The AZGP, although relieved by the news that Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts for the killing of George Floyd, understands there remains much to be done at every level to heal from institutional injustice. There is an entire unjust system to dismantle and replace.
On the same day that the guilty verdict for Chauvin was announced, another white supremacist was released from a Phoenix jail on bond. Burt Colucci of the White nationalist group National Socialist Movement Corporation was arrested in Chandler on April 19 for pointing a loaded handgun at a Black man and threatening to kill him and his friends.
The AZGP will continue to stand in solidarity with social justice organizations such as Black Lives Matter, Poder in Action, People Demanding Justice Community Coalition, Moms Demand Action, Code Pink, Popular Resistance/The Alliance for Global Justice and Tonatierra as we work to dismantle a system based on racial oppression and class exploitation. This system resulted from genocide and terrorism which killed off and displaced most Indigenous inhabitants and established an economy dependent upon the enslavement of African people and the deprivation of the legal rights of all Blacks in this country. The terrorism continues as this system props up corporate power by treating people as commodities and further militarizing the police. As Margaret Kimberley asserts in her Freedom Rider column of Black Agenda Report (April 21, 2021 -- Gun Violence Starts at the Top):
"It is all connected. State sanctioned violence tells the people that individual violence is just fine. The hand wringing over the latest shooting doesn't mean anything if the wars and law enforcement brutality continue."
The AZGP says DEFUND THE POLICE: cities must decrease amount budgeted for policing and allocate these funds to social programs, especially in the realm of mental health, alleviation of poverty and drug rehabilitation, three areas the police have NEVER, despite vast investments in training, been equipped to handle.
Furthermore, and interconnected with the push to end state sponsored violence, the Arizona Green Party advocates for the use of sustained, disruptive non-violent action in the streets along with a commitment to withhold our votes from the corporate-ruled duopoly and vote only for independent left opposition candidates.
Finally, as part of our Ten Key Values, we call upon ourselves to take personal and global responsibility and further educate ourselves on this and other issues. We must be the change we want to see. Please explore the recent press release published by the Green Party National Women's Caucus.