TCN News
Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) has condemned the police brutality on George Floyd and ill-treatment of minorities, especially blacks by US Police in the past.
IAMC said it is “shocked” and “outraged” against the police action on an unarmed Floyd, resonating that similar attacks against blacks in the US have become a commonplace and “should not be tolerated or normalized.” It has demanded that he officers responsible for his death be “prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” simultaneously endorsing the need for reforms in police training to ensure a just system of law enforcement.
With increasing media reports on rampant arson, looting and violence by protestors in the wake of Floyd’s murder, IAMC has urged justice seekers “to stand firmly but with patience and without resorting to violence.” Repeating that blacks in America have suffered tremendously in the hands of authorities due to their minority character, IAMC has called for “new structural changes through a lens of restorative justice and community-based models of policing” to be introduced so that “deeper systemic issues that have led to such killings in the past” can be addressed better.
While India has been reeling under rising hate speech and violence against minorities and marginalized sections after the re-election of BJP, IAMC has been instrumental in voicing human rights concerns through global support and solidarity networks. In this context, IAMC has echoed that the murder of George Floyd is actually “a painful reminded of the state-sponsored hate” which “is responsible for mass persecution of Muslims, Christians and Dalits in India.” Mob lynchings, mass arrests under false charges and police brutality on unarmed peaceful protestors during the anti-CAA-NRC-NPR mass movements leading to suppression of dissent “represents horrific violations of human rights and religious freedom in India at a magnitude that is unprecedented in the country’s history,” iterated IAMC.
Extending condolences to George Floyd’s family and friends, IAMC reminded protestors that “the cause of all people seeking justice is the same everywhere” and therefore one must strongly oppose discrimination as well as repression based on race, ethnicity and religion. It has further expressed solidarity with individuals and organizations striving for equal rights and working for fair treatment of minorities all over the world.
In its end note, IAMC has urged global activists to strive for new institutional changes for the sake of justice and shared humanity.