From Black Lives Matter Boston

“We, at Black Lives Matter Boston, are sickened to once more have to call out in grief over the violent taking of another community member at the hands of the white supremacist state. To his loving family and many friends: We offer our sincerest condolences. We honor Usaama’s life and mourn his passing.

We also say, together, that, regardless of what is alleged, that it was improper and egregious that the confrontation which was instigated by agents with the Joint Terrorism Task Force ended with the murder of this this son, this brother, and this spouse. We want to call direct attention to the callous efforts of both the Boston Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to, once again, distract from their misconduct by casting suspicions against the dead in order to back-fill cause for the targeting and very public execution of another Black person in these United States of America. The swiftly circulated claims about Rahim’s supposed terrorist-affiliation and purported plans to do harm to others which have been floated by law enforcement in place of their admissions of guilt are rooted in a larger pattern of racist and Islamaphobic fear-mongering that both agencies have deployed against the most vulnerable among us for nearly two decades. These lies are killing us.

Moreover, as individuals and as an organization dedicated to liberation, Black Lives Matter Boston states unequivocally that Usaama Rahim’s death was unjustified. We stand firm in the position that being Black, Muslim, critical of the government, or non-compliant with authorities are not capital crimes. Considering the race and ethnicity of those the BPD & FBI manages to successfully locate, surveil, and take into custody without the use of deadly force, the time for allowing either agency to get away with saying these extrajudicial killings are not fueled by white supremacy has long since passed.

We call on our friends, our families, and our communities to gather and resolve to stand up against this continued slaughter. We are numerous and together we will win.”

Shared by way of Muslims For Ferguson