Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, with Mertilla Jones at the Detroit MLK Day rally held in the sanctionary of Central United Methodist Church downtown. Azikiwe chaired the annual even as usual. (Photo: Sharon Black), a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
18 November, 14:47
New Mexico police shoot minivan full of African-American kids
Voice of Russia
The incident happened in New Mexico when a mother started ran away from a police officer while her five children were inside of a minivan.
Oriana Ferrell was arguing with an officer while being ticketed for driving 71 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour zone. As the officer walks back to his car, the woman drives away. The video shows the officer pulls over Ferrell again and yells for her to get out of the vehicle.
At this point, Ferrell’s 14-year-old son gets out of the minivan and walks towards the officer while other children in the vehicle scream.
"Look, I'm going to ask you one more time to get out of the vehicle and then I'm going to pull you out, OK?" the officer said. "You're already facing evading charges. You ran away from me."
"Sir, I pulled back over, I didn't run away," the woman said. "You see my children. I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just trying to take them to the Rio Grande."
Ferrell agreed to walk out of the car and started a fight when the officer asks her to turn around and face the vehicle.
While that happens, the 14-year-old gets out again, and this time, he rushes the officer, trying to defend his mom.
The woman gets the time to escape from the officer and get back in the car. So does her son. The family barricaded themselves in the vehicle and started driving away from the scene. On that very moment a police officer opens fire at the car full of kids.
The police chased the family till their hotel and arrested the mother and her 14-year-old son.
Human rights activists note that Racism in the American society is “heavily embedded within the law enforcement agencies” and US police have “no regard whatsoever for African-American lives,” says Abayomi Azikiwe, editor at Pan-African News Wire.
“We see an escalation of these attacks in the last several weeks, of course with the situation involving shooting death of so many African-Americans across the United States,” said Azikiwe in a phone interview with Press TV on Sunday.
“It shows that the racism in society is heavily embedded within the law enforcement agencies. The apparent claim that they were forcing African-Americans to act as if they were animals is clear indication of what most law enforcement agencies think about the African-American community,” he added.
Ferrell was charged with five counts of abuse of a child, aggravated fleeing an officer, resisting an officer, reckless driving and possession of drug paraphernalia. Her 14-year-old son was charged with battery of an officer.
State police say both officers are under investigation.
Voice of Russia, Press TV
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