New York, NY – Eric Garner, an African American father of six, was brutally murdered at the hands of the New York City Police after an officer placed him in an illegal chokehold on July 17. Garner can be heard telling officers that he couldn't breathe in a video taken by a witness. After killing Garner, officers can be seen in the video searching his pockets instead of calling for medical attention. The officers have yet to be fired and charged for their crimes; instead have been placed on desk duty.

Garner is another victim of brutal national oppression that oppresses African American, Chicanos, Mexicanos, Latinos and other oppressed nationalities in the U.S. This type of police terror is integral to the imperialist system which oppresses whole nations such as the African American nation in the South and the Chicano nation in the Southwest. We must remember the names of Black and Brown people like Sean Bell and Kimani Gray in New York City, Israel Hernandez in Miami, Derrick Williams in Milwaukee, Oscar Grant in Oakland, California and countless other individuals who have been murdered by law enforcement.

The murder of Eric Garner is yet another chapter in the book of racist police brutality in the U.S. Police and courts in the U.S. serve the agenda of the rich. In New York City and Miami, African American and Latino people are subject to abuse under constant stop and frisk searches at the hands of law enforcement. These policies are put in place to arrest oppressed nationality people and funnel them into them into the prisons, including private prisons, to extract cheap or free labor and fill jail cells for the sake of private prison companies. Black and Brown people are criminalized by law enforcement and are treated as second class citizens or worse, especially in places like Arizona.

There is no justice for oppressed nationalities in the legal system. The police officers who murdered Sean Bell, Derrick Bell, and others have faced zero jail time. The families of murdered police victims are left to deal with a loss of a family member – the loss of a father, son or daughter. Eric Garner's children now have to grow up in an unjust world without their father because of racist cops.

The blood of African American and Latino lives is on the hands of the NYPD and in their prison cells. Previously, former Mayor Bloomberg did nothing to stop police brutality. The current New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio expressing sympathy for the family but is not taking action to get justice for Eric Garner. The officer who murdered Garner deserves to be fired from his job with criminal charges brought against him. The people are the only force that can win justice for Eric Garner now – through organizing to fight back against police brutality.

As Malcolm X once said, “You don't get justice in court. A black man can't get justice in court. A black man can't get justice in the court system of America. I'm telling ya, the only way you get justice is in the streets. The only way you can get justice is in the sidewalk. The only way you get justice is when you make justice for yourself.”

Justice for Eric Garner and all victims of police brutality! Stop police terror! End the criminalization of African American, Chicano, Mexicano, Latino and other oppressed nationalities!

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