/ Uncategorized / By

We’ve Received a Call…

June 17, 2015 | Ahmad Abuznaid, Dream Defenders

abuznaid_headshot

Few things are more sobering than a phone call from a severely distressed family member, especially one who is in dire need of your help. You never forget a call like this: where you were when you received it, what time of day it was, or how you responded. Upon picking up the phone, you can feel the agony. These calls are our collective worst nightmare.  

Few things are more sobering than a phone call from a severely distressed family member, especially one who is in dire need of your help. You never forget a call like this: where you were when you received it, what time of day it was, or how you responded. Upon picking up the phone, you can feel the agony. These calls are our collective worst nightmare.  

On April 19, 2015, we received a call, and on the other end of the call we could hear the pain, the despair, the anger, and the longstanding suffering of the people of Baltimore. Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American man, died as a result of injuries to his spinal cord that he sustained while in police custody.  

Much like Ferguson before it, a large part of the population of Baltimore erupted in a state of frustration, fed up with a system that continually fails to recognize their humanity. The lack of justice for Freddie Gray, along with the continued economic abuse leveled at the working-class and poor communities of Baltimore, shows us that our family members have been betrayed, beaten, and left alone to fend for themselves.  

Baltimore is that family member on the other end of the call, tears streaming down cheekbones, voice quavering, in search of help—or perhaps just someone to hear them. Now that the call has been made, how will we respond? If we had not experienced this type of call before, we might initially have felt some sort of shock, an inability to cope with the situation without further reflection. Unfortunately, this call is not an isolated incident; this is not a rare tragedy, as indicated by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement’s research: “Every 28 hours in 2012 someone employed or protected by the US government killed a Black man, woman, or child.”1 In the last few years, with the deaths of Rekia Boyd, Aiyana Jones, Tamir Rice, and many others, the list of people our family has lost continues to get longer and more devastating. It is not just Black men, but Black women and children who are being lost to this senseless war against people of color.  

On May 1st, the Office of the Baltimore City State’s Attorney filed charges against the six police officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray. Justice has not been served—not yet, at least. We have to ask ourselves the deeper questions about what justice really means for these communities. Freddie, Rekia, Aiyana, and Tamir are gone, and no charges or sentencing will bring true justice to the families. The most fair and just thing that can come from these tragic events is that we the people finally say enough is enough. The people rising up across the country are showing us the way—people power—and once we can build that people power into a solid, united front, we will be at the doorstep of true liberation. This liberation will be filled with student-centered schools instead of prisons; jobs and living wages for our communities; and police who serve as community developers instead of community enforcers. That’s a call worth answering.   

Dream Defenders is an uprising of communities in struggle, shifting culture through transformational organizing. We are on the ground across the state of Florida, and our membership is made up of youth between the ages of 17 and 35 who are actively engaged in training, development, and the creation of systems that will shepherd us into a new era of self-determination. Our strategy involves addressing three different spheres for their collective contributions to the system that is oppressing us. We focus on school, prisons, and police; and in the spirit of Malcolm X and many others, we are tying our struggles to those fighting internationally. We believe that we will win.  

 

Ahmad Nabil Abuznaid, Esq., is a co-founder of Dream Defenders and currently serves as their chief operating officer and leader in legal/policy matters. Ahmad was born in East Jerusalem, Palestine. It was there, growing up while living under occupation, that he first developed his interest in social justice. Ahmad returned to the United States for high school and then attended Florida State University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in international affairs, with a minor in business, in 2006. Ahmad earned his JD from the Florida Coastal School of Law in 2011; in law school he received pro bono honors and interned at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He is a member in good standing of the Florida bar. In 2014 Ahmad advocated before the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva, Switzerland; the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; the United States Commission on Civil Rights; and the Congressional Black Caucus foundation conference.