Black population
under attack by US system
Press TV has conducted an interview with Daniel Patrick Welch, political analyst from Boston, about the chaotic situation continuing for more than a week in Ferguson, Missouri even as National Guard troops arrived to confront protesters angered by the fatal shooting of an unarmed African-American teen by a white policeman.
What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview
Press TV: Daniel Patrick Welch, it is very interesting what has happened here. We could talk about the police brutality, we could talk about the essence of what has been covered in the news on this which is basically this being a racially charged case.
But there has been comments come from certain corners saying that this more about inequality in the United States and it is more about the economic situation that pretty much characterizes a large percentage of African-Americans in the US and we see it boil over in this form and manner. Do you agree with that assessment?
Welch: I do actual point. I think that's absolutely correct that because African-Americans are overrepresented in the poorest part of the population that they are the first to come under attack and the most likely to rebel under such conditions.
Press TV: Well one of the things that is interesting is that a country like the United States given the fact that now it has had an African-American President for the past term and half nearing its end you would think that race would have subsided in terms of the outlet whether it is from the common average American or whether in this case of course the police and the way they actually view and handle African-Americans in general. And some stats indicate that the percentage has increased in terms of the way that people look at African-Americans.
What do you think that is? Is it the media? Is it from schooling? What do you attribute that to?
Welch: There are several things playing out. I think that one of the problems is that there are two very different realities being lived by African-Americans and white Americans and other Americans of color in this society and often times what we had with the promise of a post-racial society was just complete nonsense and the problem is that many white Americans have taken it on as a sort of a so there, well you have your black president so what else do you want?
I mean Trayvon Martin was not particularly poor and the attack is very closely race-based. It's difficult to explain to people who do not live in this society and even to many white people who do. My wife happens to be African and so half of my family is black. I know that raising black and brown children in this society means constantly watching out for them in case they are targeted by police and by the authorities in general.
Press TV: And finally this should teach a lesson to the police in general in terms of the tactics, the way they handle situations such as this one and we know that they have prepared themselves based on the Occupied Wall Street Movement, the DHS buying them million rounds of ammunition and also how there has been some senators who have been trying to pass laws to put the military deployment onto the streets of mainland USA.
Is the government going to take this as a learning lesson or are we going to see other cases happen in the future?
Welch: Either way it will be a learning lesson, I guarantee that. I'm afraid that instead of being the kind of learning that you are referring to, it is a training exercise to see how the general population responses to this kind of repression and how much they can get away with in the future.
There is a lot of evidence that the militarization of police is dramatically increasing and that this is basically the African-American population in the United States is the epicenter of global US hegemony and conquered it.
Finally this population is the beginning of absolute repression of any resistance to imperial designs.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Daniel Patrick Welch, political analyst from Boston, about the chaotic situation continuing for more than a week in Ferguson, Missouri even as National Guard troops arrived to confront protesters angered by the fatal shooting of an unarmed African-American teen by a white policeman.
What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview
Press TV: Daniel Patrick Welch, it is very interesting what has happened here. We could talk about the police brutality, we could talk about the essence of what has been covered in the news on this which is basically this being a racially charged case.
But there has been comments come from certain corners saying that this more about inequality in the United States and it is more about the economic situation that pretty much characterizes a large percentage of African-Americans in the US and we see it boil over in this form and manner. Do you agree with that assessment?
Welch: I do actual point. I think that's absolutely correct that because African-Americans are overrepresented in the poorest part of the population that they are the first to come under attack and the most likely to rebel under such conditions.
But there are separate things, the African-American population, whether they are poor or not, is under attack by this system and they have been since they were brought over in chains from Africa. You cannot separate, you cannot [conflict] them completely for the class and race aspects of this. Although I will grant you that it is part of a bigger iceberg of discontent over economic situation in the country.
Press TV: Well one of the things that is interesting is that a country like the United States given the fact that now it has had an African-American President for the past term and half nearing its end you would think that race would have subsided in terms of the outlet whether it is from the common average American or whether in this case of course the police and the way they actually view and handle African-Americans in general. And some stats indicate that the percentage has increased in terms of the way that people look at African-Americans.
What do you think that is? Is it the media? Is it from schooling? What do you attribute that to?
Welch: There are several things playing out. I think that one of the problems is that there are two very different realities being lived by African-Americans and white Americans and other Americans of color in this society and often times what we had with the promise of a post-racial society was just complete nonsense and the problem is that many white Americans have taken it on as a sort of a so there, well you have your black president so what else do you want?
I mean Trayvon Martin was not particularly poor and the attack is very closely race-based. It's difficult to explain to people who do not live in this society and even to many white people who do. My wife happens to be African and so half of my family is black. I know that raising black and brown children in this society means constantly watching out for them in case they are targeted by police and by the authorities in general.
Press TV: And finally this should teach a lesson to the police in general in terms of the tactics, the way they handle situations such as this one and we know that they have prepared themselves based on the Occupied Wall Street Movement, the DHS buying them million rounds of ammunition and also how there has been some senators who have been trying to pass laws to put the military deployment onto the streets of mainland USA.
Is the government going to take this as a learning lesson or are we going to see other cases happen in the future?
Welch: Either way it will be a learning lesson, I guarantee that. I'm afraid that instead of being the kind of learning that you are referring to, it is a training exercise to see how the general population responses to this kind of repression and how much they can get away with in the future.
There is a lot of evidence that the militarization of police is dramatically increasing and that this is basically the African-American population in the United States is the epicenter of global US hegemony and conquered it.
Finally this population is the beginning of absolute repression of any resistance to imperial designs.
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