Black Lives Matter DC Core Organizer Aaron Goggans stated that “It’s not just a few white cops killing a few unarmed black men. It’s actually the state systematically creating up systems that are killing black people” and “it’s important to talk about the myth of black-on-black crime as just that, a myth” on Thursday’s “CNN Newsroom.”
Goggans said, “Well, it’s important to talk about the myth of black-on-black crime as just that, a myth. Any Google search of the term can come up a lot of different articles.
He added that while he wasn’t saying black-on-black crime isn’t a problem, “I’m saying that that intercommunity crime happens in all communities across the country, and it is a problem that the movement of Black Lives is focusing on. The movement of Black Lives is also focusing on state-sanctioned violence, which is a different thing. It’s not just a few white cops killing a few unarmed black men. It’s actually the state systematically creating up systems that are killing black people, both women, black children, black men, black queer, black trans, and black gender nonconfroming folks.”
Goggans further stated, “There are many folks on the ground in Chicago who are doing great work. You can look at The Interrupters. But really, I think it’s important that the media focus on the broader issues, and the systemic conditions that create both intercommunity violence, and state-sanctioned violence. It’s important that we talk about how the police are used in black communities. It’s important that we talk about, like in Flint, for instance, you have both the state and federal government refusing to govern, and refusing actually take care of the black community there.”
Goggans also argued, “I think we need to fight all the forms of injustice that [the] black community face[s]. And I think you can’t use black on black crime, or this myth that somehow white people are not also killing white people to obfuscate from the fact that the state is killing black people in America.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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