Amadou Diallo R.I.P. (RESIST on IN POWER) – 14 years ago today

Amadou Diallo R.I.P. (RESIST on IN POWER) – 14 years ago today, an unarmed street vendor and immigrant, was killed in a hail of 41 bullets by NYPD officers.

Amadou Diallo was only 23 years young when he was shot and killed by four police officers of the New York Police Department on February 4, 1999. Although it’s been fourteen years since this tragedy, we still remember that Diallo was unarmed at the time of the shooting and the police fired a combined total of 41 shots, 19 of which struck Diallo, right outside his home on 1157 Wheeler Avenue. All four officers were acquitted at trial in Albany, New York.

DRUM was formed out of the responses to this killing, notably out of the 41 Days of Action in 2000. It was with a specific intent and understanding that though communities of color are policed in somewhat different ways (immigration, street policing, surveillance, etc.), working-class communities face the major brunt of it, and have to be united and give priority to confronting police abuse before we can achieve gains in other struggles.

DRUM continues that work by exposing the nexus between different types of policing, and by bringing together affected communities and community groups to work together and in coordination with each other. Please join a March and Candle Light Vigil, organized by Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice in honor of Amadou Diallo.

The fight still continues to end police brutality and racial profiling.

INQUILAAB ZINDABAAD!