The recent fatal shooting of a black homeless man in Los Angeles, California is clear evidence of the prevalence of police brutality, poverty and racism in the United States, a journalist in Detroit says.
“Despite the human rights rhetoric of the United States abroad, despite the attacks by the United Sates on other governments across the globe, the real purveyors of violence and injustice are based in Washington, DC, in New York, and of course in Los Angeles,” said Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire.
Officers with the Los Angeles Department Police (LAPD) fatally shot a homeless man on Sunday in the skid row area of Los Angeles, a 50-block area that ranks as one of the largest concentrations of homeless people in the United States.
Local civil rights activists have called on the city’s police commission to hold a hearing on the police shooting, which was recorded by amateur video.
Andy Bale, chief executive of the rescue mission, said the shooting immediately increased racial tensions between police and the homeless community.
On Tuesday, dozens of angry protesters gathered at the site where officers shot and killed the homeless man who was known as “Africa,” then marched to the LAPD headquarters.
The situation “is a manifestation of the racism and class divisions that are so broad-based in the United States,” Azikiwe said during an interview with Press TV Tuesday.
“This area of Los Angeles is located close to downtown, an area that is characterized by enormous wealth,” Azikiwe said, adding that people are living in “horrible conditions” just blocks away.
“It is a combination of racism, poverty, economic exploitation and political repression that led to the death of this man in the streets of Los Angeles.”
(Source: Press TV)
