This statement was written by members of the Silicon Valley DSA Liberation and Justice Working Group.
A Tragedy of Systemic Violence
The events that unfolded on January 21st, 2026, in San Jose, California, serve as a chilling, visceral testament to the enduring crisis of systemic violence against Black lives in America. Mohamed Husein was a son, a brother, and a father murdered in cold blood for fleeing from San Jose Police Department officers to avoid arrest for a crime spree. He was literally running for his life, attempting to escape a system that, for far too many, equates criminality with a death sentence.
The Lethal Pursuit
While running away, Mohamed Husein was struck by gunshots that erupted from multiple officers. These bullets found their mark, and Mohamed collapsed onto the street. What happened next was incomprehensible brutality that led to San Jose Police Department SUV, purportedly an instrument of public safety, barreled over his prone body, treating a human life as nothing more than an unseen speed bump.
The scene did not end there as it devolved into a firing squad. Gunfire filled the air as the officers discharged their weapons into Mohamed’s already lifeless body that lay in the street. Other than involuntary final jerks of his limbs, the bullets still traveled through his motionless body. This incident is a prime example of a public execution that is a systemic pattern of violence against Black and Brown communities nationwide.
State Sanctioned Lynchings: A Grim American Tradition
The ruthless slaying of Black people in public view is a grim tradition as old as the United States itself. Historically, the suffering and exploitation of Black and Brown people laid the foundation for America, a parasitic relationship that continues to stunt the growth and potential of these communities. These continued acts of violence against Black and Brown folk must be recognized for what they are: lynchings. Calling them anything else is doing a disservice to those who have fallen at the hands of this broken system, and minimizes the true extent of harm caused to these communities.
These highly visible public lynchings have become so common that American society has grown desensitized to the spectacle of Black and Brown lives being extinguished in plain sight. This normalization of violence mirrors the acceptance of historical lynchings in earlier eras, where the public display of Black death served as a tool of terror, social control, and grotesque entertainment.
Historically, lynchings served as social control, a threat to all Brown and Black folks who dared to defy the system. The ruling class knew that, without socially normalized lynching, their continued exploitation of Brown and Brown bodies would come to an end. Likewise, we today are inundated with reports of fatal encounters with the police, placing all blame on the victims. Society has become numb to this senseless violence and has begun to accept it as something that “just happens”.
Modern-day Lynchings in the Courtroom and the Street
Modern-day lynchings have occurred covertly within courtrooms across the nation, carried out under the pretexts of “law and order” and “crime and punishment.” These lynchings have inured the public to the violence the police inflict. Members of the justice system have long used this regime of criminalization as an excuse to manipulate, amend, and blatantly violate the very laws they swore to uphold. Society has widely accepted that law enforcement can, and will, operate outside the boundaries of the law they ostensibly uphold. History is full of examples where minor infractions have been systematically and lethally escalated into death sentences.
In the pre-Civil Rights Jim Crow era, social rules demanded subservience from Black folks, like stepping off sidewalks for white people, avoiding eye contact, or speaking informally. The punishment for violations was often brutal lynching rather than due process. The horrific 1943 murder of 15-year-old Willie James Howard in Florida, killed for the “crime” of giving a white girl an innocent Christmas card, illustrates how minor interactions were seen as deadly threats against the structure of white supremacy.
Despite being officially abolished, the spirit and consequence of these Jim Crow laws persist today. Recent victims include Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, and George Floyd, who were murdered by the police for such minor alleged crimes as selling loose cigarettes, forgetting to use a turn signal, or using a fake $20 bill. Tragically, this list of victims continues to grow.
“Breaking the Law” as a Death Penalty Pretext
Today, “breaking the law” may as well lead to the death penalty. By claiming a law has been broken, law enforcement justify circumventing constitutionally guaranteed due process, allowing officers to act as judge, jury, and executioner in the streets.
Mohamed Husein was murdered because he was Black, and because the system has made it acceptable to extinguish Black lives, especially when they are alleged to have broken the law. In this country, Black folks are a target of systemic aggression, which is only amplified by a criminal allegation. Once law enforcement labels a victim a criminal, a deeply ingrained societal justification, “if they would not have committed the crime, they would not have been killed”, tacitly sanctions state-sponsored murder.
Demanding Accountability in Santa Clara County
This county, like others throughout the country, has historically been complacent during public lynchings and has shown a profound lack of regard for the victims of police violence. Excessive force is normalized, especially once a crime is attached to the life taken. In these cases, the Constitutional right of “innocent until proven guilty” becomes a hollow phrase.
Jeff Rosen, District Attorney in Santa Clara County, meant to be the community’s advocate for accountability, clearly has misplaced priorities. Instead of pursuing justice for Mohamed, his office sought the only felony charges against pro-Palestine college campus protests in the nation, targeting the Stanford 11;outrageously, he attempted to charge a student reporter, a clear first amendment violation. Rosen was so clearly compromised that his office was barred from re-trying the case since he used it as fundraising for his campaign and tried to paint the protestors as anti-semitic. Months later, there has not been any resolution or justice for the killing of Mohamed, as any elected DA should have achieved by now.
The force used in SJPD’s public execution of Mohamed Husein was undeniably excessive. District Attorney Jeff Rosen and his investigative team must bring criminal charges against all deputies involved: the officers shot into his back as he was running, the deputy who ran him over with the SUV, and all the officers who fired into his lifeless body afterwards. They must be prosecuted for taking the law into their own hands instead of following due process and for attempting to rationalize their racist, discriminatory, abhorrent behavior.
The Violation of Oath and Law
The San Jose Police Department failed to uphold their oath to protect and serve. They ignored their training and did not properly follow the escalation of force process. SJPD possesses several K9 units, which are specifically equipped and trained to apprehend someone fleeing a crime scene without resorting to lethal force, which they could have used to avoid needless death.
The punishment of death was not commensurate with the crime committed and would not have been the sentence in any court in California. SJPD broke the law when they executed Mohamed in the street, despite the death penalty moratorium imposed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2019.
Mohamed Husein was denied the dignity of a fair legal process and his constitutionally guaranteed day in court. Instead, he was subjected to the death penalty, a punishment not administered in California, carried out by the very agents sworn to protect him.
Addressing the Mental Health Crisis
At the root of many instances of brutality by SJPD (and the justice system at large) is society’s failure to adequately support folks experiencing mental health crises, like Mohamed Husein, and many others suffering under this system. Mohahmed’s family informed the police that he was mentally unstable and would require additional assistance or, at least, a modicum of understanding, but even those preemptive warnings were not enough to guarantee safe, non-lethal interactions with law enforcement.
Husein’s story, along with those of many others before him, have fomented a deep mistrust in the justice system. Despite that, there seems to be little support for its victims. Many can afford neither the time nor the resources to seek help. Law enforcement often becomes involved when mental illness pushes people past their breaking point.
Police are often the first public resource utilized during a crisis. The SJPD has Mobile Crisis Response teams that can respond to mental health crises, but those teams lack crucial resources. Most officers are not adequately trained or equipped to deal with a mental health crisis in a safe manner. We must direct vital funding towards community care programs like the Mobile Crisis Response teams.
There are resources available for those seeking help, although visibility and funding for their work is often less than ideal. Within Santa Clara County, there are several organizations that offer accessible mental health support. 988 is the Santa Clara County Crisis and Suicide Hotline, available 24 hours, 7 days a week.
Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI) is another organization that provides low-to-no cost service available for those seeking help. Trust Mental Health is another organization that offers low-to-no cost services.
If you want to organize for a better world, join the Liberation and Justice Working Group of Silicon Valley DSA.