In the News
United States
Minneapolis Police Kill Yet Another Black Man
Amir Locke, a twenty-two year old Black man was summarily executed by Minneapolis police in the early morning of February 2. The execution of Amir occurred less than two years after the same police department murdered George Perry Floyd Jr. on May 25, 2020 in plain view of bystanders. Police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on the neck and back of a handcuffed Floyd for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, killing him despite his desperate plea, “I can’t breathe.” George Floyd’s murder sparked international outrage and a national mass movement in the United States against state-organized police brutality and racism.
On February 2, a police squad with weapons drawn barged into the apartment of Amir’s cousin where Amir was sleeping on the couch. The police screamed orders and kicked the couch and only seven seconds after entry opened fire killing Amir with two shots to the chest and one that struck his wrist.
Amir was not wanted by the police or even known to them. He was a young aspiring musician who was in the midst of moving to Dallas to further his musical career and be near his mother. His parents, relatives and friends are devastated by the state-organized terrorist act and said they would not rest until those responsible for Amir’s death are held responsible.
The apartment was subject to a “no-knock” warrant that legally allows police to force entry into a private residence and assault the occupants either killing or otherwise physically harming them in a surprise attack. The killing is sadly reminiscent of the infamous “no-knock” police killing of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black medical worker who was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky apartment on March 13, 2020.
U.S. imperialism is distinguished by its unparalleled use of violence in all situations at home and abroad. U.S. police kill over three people a day and injure and incarcerate scores more. Abroad, the U.S. military operating from hundreds of bases and naval fleets daily launches drone and Special Forces attacks to intimidate and suppress the peoples demanding their rights. The U.S. has become a terrorist state that uses violence, intimidation and provocation in its quest for global hegemony and to continue its exploitation of the U.S. and world’s working people and natural resources. The people of the United States and their allies abroad have the social responsibility to confront and overthrow the brutal rule of the U.S. oligarchy and fashion a modern state worthy of the people.
(TML Daily, posted February 7, 2022. Photos: G.D. Pederson, Tim J.)
