Thenjiwe McHarris: “We Are Done Watching Our People Die”

THENJIWE MCHARRIS, STRATEGIST, THE MOVEMENT FOR BLACK LIVES: Well, first, thank you for having me. I just want to start off by saying I am so moved and so inspired by black movement, black leadership, people taking to the streets across the country from Minneapolis to St. Louis to Los Angeles to New York. We are watching something that is so historic, so profound and really is a number of things, but one thing it is, it is an outcry from the belly of the streets, from the homes of black people across this country, sharing that we are done watching our people die. We are done watching our loved ones be snatched from us. And it is also people across the country saying that we will no longer be told that demanding what we deserve is impossible, that it is not practical and that it is not something that could happen. We believe that we can win, we believe that we can actually have safety in this country. In terms of elected officials, we have watched from the White House to the mayor in Minneapolis say that certain things like reimagining public safety in localities or defunding the police across the country is not something that is possible or not the right choice. It is clear that we have elected officials in every level of government in this country that is not centering the needs of the people or even the rights of protestors that is centering the needs of the wealthy, that is centering the needs of those that do not have the best interests of people or the planet at heart. And so, our position is, one, is that we — elected officials who are not able to center our needs should not have the positions that they have and that the solution to the problem, that the solution to how we fix this issue of anti-black racism, of injustice in this country has to come from the mouths, has to come from the truth of communities. We have been saying this for generations. We will continue saying this for generations.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So, very quickly before I turn to Alex Vitale for some sort of sociological details, are you pleased then, is it a big step in the right direction what the Minneapolis City Council did and talked about dismantling the police department there and shifting the sort of — you know, the emphasis?

MCHARRIS: Absolutely. It’s a lightning rod to the rest of the country of what is possible, and it’s also a product of the courageous bold leaders on the ground in Minneapolis. I think now more than a time — more than ever, we need to be thinking about what is community-led safety infrastructure that will take its place? What is a way to defund and divest from policing as it exists now and investing in the actual needs of our communities?