The Red Nation condemns the targeting and arrest of Albuquerque based Black Lives Matter organizer Clifton White by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD). We consider Clifton White to be a political prisoner and we call for his unconditional release immediately.
Anti-Black racism is systemic and widespread in New Mexico. Black relatives face erasure, discrimination, violence, and criminalization in nearly every institution, neighborhood, community, and facet of society. We have witnessed this over the past months in the streets of Albuquerque, Gallup, and Santa Fe. When Black Lives Matter protests have taken to the streets, they have been met with police repression, armed white supremacist intimidation, and infiltration.
We must support our Black relatives and give unconditional support to their liberation, and we must make it a priority to fight the repression of Black organizers.
The case of Clifton White in particular is profoundly disturbing. On the evening of May 28, 2020, a sizable Black Lives Matter protest took place in Albuquerque. The APD showed up to film and intimidate attendees. After the protest ended, several organizers caught word that four Black youth were being arrested by APD nearby for no reason. They proceeded to lawfully observe the arrests and to question police as to why these youth were being targeted. A few days later, on June 1st, Clifton White was arrested by APD in a shopping plaza across from the Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center. From the arrest warrant and comments made by APD officers, it is clear they knew who Clifton White was, and they knew that they could stifle him and his participation in the growing movement in the streets.
We must not let this stand. We must support our Black relatives and give unconditional support to their liberation, and we must make it a priority to fight the repression of Black organizers. It is our obligation to take action and free Clifton White!
We also join relatives and organizers in Albuquerque who are calling on all members of the community to call New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham at 505-476-2200 to demand his unconditional release.
#FreeCliftonWhite #BlackLivesMatter #NoJusticeNoPeace
We encourage comrades and relatives everywhere to educate themselves about the case of Clifton White:
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