[News] ‘Call the Cops on the Cops’: Palestinian Activist Discusses Events that Preceded Murder of African American Man

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.palestinechronicle.com/call-the-cops-on-the-cops-palestinian-activist-discusses-events-that-preceded-murder-of-african-american-man/
‘Call
the Cops on the Cops’: Palestinian Activist Discusses Events that Preceded
Murder of African American Man
May 30, 2020
Palestinian-American author and justice activist, Linda Sarsour. (Photo:
File)

*By Palestine Chronicle Staff
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/palestine-chronicle-staff>*

In a Facebook post that was circulated widely on social media,
Palestinian-American author and justice activist, Linda Sarsour confronted
misinformation about the circumstances that led to the murder of an unarmed
African American man at the hands of the police in Minneapolis, MN, on May
25.

“There’s been a lot of misinformation on the internet about the store owner
and the details of the events that unfolded before George Floyd was
murdered,” Sarsour said in reference to the Palestinian-American family
that owned the store, near which Floyd was killed by the police.

“Floyd was arrested after he allegedly used a counterfeit bill at a
convenience store,” CNN had reported, citing police sources.

“Outrage grew after the first video surfaced showing a Minneapolis police
officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck. The 46-year-old, who was unarmed and
handcuffed, died after the arrest.”

A new video of the murder showed three officers kneeling on Floyd, who
clearly was gasping for air while imploring the police to stop. “I can’t
breathe, man,” Floyd can be heard saying. “Please, let me stand. Please,
man.”

“I spoke to Mahmoud Abumayyeleh, the owner of Cups Food and local patrons
and community members,” the well-known activist Sarsour said in her post
she published on her Facebook page on May 29.

“The Store owner is Palestinian American and he was not present at the
store and was not the one who called the police,” Sarsour explained, adding
that the one who actually called the police was a “17-year-old African
American teen.”

The young employee made the call in accordance with a “state policy that
requires stores to call the police in the case of counterfeit bills.”

“This is routine and the police come, ask patrons about the bill to trace
its origination. The police confiscate the counterfeit bills. Should be no
arrests, no violence,” she wrote.

 Tragically, that was not the case in Minneapolis, as the police apparently
violated what should have been routine conduct, leading to the murder of
the African American man.

The store clerk was “absolutely traumatized” by the murder she witnessed
following the arrival of the police, according to Sarsour.

“This same young woman called the owner, Mahmoud to tell him that the
police are brutalizing George,” Sarsour wrote, adding that the Palestinian
store owner instructed the black teen to “call the cops on the cops.”

“Nephew of the store owner who was also at the store was seen in a video
yelling to let George go, and was pushed away by one of the Asian cops,”
she wrote, asserting that “Cups Food has footage that George was NOT
resisting arrest.”

According to Sarsour, “Cups Food owner is in touch with George’s family
lawyer and has given a donation to the family to help cover some of the
funeral costs.”

“We can argue that police should have never been called, it wasn’t worth it
and that would be my position. But they were and MURDER/DEATH should never
have been the result and that is the issue here.”

“Mahmoud and his family are well respected. He hires local, he supports the
local community,” she wrote, referencing a testimony from one of the local
young folks who patron Cups Food.

Sarsour wrote that anger, for now, should remain “focused on .. the cops
who killed George Floyd, the powerful people who are protecting them and
the systems that need to be dismantled.”

Floyd’s murder has sparked protests in Minneapolis and calls for
accountability. Police brutality and often murder of African Americans at
the hands of the police is a recurring event that often goes unpunished.

*(The Palestine Chronicle)*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20200530/5fc644fb/attachment.htm>