Statement from COPAL and Alianza Americas regarding the recent events in which George Floyd, an African-American citizen, was assassinated by a police officer from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
May 30, 2020 — COPAL and Alianza Americas strongly condemn the murder of George Floyd. The videos taken by witnesses show the excessive and unnecessary use of force by the police officer involved in this case. We stand in solidarity with the African-American, African, and Afro-Latino community, acknowledging and joining your leadership in this fight.
We recognize that Minneapolis police, like many police departments across the nation, including ICE, have a history of institutional violence against Native Americans, immigrants, African-Americans, Muslims, and groups of color in general.
“The actions of the police department are not isolated. These follow a white supremacist ideology, which considers indigenous people, people of color, Latino, and Muslim people inferior. Dehumanizing these populations and then acting against them with institutional violence has been common practice,” says Francisco Segovia, executive director of COPAL. “The white supremacist violence is manifested through the denial of opportunities for health, education, immigration rights, and the lack of economic investment in communities of color, to cite some examples,” he adds.
Supremacist violence also expresses itself in the exclusion and social discrimination directed towards ethnic-racial minorities. “Millions of us had to leave the places where we were born, forced to flee by the lack of opportunities, state violence, environmental destruction, gender violence, and femicide, among other problems. The common enemy is the same. The voracious, patriarchal, and supremacist capitalism dominant in the world today. It is this same system that murdered George Floyd, and that has murdered countless indigenous people, Afro-Latinos, and environmental leaders throughout the Americas,” adds Oscar Chacón, executive director of Alianza Americas.
Given the events that have taken place, COPAL and Alianza Americas present the following demands to local, state, and federal governments:
- A thorough investigation of the facts.
- The immediate arrest of all police officers involved, to ensure the success of the investigation.
- The reconstruction of the City of Minneapolis Police Department under a new model of community public safety, focused on the well-being and respect of all people.
- Social and economic investment targeted towards the development of indigenous and communities of color, including resources specifically designated for small businesses affected by the protests. It is vitally important to repair the social, cultural, and economic fabric on Lake Street, where this tragedy occurred.
COPAL, like Alianza Americas, works hard to make a just world a reality for all people.
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COPAL is a membership-based organization with a mission of uniting Latinxs in Minnesota in active grassroots communal democracy that builds racial, gender, social, and economic justice across community lines. Find out more at copalmn.org.
Alianza Americas is a network of 50 immigrant-led organizations representing more than 100,000 families across the United States. It is the only United States-based organization rooted in Latino and Caribbean immigrant communities that works transnationally to create an inclusive, equitable, and sustainable way of life. Find out more at www.alianzaamericas.org/.
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