This is a first-hand experience as a "customer" (member and a person of color) to a business (non-profit). They treated me badly as I explain below, not taking me seriously because of my political conscience.
I received the following AI SMS today: "Stop Killing Black People - Demand Congress restrict the use of deadly force by police.
I also received the following tweet:
#JusticeforFloyd! Join Amnesty & Sign lil.ms/4tyn/5e8ifw. Demand Governor of MN Tim Walz hold those responsible for George Floyd's death accountable.
I responded to the SMS but received no response even though
I have donated several hundred dollars in the past to Amnesty International.
In view of what AI's recent decision to politicize the case of George Floyd, and its refusal to respond to message, I cannot do this any longer. They will not take me off their membership rolls and continue to ask me for money.
*****
Where is the evidence that the police in any locality shoot and kill black people more frequently than they do white people for the same crime?
I think AI is making claims that need to be corroborated by more than just emotion. I refuse now to donate to AI as its actions promote the very violence that it decries.
It needs to stay to objective, otherwise its work is worthless and not credible. Why be concerned if one cannot be sure that AI itself cannot corroborate its claims?
*****
Less than a year ago, a Somali-American policeman shot and killed an unarmed [white] woman who had called to report what she thought was a crime occurring behind her house.
I don't recall AI calling for that policeman's head in order for justice to prevail.
In the particular case above, the [white] policeman has already been charged with third-degree murder. Protesters have gathered outside the man's home; his wife has announced she will divorce him. Having the national media focus on them must be horrible, much as I deplore the clear overuse of force in this case.
The other police officers included two Hmong-Americans. There is no indication that race was involved. There is no proof that another police officer would have done any differently, even if the man had been white, Asian, Hispanic, etc.
It's not clear Mr. Floyd died of suffocation. Mr. Chauvin obviously did not believe that Mr. Floyd would die or know the man had a heart condition.
He would be stupid to kill a man just because of his race and think he could get away with it. He may have thought Mr. Floyd was bluffing.
Is the assumption that when a black is killed by a white cop, it is always unjustified and another case of "killed while walking & black"? Given crime rate demographics, it may be a rare occurrence.
Where is the proof that white officers do anything differently to white suspects resisting arrest?
Plus, we know how rarely black men are brutal.
If a white uses force against a black, does it have to be racist rather than that's how guys behave in tough situations?
"The latest in a series of studies undercutting the claim of systemic police bias was published in August 2019 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences...the more frequently officers encounter violence suspects from any suspects from any given racial group, the greater the chance that a member of that group will be fatally shot by a police officer. There is no significant evidence of anti-black disparity in the likelihood of being fatally shot."*
Whether Mr. Chauvin receives a sentence more lenient than that which has in the past meted out to other policeman in the same situation is a different matter. That is very unlikely given the political pressures.
This is a tragedy, and for AI to politicize, is in my view plain wrong. It is also hypocritical.
It's not as if police in certain areas enjoy shooting up innocent people? I suspect they are dealing day to day with violent criminals, which is perhaps why resisting arrest is a crime.
Mr. Floyd was not just a black man who was out for a stroll in downtown Minneapolis. He was not a peace protester. He had committed a crime and resisted arrest.
The 6'4" former quarterback and bouncer had been convicted for armed robbery in which he held a gun against the stomach of a pregnant woman. For that he received 5 year prison sentence.
I lived through the Civil Rights Movement and was a conscientious objector against the Vietnam War.Mass-scale rioting, arson, and robbery are not an honorable way to honor one human life that has been lost and another in ruins.
Neither is stoking white self-hatred and guilt and pouring gasoline on the flames of racial hatred and vengeance.
"A police officer is 18 1/2 times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer."
* Wall St. Journal (6/3/20)
In the future, Minneapolis should have only African-American cops patrol black neighborhoods.
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Today, December 10, 2008, is the anniversary of the signing of the International Declaration of Human Rights. Still, it has been estimated that 1-1/2 billion people around the planet do not enjoy basic human rights.
About a decade ago, I had hoped to do volunteer work for my local chapter. Everyone in the local chapters is a volunteer.
Though I was unable to, I wholeheartedly support the goals of Amnesty International.
Here is to hoping that the United States can soon begin to regain respect around the world again: the closing of Guantanamo Bay, universal health coverage...
It starts with governments but does not end there. Individuals (and individual conscience) can make a difference.
*****
Also, read the following Guardian article:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/06/amnesty-international-has-toxic-working-culture-report-finds?fbclid=IwAR2TEyM0Pwyj-m-ANHAwQpDd6la-mK-gIG6R11wiv-8SJyqb2r2etXCPSW4
