4 Points in Response to Slander in the Media and Other Places About the March 24th Protest for Justice for Kimani Gray from Carl Dix
March 27, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
The march and rally on March 24 in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York, called by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network (SMIN) to protest the police murder of Kimani Gray, was a necessary and important initiative. In the face of charges that outside agitators were coming into the neighborhood to stir up trouble, it was critical for this diverse group to stand with the people who had stood up to say NO MORE! after Kimani's murder, and who had borne the brunt of the authorities' repressive response. There are no outsiders in the struggle against injustice, and those who stand up to resist must not be left alone to take on the attempts of the powers-that-be to crush their resistance.
At this event a small group of people engaged in dangerous and divisive activity: shouting down speakers and threatening physical attacks against people associated with the Revolutionary Communist Party. Some media reports played up this activity to paint a picture of divisions in the protests around Kimani's murder and to revive the story of outside agitators stirring up trouble.
Carl Dix issued these 4 points to address this situation:
#1 - It was important and righteous that a diverse group of people responded to the Call from the Stop Mass Incarceration Network to come out on 3/24 for Justice For Kimani Gray. We were uniting to take on a real genocide and standing with those who have been arrested and criminalized for standing up against the police murder of Kimani. There are no “outsiders” in the struggle for justice.
#2—It is vital that everyone in this movement be able to put forward their understanding of where this problem comes from and what the solution is. Open airing of these perspectives is very positive, not a distraction or “outside issues.”
#3—Attacks and threats against people for putting forward their views are divisive and destructive. This serves the highly repressive state and its mouthpieces in the media in trying to demoralize, confuse, divide, and even frame or set people up for murder.
#4—Everyone who is serious about ending the epidemic of police murder needs to get into the real revolution. I’ve gone to funerals and marched for victims of the police for 40 years. I’ve seen Black mayors and police chiefs. I’ve seen officials promise more accountability, better police training and CCRBs and still the killings continue. The murder of our youth by this system continues because the problem is deeper than that. That’s why I say it’ll take Revolution—Nothing Less! to stop police murder, and all the horrors this system inflicts on humanity. Go here to get into what this revolution is all about through the new film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!
Carl Dix is a representative of the Revolutionary Communist Party and a leader in the movement to stop mass incarceration.
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