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The co-organizer of the Women’s March Tamika Mallory says she wants the U.S. National Rifle Association, NRA, to start protecting the Second Amendment rights of black and brown people ahead of her group's planned rally at the gun rights headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia on Friday.
Mallory specifically pointed to two NRA advertisements targeting activists as well as the association's silence on the death of Philando Castile.
The 32-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker was killed by the St Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez during a 6 July 2016 traffic stop after Castile said he was armed. Castile had a permit for his gun.
The shooting gained widespread attention after Castile’s girlfriend livestreamed its aftermath on Facebook.
Police Officer Who Killed Philando Castile Gets $48,500 Buyout
Black Lives Matter (BLM) -Los Angeles' chapter has launched a filmed response to one of the controversial NRA ads which shows the rife association's spokesperson Dana Loesch criticizing the “resistance” movement against the U.S. President Donald Trump.
Chapter member Funmilola Fagbamila appears in the video and says the NRA is promoting “dangerous propaganda” that is designed to incite “gun-toting racists."
The orginal NRA film, , "Freedom's Safest Place: Violence of Lies", was released in April.
It features Loesch claiming that protesters are responsible for "creating" unrest and describes them as the "violent left".
It uses footage from rallies against the U.S. travel ban on Muslim majority countries as well as demonstrations in Baltimore following the death in-custody of Freddie Gray.
Loesch says the demonstrations are contributing to instability in the country and adds the activists “smash windows, burn cars, shut down interstates and airports … until the only option left is for the police to do their jobs and stop the madness. … The only way to stop this violence of lies is with the clenched fist of truth.”
The BLM's response was released last week and has been viewed more than 100,000 times.
In the video, Fagbamila says the NRA “use their new president to enact a ‘law-and-order administration"
She adds "All to make them shoot first, to make them ask questions later, make them scream, ‘I thought he had a gun in his hand’ and ‘I feared for my life’ and ‘he matched the description of a suspect’ and ‘she was threatening us’ ... until the only option left is for black people to disrupt the systems that keep us oppressed and build the kinds of communities in which we want to live".
"When the NRA issues a public call to their constituents, inciting violence against people who are constitutionally fighting for their lives, we don’t take that lightly," said Fagbamila.
Fagbamila, concludes the video by saying, "We demand the NRA remove their dangerous propaganda videos narrated by the conservative radio hosts, Dana Loesch and Granch Stilfield."
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