Los Angeles: From Crenshaw to Westlake to Pico/Union—"We must not stop"
July 22, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Los Angeles, July 20, 2013
July 20—As part of the National Action Network and Million Hoodies Movement in 100 cities, members of the Revolution Club and readers/distributors of Revolution newspaper joined it with our revolutionary materials and our revolutionary swag. We brought placards (made the previous night by volunteers) with the different slogans posted on revcom.us—including the NEW "3 Strikes" quote by BA, a beautiful (large) banner with the slogan "We are all Trayvon! The Whole Damn System is Guilty!" (that immediately drew attention and appreciation—with people taking pictures, etc.), stickers with this same slogan (and people were encouraged to take stacks of the stickers to distribute to the crowd—as well as wherever they go), Revolution newspaper, and promotional materials for the BA Speaks: Revolution—Nothing Less! film screening (up the street that same day).
It wasn't long after we'd arrived that a march of about 300+ people took off—there were drumming, chants, and Aztec dancers keeping the momentum and spirit of the crowd. It was a multinational march. We marched through downtown LA and distributed as much material as we had on us. Then we marched towards the Pico-Union/Westlake area (predominantly Latino immigrant neighborhood). Immediately after the Pico-Union/Westlake neighborhood a contingent in the march wanted to head back to Downtown LA because friends of theirs were waiting for them. But the people in the march—predominantly Black—wanted to continue marching; and there seem to be some back and forth amongst the crowd. By this point, we were a contingent of three people—so we used the only bullhorn we had and agitated to the crowd. We drew our agitation from the article "On the Murder of Trayvon Martin and the Outrageous Acquittal of His Killer: THEY MUST NOT—THEY WILL NOT—GET AWAY WITH THIS!!!" and said along the lines of: "Let's not forget—we are all part of taking responsibility for changing the course of history. People should be marching everywhere from Westlake to Downtown LA and everywhere else where people are outraged by the murder of Trayvon Martin. And, we must not stop until there is an end to a system that does this to whole generations of Black and Latino youth (here in this country, and all around the world) and get to a system where the Trayvons of the world can survive, thrive, and flourish. We need a Revolution—Nothing Less! to do that and there is the leadership for that revolution in Bob Avakian! So, if people want to continue marching, let's go! If people want to go back to Downtown LA—then do so!" As soon as the agitation stopped, it seemed to clarify what people needed to do and two marches broke off. We were part of the contingent that continued forward; and it mainly consisted of Black people (mothers, youth, and grandparents).
Los Angeles, July 20, 2013
We marched for several miles towards Leimert Park—this contingent was full of people recognizing that we were in it together and constantly kept each other's morale and spirit up. People would take turns carrying the large beautiful banner and interspersed different chants. When we were 10 blocks away from Leimert Park we continued to chant and were very moved when people joined the march all along the way. We never took ourselves off of the street—even while the cops kept saying "for your safety go onto the sidewalk"—we turned that around by saying "for our safety we are on the RIGHT side of history/justice." On Crenshaw Blvd (a predominantly Black neighborhood) people began to honk their horns, chant with our contingent, and cheer as we walked through their neighborhood—this too kept the morale of the 30+ contingent going. All along the way, our contingent of three revolutionaries talked to the people what's the problem and solution (reading BA's "3 Strikes" quote, drawing from memorized parts of BAsics—including on the role of the police). At one point, a Black woman holding a poster with her grandchildren—said that what the revolutionaries were saying made the most sense, which is why she continued marching forward.
As we arrived to Leimert Park people began chanting "All the way from Downtown! All the way from Downtown!" and began a speak out—where people spoke of why they marched today. Most were Black women who said they feared for their son, they feared for themselves, and they feared for their families. One man who'd been travelling from Tennessee was making his way throughout the country to these different marches and is eventually heading back to Florida. He said he had two sons in the gangs and he was doing this travel for them—because he does not want to see them get killed. Another young woman came from Victorville and wanted to be part of a larger grouping of people who were continuing the struggle for Justice for Trayvon. She talked about her brother organizing a march in Victorville because they were furious over the outrageous verdict. She took copies of the Revolution Club statement to get out to people in the crowd but also in her area. Another young Black man, a musician, said ever since the verdict happened he stopped doing music and has been part of all the demonstrations. He said he's been profiled several times: "I am Trayvon Martin!" and talked about hating living during times when being Black means being suspicious.
While there is a lot more to write and sum up, I think this begins to get into the importance of people waking up and shaking off the chains this system puts on them. But also, the importance of a scientific understanding to changing the world. And we must not allow anybody to stand in the way of making revolution and emancipating all of humanity (with all its twist and turns)—because the world and humanity is counting on us; and we gotta rise to that responsibility. FIGHT THE POWER, AND TRANSFORM THE PEOPLE, FOR REVOLUTION!
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