Gambians to organize protest against racism, police brutality in America

The Gambians have announced plan to organize a peaceful protest against racism and police brutality suffered by black people in America.

While disclosing this in a statement on his Facebook wall on Sunday May 31, 2020, a human rights activist, Madi Jobarteh, stated that a letter will sent to the country’s Inspector
Gewof Police to seek permission to organize the protest.

“Monday June 1, we will apply for a permit to the Inspector General of Police to provide security for a peaceful assembly in front of the US Embassy on Kairaba Avenue.

“The protest is planned for Monday June 8 at 10am. We will converge in silence. We will stand on one knee like Colin Kaepernick to symbolize our mourning and condemnation of the acts of violence meted out to Blacks in the US by the police, Jobarteh said.

He added that the letter will be signed and submitted at the US embassy in The Gambia. He stressed further that the protest will not lead to violation of the social distancing order in the country.

“By 10:30am we will hand over a signed petition to the Ambassador and then peacefully disperse. You can sign the petition if you come to the protest site.

“We will ensure social distancing and we urge all to donate and bring face masks, water buckets and soap and hand sanitizers in respect of the state of emergency regulations,” he stated.

While expressing his indignation over the recent killing Minneapolis, Jobarteh condemned the attitudes of the Americans toward Africans.

He lamented that Africans do not deserve the kind of treatment they receive from the white people. He stated that Africans played significant roles in the development of America.

“It was White People from Europe and America who got up on their own to come to Africa hundreds of years ago to forcefully kidnap our ancestors and then carry them into slavery in the Americas against their will. Kunta Kinteh never asked to be made a slave. The kings and people of Niumi never invited White People to visit their village to kidnap Kunta Kinteh.

“Rather slavery was the imagination and invention of White People and it was Europe and the United States that emerged successful from slavery.

The people of Juffureh, Niumi, The Gambia and the entire Africa only lost and became weak socially, economically and politically because of slavery,” he explained.

He added that “Kunta Kinteh and his descendants worked all their lives in the United States to build the country and its vast economy to what it is today, for free. Our Ancestor Kunta was never paid for his labour.

“Even when the US President, Abraham Lincoln, declared in 1863 that he had freed the slaves, the US Government until today has failed to pay back its Black citizens their fair share or uphold and protect their rights. Even the promise of forty acres and a mule that the US Government said it would give to each and every Black person since 1865 until today the US Government has failed to fulfill that promise,” he added.

“Look into the social, economic and political indicators in terms of access to power, leadership, resources, wealth, education, healthcare, housing and voice and you will find Black People are disproportionately lower than Whites.

“Why? Look into the prisons of the US and you will find Black People forming the overwhelming majority. Look into the number of people killed by police brutality and you will find more Blacks being unnecessarily killed than any other group of US citizens. Why?

“Therefore, as Africans on the continent we are going to protest this unfair, unjust, illegal and oppressive treatment of our kith and kin in America. It is high time that each and every African in the continent of Africa made the issue of America a personal and a national issue.

“Not just because African Americans are our blood kith and kin but also because we have millions of fellow continental Africans living in the United States. And they have not been spared as we have seen in the murder of Momodou Lamin Sisay few days ago as well as the murder of Amadou Diallo from Guinea in New York in 1999 just to mention a few,” he concluded.