I can’t sit here and tell you the intentions of the Arab owned store that called the cops on George Floyd, but I can tell you that there is immense anti blackness and aspiring to whiteness in our community. They should not have been that comfortable calling the cops.

They have no excuse being ignorant. Every day in America there is news of police brutality. The absolute surprise at the result of their call is inexcusable. We need to hold our community accountable and work to change it. The police are not our friends. We cannot be complicit.

I want to heavily clarify that I do not assume malicious intentions of the shop owners or blame them for the death of George Floyd. My point is that mass community education on alternatives to policing and punishment is needed. Conflicts can and should be resolved without police.

We can acknowledge that the shop calling the police, even if that was procedural for them, was terribly wrong, while also recognizing that there was an ignorance and naïveté regarding calling the police that shows that we as a community need to educate and promote alternatives.

And there is also space to recognize anti blackness, assimilition to whiteness, comfort/support of police broadly in the Arab community while also recognizing in this particular incident, the store owner was someone who lacked the information and resources on police alternatives.

Its a tough balance to strike and I say this not to claim that “not all Arabs are racist” but rather to dig deeper at what we can actually ~do~ to promote real change and growth in our communities, because recognizing anti blackness is only the first step, not the final one.

Share with your community members: a guide to alternatives to policing in Arabic by @AROCBayArea

http://araborganizing.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/AROC_Buildtheblock_Arabic_IC_5aPRINT.pdf