Cicile Johnson says many people imagine the US is a heaven, however, what America is good at, is giving the impression that the country is a place for equality and freedom.
She says American government creates the situation and destroys the people to claim African Americans are wild, corrupt and criminal.
In an interview with Mehr News on the sidelines of the third edition of International New Horizon Independent Conference, Johnson answered the questions on the issue:
Is the US becoming a Police State? How do you predict the future of police brutality in the US?
The America has an oppressive police force, especially towards black people. You can have a black president and it does not preclude you from having someone to do something to you. Where have you ever heard people break into White House before, but only with a black president? Militarization of the police roots from Israeli tactics, why? Police are supposed to be peace officers in a community, but they are not. People fear police in the US. In America a traffic stop can turn into death. You may walk on the street and it can turn into a death. When children leave the home every day, the parents have to give them special instructions to be safe when confronting with police. I tell my son when police stops you put your hands on your head and always make sure they can see your hands so that never suspect you have a gun. You can see white people who hold guns in their hands and still police is having conversation with them, smiling and doing nothing. And you see black people who does not have ANY weapon and police shoots them. They shot a 12 year old child. Black life is not secure in America and the police are instruments of the state. Iit is unholy.
What are some of the rules which are against blacks in the US?
What America is good at is giving the impression that the country is a place for equality and freedom. People quote the constitution. When the constitution was written it did not include women, blacks and it did ignore Native Americans whose land they were in. So when you talk about rules, we have a kind of criminal injustice system because in reality when you go to the courts, lots of times all staff are against you. People will be accused of crimes and they tell them to take a plea bargain and because they don’t have a proper legal advice, they take the plea bargain and accept the crime they have never committed. The rules and laws affect their housing, work, education, so they are setting them up. So, when it comes to the rules, there is a whole of rules interconnected that keep the people oppressed.
Regarding the statistics showing high number of blacks inside the US jails, do you think this is because they commit crime more than whites, or it indicates discrimination against them?
We are 15% of the population as black people, and make up 15 plus something percent of the prison population. Does that mean that black people are more criminal? No, it means the system is unjust. When you have a criminal background now, you have been incarcerated, whether you did a crime or not, that is a way used against you in the states you cannot even vote. It means you do not have a right to choose your leadership.
What you see happening is actually when crime was going down, black incarceration was going up. You know crack epidemic, which crack is brought into communities. We don’t own planes, we did not bring the cocaine from Colombia. We believe people within the government did that. When you see our history, black community were suppressed by the FBI and the government. They were infiltrating our community, our movement and killing our leaders and putting some of them in jail. A lot of our people were political prisoners. Then all of a sudden you see heroin, drugs was in the community. They [government] brought that into our community. Crack came into black community and it killed people, killed moms. What other drugs like heroine did not do, crack did. Crack destroyed the black family. Black does not use drugs more than any other group, in fact white Americans use more drugs than anybody else. We know that it’s a set-up. You know they create a situation and destroy the people and then they say, oh look, they [blacks] are wild, corrupt, angry, whatever. Yes, yes, because you [government] have set it up that way.
When you look at the education system in major cities, you will see that the schools in majority consist of people in color, black and Hispanic or Latino people. But the graduation rate shows something different. Many black students never graduate. There is unequal education system.
What do you think about the approaches and mottos by US presidential election candidates towards blacks in the US?
A friend of mine once said sometimes our enemies are within. Because you have black face, doesn’t mean he is a friend. Ben Carson is a black candidate, however, he is not with us. And that’s the issue. Because of the 400 years of oppression, because of the westernization of the thought process, because of unequal educational system where you are educated to hate yourself, and the constant bombardment, you have people who will come up, who look black and will put that face up and say oh look, we are black candidates and we can save you!
We are not happy with Obama, because what that person brought us was a few things, however, we will not know his legacy until he leaves office. I, as an activist, have not been happy with him. He is the president of black people but has done nothing to us. He has done many things for gays, but not us! You know he is only a part of a system, only a puppet.
Cecile Johnson, CEO of African Development Plan which calls for the creation and implementation of a 50 year plan for development for global African communities. She is Board Member of the National Black Agenda Consortium (Chicago) who focuses on the state of African Americans in the USA. She is a project Manager, researcher and presenter on Development issues impacting the Global African Community with a special focus on the African American community in the USA and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Interview by: Lachin Rezaian