People all over the world are standing up against the recent horrific murder of George Floyd at the hands Minneapolis Police and what is an endless line of police murders dating back centuries.
The state of Minnesota where the murder of George Floyd took place, is a historically diverse place and also the birthplace of the American Indian Movement. It also has a long history of uniting against social and environmental injustices. Photo courtesy of Jeff Schad Imagery
Our struggles are inherently intertwined with those of the Black Community. The Indigenous Peoples Movement views all members of the African American community and all African people as Indigenous People. Africa experienced the same horrific colonization at the hands of European settlers as many Native tribes of North and South America. The United States after all was created upon land stolen from Native Americans and the backs of a people stolen from their lands. Statistically, the two groups most likely to be killed at the hands of police in the United States are African Americans and Native Americans. We cannot stand idly, we must unite against our common oppressor.
We have been working diligently with our coalition members and partners around the world to eliminate the borders of our injustices! Our mission is to unite Inidgenous peoples from across the world to stand together to bring awareness to the issues affecting indigenous peoples.
All across the world, people are outraged by the systematic racism that is affecting our community. Just to name a few…
London:
Protests in London have filled the streets to show solidarity with American protesters as well as shedding light on the police brutality against black people across the UK.
Australia:
At least 20,000 attended the Sydney march which passed off peacefully, except for ugly scenes when police officers used pepper spray on protesters who had flowed into Central station after the rally finished.
West Papua:
The people of West Papua have been struggling for freedom from Indonesia’s colonial occupation since 1963. Over 500,000 civilians have been killed, and thousands more have been raped, tortured, forcibly disappeared, and imprisoned. The Indonesian Government has banned international media and human rights groups from operating in West Papua, ensuring that news about what is happening there rarely reaches the outside world. Visit https://www.freewestpapua.org to get involved.
Brazil:
In Rio De Janeiro, Brazil police killings skyrocket as the country deals with the highest number of Covid-19 cases in S.America. People take to the streets in Manaus to protest against Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, accusing him of racism, and recreate the police killing of unarmed black man George Floyd in the United States.The number of police killings rose 28% percent from April 2019-April 2020. The majority of the victims are black youth in the country's poorest favelas where the police forces have adopted a shoot first ask questions later policy for entering the areas. Also, in Brazil, while the world is distracted by a global pandemic and a long list of other global issues, Brazil's fascist president Jair Bolsonaro continues to devastate Indigenous lands in the Amazon. The forest loss is expected to dwarf the loss in 2019, experts predicting a 171% increase in forest loss in 2020 compared to 2019. On top of that, the Indigenous people of Brazil are dying from Covid-19 at an alarming rate, with a mortality rate nearly double that of the rest of Brazil.