Usaama Rahim, #479 Killed by US Police in 2015 & the First Victim to Be Instantly Named a Terrorist
Today we woke up to this terrible news from Imam Ibrahim Rahim, the Imam of the Lighthouse Mosque in Oakland, California about the police and FBI killing of his brother Usaama Rahim in Boston.
Almost immediately after the shooting CNN had an anonymous source telling it that Usaama Rahim was part of a “terror network.”
To which Glenn Greenwald quickly noted the irony of the media's conviction by “source.”
Local Boston media went on to make more statements directly from the police and FBI:
Of course there are no ulterior motives at work here. Oh wait….
We’re not kidding:
Murtaza Hussain from the Intercept puts this all in perspective for us:
Remember this is a country where 471 people have been murdered by the police in 2015. That means that in the 153 days of 2015 police in the United States have killed more than 3 people on average everyday.
He is also the second Muslim in the United States to be killed by police in the United States in the last week. 20-year-old Feras Morad was shot and killed by the Long Beach PD last Wednesday after he jumped through a window on the 2nd floor of an apartment building and was bleeding in the street, after he had a severe reaction to psychedelic mushrooms. His brother and sister started a viral social media campaign with their hands up with the words “Unarmed, Please Cuff Me,” written across their arms.
Unfortunately, this case is also another example of how far media outlets will go to fit police narratives as a local Los Angeles NBC affiliate was caught editing a video interview to fit with the police story.
Boston is one of the first cities in the United States to sign onto the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program that creates partnerships between local and federal police departments. The program is focused on American Muslim populations despite the fact that the FBI itself has admitted that the greatest domestic terrorist threat in the United States comes from right-wing extremist groups.
Boston has a long history of spying and policing African Amerian communities more than any other community in Boston, so it is not surprising that the African American Muslim community would become the focus of local FBI & Boston PD spying.
As Linda Sarsour stated most clearly about the murder of Usaama Rahim,
“It is our duty and our right as the public to question every case of police use of excessive force. Every case. No law enforcement agency is above questioning or above the law. We are asking for an independent thorough investigation, public release of the video, accountability and transparency both about the killing of Usaama Rahim but also about the basis of monitoring and surveillance. I don’t think we are being unreasonable. If you don’t think his family, community, the American people deserve that — you are the one that is un-American and do not understand the meaning of democracy. As a New Yorker, being under surveillance is daily life for Muslims, so saying he was under surveillance means he joins hundreds of thousands of Muslims if not millions. I will not continue to accept “national security” as a bottom line answer to our community giving a free pass to government to engage in unwarranted surveillance and in some cases use of excessive force.”
Finally, we turn back to Imam Ibrahim Rahim, who after the Chapel Hill murders gave a Friday sermon at the Lighthouse Mosque in Oakland that happened to intersect with the murder of the local Bay Area Muslim rapper the Jacka. As we reflect on the life of those killed in the coming days I highly recommend that we turn to the wise words of Imam Ibrahim for direction.
