“What does it mean to live in the belly of the beast, if you possess a conscience and are more or less awake?” African-American scholar Russell Rickford once stated in his speech protesting against Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s scheduled visit to Cornell University. It was just around the time of the tragic and ruthless murder of Stephen Clark, an African-American 22-year old who was shot 20 times and killed by two police officers while he was unarmed and carrying just his cell phone. There was the pain, heaviness and anguish of the brutal killing of an unarmed black man. A despicable murder rooted in centuries of racism and oppression. And then there was rage. Perpetual rage against the visit of a war criminal who was responsible for the killing, torture, detention, and years of trauma and displacement for millions of Iraqis. For Rickford, the two emotions cannot be disconnected. His heart was one and the same because he recognized that the beast was also one and the same. War not only leads to mass destruction, environmental and psychological devastation, it also breeds white supremacy, xenophobia and propels racial hierarchies….
Iraqi Journalist Who Threw His Shoes at George W. Bush Speaks on Solidarity With BLM Protests in America
June 7, 2020
