Terrytown, LA—Joe McKnight, a 28-year-old African and former NFL player, was shot and murdered by a white man on December 1, 2016. Ronald Gasser, the 54-year-old white man who murdered Joe, stood on the scene holding his gun and waited on Terrytown police to arrive.
Witnesses said that Gasser shot Joe then stood over him and yelled, “I told you not to fuck with me!”
Another witness shouted at Gasser, “Why you shot him? He didn’t do anything.”
Witnesses describe that Gasser was upset with Joe regarding a “road rage” incident––or as we in the African community call a “driving while black” incident.
Gasser has a record of “road rage.” In 2006 he had another incident in the same location that he shot and murdered Joe. That incident ended in Gasser punching another man several times in the face. In this instance also, Gasser was not arrested.
Gasser had a clear understanding that he had the protection of the State. That is why he shot and murdered Joe so easily. That is why he remained standing over the body of Joe after he shot him while still holding his gun and waited for police to arrive. That is why police released him from their custody only hours after he murdered Joe.
The sheriff of Jefferson Parish, Newell Normand, defended his department’s decision to free Gasser after he murdered an African stating that the investigation is still ongoing.
Normand also said that “two individuals engaged in bad behavior” insinuating that Joe was in the wrong.
Normand even brought up cases of so called “black-on-black” crime to make his point that African people shouldn’t be upset that a white man could walk free after murdering an African man. He said that people were trying to make this case about race and it isn’t about race.
On one hand, Normand is right. The case isn’t about race at all––it’s about 600 years of colonialism. This case is about a parasitic system that feeds off the resources of African people worldwide, and Normand works for an arm of the State whose function is to oppress Africans.
Joe was not an “ordinary” African; he was a former NFL player for the New York Jets. He was a former NFL player for the Canadian Football League. His murder proves that no African has a stake in the imperialist system––this system still viewed him as an African, “ordinary” or not. Joe played football for parasitic football corporations, however, that did not protect him from the oppressor’s bullet.
Gasser, the owner of a telecommunications company, knew well that Normand and the State’s job is to protect him––not to protect an African man. Although he was arrested four days later, on December 5, 2016, it was only done to calm the masses of Africans rising up.
This is why the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) fights for destroying this system of white power. We have to take power back into our own hands.
Join the APSP so that we can have control over our own African lives!
Uhuru!
