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EX-MUSLIMS OF NORTH AMERICA CONDEMN KILLING OF GEORGE FLOYD, SUPPORT PROTESTS AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY
Press Release
June 3, 2020
We at Ex-Muslims of North America wholeheartedly condemn the brutal murder of George Floyd. The casual loss of life at the hands of law enforcement is sadly neither new nor uncommon, but instead a punishing reality.

Immediate Release

EX-MUSLIMS OF NORTH AMERICA CONDEMN KILLING OF GEORGE FLOYD, SUPPORT PROTESTS AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY.

Washington, D.C. – 06/02/2020

By Muhammad Syed – President of Ex-Muslims of North America

We at Ex-Muslims of North America wholeheartedly condemn the brutal murder of George Floyd. The casual loss of life at the hands of law enforcement is sadly neither new nor uncommon, but instead a punishing reality—the brunt of which is borne by the black community in America, which has already been struggling under the weight of centuries of racism, slavery and persecution.

Protests are an opportunity to listen to the voices of the unheard. But the largely peaceful protests of the past week were met with escalation and excessive force by police around the country.

On Monday, the President brazenly ordered an attack on peaceful protesters. Law enforcement used tear gas, shock grenades and rubber bullets against peaceful citizens, and in the process violated the very spirit of America. Without the freedom of assembly to petition our government for redress, the government no longer retains the right to be called lawful.

These protests have resonated across the world due to the fact that anti-blackness and police brutality are global issues. Just as America has a history of slavery, racism, and marginalization of black individuals, so does the Muslim world. As police brutality is an issue for communities in the US, so it remains across the world.

I have experienced police violence personally. My close cousin, who had lived with my family, was casually and callously murdered by police when I was a teenager in Pakistan. He was shot, then arrested, and then left to bleed out over the course of hours in the police van. One of my most painful memories is laying him to rest. We cannot allow this to occur here in the United States or anywhere else in the world.

As Martin Luther King Jr stated prophetically over five decades ago:

“In the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again”.

We must ensure that this delay is no longer tolerated. Systemic biases within our justice system must be eradicated once and for all. Our law enforcement must truly serve the communities and be held accountable to them. Progress must continue until we have created a system of law enforcement that is envied and emulated around the world.

More about Ex-Muslims of North America: ExMuslims.Org | @ExMuslimsOrg.

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