“Millions of people saw the sickening video of Philando Castile bleeding to death in his car on July 6, 2016. Police officer Jeronimo Yanez shot at the Black man seven times after stopping him in Falcon Heights, Minn., a suburb of St. Paul.
Millions heard Castile’s friend Diamond Reynolds scream, “Please don’t tell me that he’s gone. Please officer don’t tell me that you just did this to him. He was just getting his license and registration, sir.” (Associated Press, July 7, 2016)
And now millions of people are outraged that on June 16 Yanez was found “not guilty” of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm…”
“…Racism is rejected by many workers in Minnesota who are appalled by the killer of Philando Castile going free. “Philando was a good man who is missed by the people who loved him and by hundreds of children and educators in the St. Paul Public Schools,” said President Denise Specht of Education Minnesota, a labor group affiliated with the AFL-CIO.
“More than 100,000 Minnesota children who look like Philando will wake up tomorrow in a society that still treats them far differently than white children,” said Specht. Teamsters Local 320 proudly declared its member Philando Castile to be a union brother.
But where is the statement by Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa Jr.? And why is AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka silent? Stopping racist police killings is a labor issue.
A movement of millions is needed to stop the racist police. Every protest is a step toward building it.


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