The pan African Writer’s Association (PAWA) has condemned what it described as the discriminatory treatment and senseless killing of innocent and unarmed black people in the United States of America.
A statement issued by Nana Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, Chairman of PAWA Steering Committee, in Accra on Friday, re-echoed the call on the country’s authorities to bring to book all those involved in the murder of George Floyd.
“The protests that have erupted across the US and many actions of solidarity across the globe make it clear that the entire world finds these acts of police brutality and murder in the so-called leader of the free world, unacceptable”, it said.
The African-American was killed by a team of police during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020 after a police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on the deceased’s neck for eight minutes, 46 seconds.
The death of Floyd, who has since been interred in the Houston suburb of Pearland, has sparked protests across the world and social media with the hashtags #BlackLivesMatter and #Icantbreathe.
“We express our deepest condolences to the family of George Floyd and many others who have lost a loved one due to institutional, historic and systemic rasism”, the PAWA statement said.
As a Pan- African association, it said it was its responsibility to be the voice of the people in times such as these when the assertion of human values must rise to the fore.
“PAWA likes to reiterate its commitment to global values of peace, human rights, equality and social justice for all people under the sun”, the statement said.
“We call on all African Writers and creators of literary content to rise to the occasion by expressing solidarity with all oppressed people around the world, especially people of color who suffer multiple indignities of racism , poverty , in equality and social injustice’, it added.
BY TIMES REPORTER
