Organizing Meeting for NATIONAL MARCH TO STOP POLICE TERROR:
Plans Made to Involve Hundreds of Thousands of People

 

July 6, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Acting on the urgent need to STOP police killing of unarmed people, 150 people met June 30 to plan #RiseUpOctober as a major manifestation brought by a new, wide coalition against police terror this fall in New York City. Leading up to three days of action over October 22-24, work over the next months will draw a huge dividing line in society over these outrages and challenge people with the question: Which side are you on?

The Call Rise Up October 24 to STOP Police Terror—signed by families of people killed by police, people from the arts, the faith community and activist movements—is for actions which are “resistance-based, uncompromising in spirit and, at the same time, pluralistic and diverse, involving thousands and thousands of people, reaching into every corner of this society and powerfully impacting the whole world.”

Talks by Stop Mass Incarceration Network co-initiators Carl Dix, of the Revolutionary Communist Party, and Dr. Cornel West, writer and teacher at Union Theological Seminary, made a powerful case for why this societal dividing line must be drawn. Carl gave shape to the three days of actions in October: 1) powerful protests on Thursday, October 22, the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, which focus on those lives stolen by brutal, murdering cops; 2) a major non-violent direct action in New York City on Friday, October 23; and 3) a massive gathering in NYC on Saturday October 24, with thousands and thousands of people descending on the city and joining with thousands and thousands of people from NYC “shutting it down by the sheer weight of our numbers.”

Cornel spoke to why people from different backgrounds and different political and religious perspectives must come together to act to stop the horrors being inflicted on Black people by police and by white supremacists who aren’t in uniform.

Initiators of the Call for October also spoke to why they are a part of mobilizing for this effort (see videos at right). Nicholas Heyward, Sr., Juanita Young and Joshua Lopez, all of whom lost family members murdered by NYPD, spoke about why a strong, national, united response against police murder is so urgent. Nellie Bailey, tenant organizer and radio host at WBAI and WHCR, spoke on why the system won’t solve this problem without mass resistance. Nkosi Anderson, a graduate student at Union Theological Seminary, drew on the writing of W.E.B. DuBois in calling for people of conscience, including religious leaders, to step up in this fight. Mojique Tyler of Students Against Police Brutality spoke about what’s new on the scene: a movement involving many, many young people in acting to stop these outrages.

Almost $1,000 was raised to seed the coalition effort. People quickly broke into teams to work on outreach, operations, and the July 11 People’s Tribunal on Police Brutality.

Plans made at the meeting to involve hundreds of thousands of people include:

• The Rise Up October 24 to STOP Police Terror call will be spread very widely online and in print, and signed by hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals.
• The next organizing meeting is Sunday, July 12, 6 pm at West Park Presbyterian Church, 86th & Amsterdam Avenue, NYC. An informal meet-up/potluck at 5 pm precedes the meeting. Organizers will meet every other Sunday through August (July 26; August 9 & 23).
• The new Operations Committee’s first mission is to locate office space to function as an organizing/nerve center. The committee is reaching out to unions, religious institutions and non-profit groups to arrange space by July 10.
• A crowd-funded campaign will raise funds this month for initial expenses. A team to raise funds from people who can give larger donations will work to reach potential donors, and set up meetings with a diverse group of activists who will do the asking.
• The Outreach team will reach out to organizations and to people on the street, focusing on:
• Communities hard hit by police brutality and murder
• Religious institutions & leaders
• Unions
• Students—high school and college—& youth
• Artists & cultural figures
• Legal community
• Support for the People's Tribunal on Police Brutality, Saturday, July 11, at Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Center, 3940 Broadway, NYC. 11:00 am-5:00 pm. This tribunal will hear testimony from people whose loved ones were killed by police, and from those who have been brutalized by police.
• Taking #RiseUpOctober around the country. This will include organizers and speakers going to the Black Lives Matter convening in Cleveland (July 24-26), the activities in Ferguson marking the anniversary of the police murder of Michael Brown (August 9) and to other major cities and hotspots in the battle against police murder. A schedule for this touring will be announced soon.
• Important elements still to be organized include Media/Press and Social Media Teams.

We urge all interested, at whatever level of experience, commitment or skill, to volunteer on #RiseUpOctober. Contact stopmassincarceration@gmail.com or call 646.709.1961.

 

 

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