Falcon Heights, MN—Jeronimo Yanez, the cop who murdered 32-year-old African man Philando Castile was charged with a small manslaughter charge on November 16th.
The murderous cop, fired seven shots at Philando as he sat in the driver’s seat of his car last July. Also in the car were Diamond Reynolds (the girlfriend of Philando), and a 4-year-old child.
Yanez initially pulled Philando over because he said that Philando had a “wide-set nose.” In other words, Yanez pulled Philando and his family over because they were African.
Once Yanez approached Philando’s car, he lied and told Philando that he was pulled over because of a faulty brake light. Diamond has since verified that this was a lie. Also, pictures of the car being towed away show the brake lights working on the car.
After lying about his reason for the traffic stop, Yanez then requested Philando to retrieve his ID. Philando informed Yanez that he also had a firearm. Yanez begin screaming, “Don’t reach for it!”
Both Philando and Diamond repeatedly said that he was not reaching for it. The pig continued screaming, withdrew his own gun and fired repeatedly into the car and into the body of Philando, killing him.
Diamond recorded the immediate aftermath on Facebook live, narrating on video what had just transpired as Philando took his last breaths. Her 4-year old daughter witnessed the entire murder as she sat in the back seat of the car.
In the hours following the murder of Philando, Africans took to the streets in Falcon Heights throwing bottles, rocks, and Molotov cocktails at the pigs.
A manslaughter charge does not cover up 600 years of colonialism
This is the first time in at least 30 years that a cop in Minnesota has faced charges for murdering someone while on duty.
A simple manslaughter charge, however, is an obvious slap in the face to the African community. Even if the U.S. so-called “justice system” decides to convict Yanez (which is very unlikely) he will still serve little to no time.
Ramsey County attorney John Choi made the decision to charge Yanez with manslaughter. One colonialist newspaper made the ridiculous statement that this was “probably the most difficult decision in Choi’s career.”
The statement underscores that the State always to protect its own. Yanez shot multiple times into a car which was occupied by an African family, ultimately murdering Philando in front of his family, yet the State-controlled media is concerned about how difficult a decision it was for Choi to charge Yanez with a meaningless charge.
Africans have been hunted, terrorized and murdered by the colonizers and their arms for over 600 years. One miniscule manslaughter charge does nothing to change that.
We need Black Community Control of the Police!
The International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) and the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) have taken up the demand of Black Community Control of the Police!
This demand means that the African community will have the power to hire, fire and prosecute the police in our community.
In short, African people need control over our own lives.
On January 3-4, 2015, APSP and InPDUM held a Black People’s Grand Jury in Ferguson, MO following the murder of young African Mike Brown by pig Darren Wilson.
The Black People’s Grand Jury convicted Wilson of first degree murder.
If a Black People’s Grand Jury were to be presented with the facts in the case of Philando, Yanez would be convicted of first degree murder.
We must overturn this colonized relationship that we have with this filthy imperialist system! The only way to do that is by uprooting the system and destroying it.
This system needs to be replaced with one that is led by the African people. The APSP already has a system in place and is prepared to govern!
Join the APSP so that we can take immediate control over our own African lives!
Go to www.joinapsp.org
Fists up! Fight Back!
Uhuru!
