An American Diplomat in Ghana, Daniel Fennell has said the recurring shooting of black Americans by the Police in the United States (US) is “systemic.”
The US has in recent times recorded a number of shooting incidents which has led to the death of about five persons.
In almost all the cases, the victims were gunned down by Police men.
Freddie Gray is the latest man to have suffered from such an incident; he died of a spinal cord injury after being arrested, sparking demonstrations in Baltimore.
A white police officer in North Charleston, S.C., was earlier charged with murder after a video showing him shooting in the back and killing an apparently unarmed black man surfaced.
Many have described most of these riots as state sponsored aggression against citizens of a certain racial type.
However reacting to such wide held perception, Dr Fennell downplayed such views, saying:”I think that might be overstatement. State sponsored might sound the state is sponsoring such incidents, but that is not the case.”
Dr. Fennell said the United States had initiated talks with major stakeholders to resolve the challenge.
“There is something that we call systemic which would suggest that it is evident enough on a regular basis and I think where we are heading now is the beginning of a very useful conversation in the United States about how that can be improved…”
According to him, both the President and the Federal government are “interested” in the development and are taking active measures to make “policing better, more community oriented and responsive.”
Dr Fennell also revealed that the violence at Baltimore had reduced.
“It is not an ongoing violent incident taking place now although you see the tapes of yesterday‘s event going on television that is being repeated,” he said.
“But that doesn’t take away from the underlying issue that there is an ongoing discussion regarding violence at the hands of law enforcement agencies in various communities, specifically the black,” he added.
Click on audio to listen to Daniel Fennell
Killings state sanctioned – Esther Armah
An adjunct professor at the African University of College of Communication (AUCC),Esther Armah however believes the recent killings are “state sanctioned.”
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Ms Armah said “there’s state sanctioned violence by the police against black people all over America.”
She decried how the media, government and the US President had placed more emphasis on talking about the response to the brutality rather than tackling them.
List of Baltimore victims
According to her, a newspaper in Balitimore that did an investigation into Police brutality revealed that over the past four years alone more than 100 people have won court judgements or settlements as a result of Police brutality.
She listed some victims that had been affected by the recent series of shooting incidents.
- A 16-year-old boy who was riding a bike, thrown to the ground, punched and jumped on.
- A 26-year-old pregnant accountant who was thrown to the ground and beaten.
- A 60-year-old woman selling church raffle tickets
- And another 65 -year -old woman
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah