New York – We, the Amazigh, indigenous people of North Africa, similarly persecuted and discriminated against in our own homeland for ethnic and cultural identity purposes, stand in unequivocal solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, against racial and ethnic discrimination, bigotry and the very fact that one race should ever be held superior or inferior to another.
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We are watching, along with the rest of the world, in horror and growing concern as police violence against peaceful protesters nationwide has become commonplace in our great country, which was literally founded by people who also took a stance against intolerance and dogmatism. The news, images and videos documenting deliberate police misconduct and sheer brutality are pouring in, and their callousness now stands stark for the world to see. We see it too, and we condemn it wholeheartedly.
As people of color ourselves, we share the collective grief, are bereaved and infuriated by the recent, horrific police murder of George Floyd, who remains but the last of the names to be added to a long list of young black men and women who fell victims of continuous institutional discrimination. This discrimination, rooted in history with its shameful practices does nothing but continue to breed and justify violence against innocent communities of color: Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tony McDade, Steven Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Race and the thousands of others whose murders were dismissed as collateral damage and were never given justice.
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Not only do we share your pain and rage, we are likewise honored to stand by you, openly and publicly, as we refuse to be silently complicit with the ongoing systematic institutional, societal and interpersonal oppression of the black community and the people of color in general. Your just cause is our just cause from this day forward, as we must stand as one against ethnic discrimination in all its forms and the semantics that try to keep us apart. As A. Phillip Randolph said “Freedom is never granted; it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted”.
Black lives matter today and every day and we will stand by you in solidarity until equality and justice for all is just not an elusive dream anymore, but a reality well within our grasp.
