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Co-founder Black Lives Matter speaks to journalists

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The 2013 acquittal of Neighborhood Watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla., in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, led to a rally in Los Angeles’ Leimert Park. Among those outraged and embittered by the verdict was Melina Abdullah, Ph.D., mother of three children, a domestic violence survivor and chair of the Pan African Studies Department at Cal State Univerisity Los Angeles.

“It (the verdict) hit me really hard,” she told a group of Black journalists at a meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists Los Angeles chapter. She later discussed the case with three other mothers  and formed a mother’s brigade in an effort to fight “state-sanctioned” violence against African Americans, particularly police abuse and to end it. In the process,  the controversial group Black Lives Matter (BLM) was born.

Abdullah told the newsgatherers that police incidents, including several shooting deaths of Blacks, “Should not be just isolated in the Black community, but brought forward outside it.”

The tactics her group uses in accomplishing its goals are what she called “disrupting strategy”—non-violent direct action, “Shutting stuff down.” One incident occurred when BLM staged a “lie-in” on a Southern California freeway, which led to a traffic tie-up.

She noted that local church pastors have been supportive of her group, including many women pastors. “They (women) have always been part of the Civil Rights struggle,” said Abdullah, who cited women’s leadership roles as mothers and their spiritual motivations against injustice.

Abdullah has called for changes in American policing, more access to the Los Angeles Police Commission by the Black community and the firing of Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck. She called the LAPD “the deadliest police force in the country,” citing 20 shootings that allegedly occurred at the hands of its officers.

The activist also noted the student protests and its success at Missouri State University, which forced its White president to resign in the wake of his inaction in the face of on-campus racism. She praised gang interventionists for helping reduce gang violence in the city and praised White allies to BLM who help create a buffer to protect the activists from hostile counter protesters.

“We’re just people joining to stand up and continue the struggle (against oppression),” said Abdullah who explained that the group’s name resulted from a letter she received after she and three other women formed a Justice For Trayvon Martin group; the letter ended with the line, “Black Lives Matter” and the name stuck.

BLM also protested the police shooting death of 18-year-old African American Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., which resulted in demonstrations and civil disturbances. The group was also involved in the disruption of a meeting at the Holman United Methodist Church in the West Adams District of Los Angeles.

Abdullah alleged that Mayor Eric Garcetti “went around [circumvented] the (Black) community,  ailed to inform Black Lives Matter” and met with the local pastors.

The disruption of the Oct. 19   gathering, which caused so much controversy and prompted calls for an apology from BLM to the Holman pastor and the church. The incident came as a result of efforts (on the part of some at the meeting) to take a microphone her. Abdullah said someone decided she exceeded a time limit established at the event.

Abdullah stressed that state-sponsored violence perpetrated by police forces, lack of resources in financial, mental health and other areas are all interlocked with the violence.

Meanwhile, five BLM activists in Minneapolis were shot by alleged White supremacist counter protesters Monday not far from a police substation that was the target of a protest. The shootings occurred at 10:45 p.m.  Morgan Avenue N. about a block north of the precinct.

According to a local newspaper, Miski Noor, a media contact for Black Lives Matter, said “a group of (three) White supremacists showed up at the protest, as they have done most nights.”

One of the three counter demonstrators wore a mask, said Dana Jaehnert, who had been at the protest site since early evening. After about a dozen BLM protesters attempted to herd the group away from the area, Noor said, they “opened fire on about six protesters,” hitting five of them. The gunshot victims were taken to North Memorial Medical Center and Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), said a deputy at the scene; one individual was hit in the stomach and reportedly underwent surgery overnight.

According to the Star Tribune, at least two of the three men who were described as taunting the police protesters were shooting guns. One observer described the scene as chaotic.

The protesters have been at the police station since the fatal police shooting of 24-year-old Jamar Clark on Nov. 15.

They had been joined periodically by U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minneapolis, and Nekima Levy-Pounds, president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP, who returned to the scene after the shooting incident.

“I am obviously appalled that White supremacists would open fire on nonviolent, peaceful protesters,” she told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Police said late Tuesday morning that they had arrested one suspect and were still seeking an unspecified number of additional suspects. According to witnesses, three men and a woman, all masked, had been seen filming the protest just before the shooting.

Ellison issued this statement last Thursday on the investigation into Clark’s killing: “We must all be committed to establish the facts of what happened in the interest of justice. I commend Mayor Hodges for meeting with the community and quickly calling for independent investigations by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and by the federal government. I also asked U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to investigate what happened and determine if there were civil rights or criminal violations. The Department of Justice and FBI accepted our requests to complete this review. This independent review is a crucial step to begin to rebuild trust between law enforcement and our whole community.

“In calling for these investigations, we all need to bear in mind that quality investigations take time. All parties involved in this incident deserve a full review of the facts. We need to respect Mr. Clark’s family and the officers’ rights to due process. I urge anyone having information bearing on the events surrounding the death of Jamar Clark to come forward immediately.

“I support the rights of everyone who is protesting to support Mr. Clark’s family and to call for answers.  I urge protesters to exercise this right in a safe, peaceful manner that protects themselves and the community. I also urge police to exercise restraint and avoid escalation.

“I urge the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Department of Justice to release video or audio recordings in their possession of the incident that resulted in Mr. Clark’s death. This would send a message to our community that the process will be transparent and open.”

OW staff also contributed to this report.

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