From a post by Klee Benally
This is our unsheltered brother Shane here in Kinlani/Flagstaff. He came to the infoshop today to tell me to document and share what happened to him:At approximately 8pm last night at Beaver & Cherry streets in downtown Flagstaff, four young white people attacked Shane from behind. They used a bat, steel pipe, and skateboards to beat him. They yelled “Fuck you Indians” and referenced the protests and riots happening. He was beat all over & could have died. No one intervened. He said he would not call the cops because they would “not do a damn thing.” He got treated at FMC and released with his cuts still bleeding. When I saw him at approximately 11am (he was lying in a chair outside the infoshop) his wounds were open & bleeding onto the pavement. I gave him a mask & offered some basic first aid.The unsheltered community is already facing extreme racial profiling & police violence. They have been facing devastating negligence by the local shelter & politicians who have turned their backs on them as COVID-19 ravaged their community. Shane stood with us for the Black Lives Matter solidarity demonstration on Tuesday. Shane helped organize a protest against the anti-camping ordinance & police violence downtown with more than 60 unsheltered relatives in 2018.He wanted me to share his story because he wants something done about this.I told him I would spread the word & urge people to look out for and and check-in with our unsheltered relatives to make sure they have support & some measure of additional protection.While people march in circles in this town & kneel and pray with cops for PR stunts, they invisiblize the brutality of white supremacy that unsheltered relatives like Shane face every day.Don’t cast this image from your mind. Let this be part of the testimony as we call for justice against colonialism and white supremacy in this community.Otherwise, how can anyone proclaim they truly stand for justice? Will the original peoples of this land suffer in deafening silence as your rallies drown them out? Will their struggles be concealed by the shadow of your signs?#sleepisnotacrime#unshelteredrefugees#smashwhitesupremacy#ftp#acab
Original post: https://www.facebook.com/IndigenousAction/posts/2551360298458681