Recognizing Genocide and Moving Toward Liberation: Not Counting Mexicans and Indians, Part II

27.5.15

Recognizing Genocide and Moving Toward Liberation: Not Counting Mexicans and Indians, Part II: At the moment, the historic and brutal violence against Brown-Indigenous peoples remains under the radar of this nation's corporate media, the nation's conversations and its psyche. (This is not to say, of course, that police violence against Black communities should receive less attention; in fact, it should receive much�more attention, as should violence against Brown and Indigenous communities.) A particularly brutal and abhorrent case near Tucson, Arizona, helps to illustrate this attitude and relationship.

On�Feb. 19, a police officer intentionally rammed his�fast-speeding police vehicle into an armed and wanted suspect,�Mario Miranda Valencia, from behind, sending him hurtling through the air. The suspect survived. After the incident,�Marana Police Chief Terry Rozema�stated that the maneuver by�officer Michael Rapiejko,�actually saved the suspect's life, apparently believing that the confrontation would not otherwise have resulted in Valencia's survival. It strains credulity that such a violent maneuver is deemed lawful ... and life-saving.