Chicago Timeline: Vicious Police Attacks on the Revolution Club and the Masses

July 24, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

The Revolution Club in Chicago has been out in the neighborhoods, bringing to people a way to scientifically understand the world... a strategy to win... a Constitution for the new society... once-in-a-lifetime leadership in Bob Avakian... and a way to get organized into the Revolution Club, and the Revolutionary Communist Party. A communiqué issued by the revcoms says: This Summer in Chicago Will NOT Be a Bloodbath of Killing Each Other; This Summer Will NOT Be Free Rein for Police to Murder and Terrorize Black and Brown people; This Summer We Get Organized for Revolution to Emancipate All of Humanity.

In response, the Chicago police are waging a vicious campaign of attacks against the Revolution Club and the masses.

In early July, Rev Club members in the neighborhood started blowing whistles when police went into the yard of a vacant house where people hang out. The pigs threatened to go after people if they didn’t turn against the revcoms—but in the face of this, most people stood with the revolutionaries. A couple of people during the standoff with the pigs walked right up to the revcoms and hugged and thanked them. The pigs left threatening to come back and go after people. Many people got whistles and put on “BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!” T-shirts. Later that night the house where people hang out was set on fire—which many suspect was the work of the police.

In the next few days, police drove their cars through alleys, stopping people, handcuffing them, then letting them go. They also stopped young people wearing the BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! T-shirt, asking them why they were wearing the shirt.

On July 4, over 100 pigs from three police districts raided a family party. They came in like an army, kicking in doors, dragging and beating people, terrorizing children who were hiding in fear in the bedroom, and arresting 13 people, some who now face serious charges. A member of the family whose party was raided said: “They dragged my niece down the stairs and down the block. My neighbor lives right down there and she videotaped it…. My nephew, her brother, she was trying to protect her brother; he has two knots on his each side of his head from where they beat him up out here.”

Police started telling people they were not allowed to stand on the sidewalk from 7 am to 3 pm and the pigs threatened to arrest people if they didn’t take off the BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! T-shirt.

In a nearby neighborhood, police destroyed a memorial for Devonte Morgan, one of 15 people killed during the July 4th weekend from violence among the people. The pigs cut down and stomped on the candles. But people weren’t having it. A woman dancing in front of the cop cars was brutalized and the people defended themselves. Four people were arrested and a cop was injured. The next day the Rev Club went to stand with people in this neighborhood, connecting them up with the revolution, and backing them up to re-do their vigil.

Another day, the revcoms were talking to people in a park when someone called for them to come because somebody was being arrested. The Rev Club and others started blowing whistles and stood up against the pigs. Two more times this day the Rev Club posted up where pigs were messing with people. The cops responded by sticking out their middle fingers and pointing to some people as if to say, “We’re going to go after you.”

Then on July 21, the cops arrested five members of the Rev Club supposedly for “hanging a sign” on a pole and then for sound amplification. The pigs attacked not once, but twice. The first time they came with 10 pig cars, the second time with 20—filling the whole intersection and streets in a massive show of force. A press conference at the 7th District police headquarters was held to expose this, with Carl Dix, Rev. Gregg Greer, Chicago police torture survivor Mark Clements, and a young witness from the community wearing the Revolution Club T-shirt. That night, the arrested comrades were all released with charges, court dates, and in some cases injuries.

The Revolution Club, Chicago has been on a mission to get the youth OUT of the madness of killing and maiming each other and INTO making revolution against the system that got them in this situation. This is what the system and its pigs—who wantonly brutalize and kill people all the time—see as so threatening.

These attacks must not be tolerated! A number of anti-repression forces are investigating the July 4 raid and there is a need for many others to join in the struggle to expose and put a STOP to these attacks.

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