US police killings of blacks part of ‘ethnic cleansing’
The US police brutality against civilians in Chicago, Illinois, is part of a systematic “repression” and “ethnic cleansing” of the black people, an American researcher and historian says.
Dr. Randy Short, who has a Ph.D in African studies, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday, after video clips and investigative materials from more than 100 incidents were released by a panel which show police officers in Chicago, shoot civilians and commit other acts of brutality.
The Independent Police Review Authority, a Chicago panel which investigates police misconduct cases, released the evidence on Friday.
The evidence includes clips from police body cameras, dash cams, surveillance videos, and cell phones.
A graphic video of Chicago police fatally shooting an unarmed black man who ran toward them was among hundreds of audio and video recordings released. Laquan McDonald, 17, was shot 16 times in 2012 by former police officer Jason Van Dyke, who is white.
“What happened in Chicago is just the tip of the iceberg. And it’s no surprise to anyone,” said Dr. Short.
He stated that there is a cyclical wave of police murders and African-Americans are being removed from cities. “Throughout the United States and all the major cities particularly they are ethnically cleansing the blacks out.”
The historian said the police have been playing a major role in this regard. “Human rights violations [are] grossly done by the law enforcement in the country.”
The Independent Police Review Authority was formed in 2007 to investigate problems at the Chicago Police Department, which has a history of complaints of excessive force.
Police in the United States fatally shot about 1,000 people in 2015, of which blacks made up over a third of those killed, according to a report released earlier this year by the Washington Post.
A recent study has found that almost half of the people who die at the hands of the US police have some kind of mental or physical disability. The findings also reveal that most of the victims have been killed in situations where lethal force was not needed.
