the grand jury’s decision in the Michael Brown shooting case in Ferguson, Missouri:
“To lose Michael Brown to a senseless, racially motivated murder was a moral outrage. To see the justice system fail his family and our community is beyond words.
On August 9, a newly minted high school graduate, bound for college and filled with the hopes of his family and pride of his community, lost his future.
Today, the legal system took the side of the police officer who shot him, and sanctioned one of the most brutal, over-armed municipal police forces in this country. This is an example of how the militarization of police is an obvious outgrowth of the climate of fear created by the demonization of the poor and African Americans.
The grand jury failure to find justice for one unarmed teenager will all but guarantee others will lose their lives to overzealous police officers who will be emboldened by Darren Wilson’s impunity. This decision is deeply offensive and a chilling reminder of how far America still must go to realize true racial justice. So it falls to our community to demand action.
Racial injustice stains every thread in the fabric of American culture, and all Americans have a responsibility to work to heal racial divides in their communities. We must not condone injustice by staying silent. We must stand and demand an end to police executions and the culture that permits them.
I urge those outraged by this decision to resist the pull toward violence and to instead channel their frustration into the work that is already underway by many activists and organizers to help citizens regain power in their communities. To create real change, community leaders and residents need to invest in the tools that will increase civic engagement and voter turnout of low-income and communities of color.”
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