THE STRUGGLE AGAINST POLICE MURDER AND MASS INCARCERATION MUST BE INTENSIFIED
November 27, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
The last few days have seen something very very different in this country, something that poses great challenges and rare opportunities for all those who hunger for justice and those who want revolution. Yes, the people have been forced to watch and endure once again the same sneering injustice, the same justifying lies, the same openly racist excuses, same searing hurt, the same intolerable and enraging betrayal, the same shock that is not shocking, the same feeling of being punched in the heart that are all too routine, all too business as usual, in America, as the murderer of Michael Brown walked totally free and the District Attorney who set it up strutted and crowed.
But we have seen something else as well. We have seen more fight, more struggle, more unity, more diversity, and more change in the last three days than in the ten years that went before it. The red hot tears of Michael Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, melted the ice and overflowed the dam of pent-up righteous anger among the people, and that anger finally began to flood into the streets in a way that has been long overdue and badly needed. The anger in Ferguson lit up and summoned tens of thousands of people all over the country to come out of their isolated homes, to raise their too-long quiet voices and their fists, to march for hours, to block traffic, to brave arrests and sprayings and beatings, to stop business as usual and to say, in voices that could finally be heard and had finally to be listened to: “NO MORE! NO MORE!! NO GODDAMN MORE!!! STOP KILLING OUR YOUTH—NOW!!!”
We write this Thursday morning. During the last 60 hours the actions of the people have done more than all the commissions, all the “conversations about race,” all the “programs that (supposedly) ‘work,’” all the et cetera et cetera blah blah blah bullshit of the past two decades. The actions of those who rose up have let hundreds of thousands find their voices and locate their consciences, they have given hope to millions more, and they have compelled tens of millions to confront one huge, taproot part of the ugliness that is America: America’s ghoulish, horrific practice of using people who are supposed to be “serving and protecting” to not just pen in, lock down, abuse, humiliate, and brutally attack its Black and Latino youth, as these heartless monsters do every hour of every day, but to outright murder these youth… under “color of authority.” The people have, in these past few days, taken a big step toward stopping this. Obama, once again, has it exactly wrong: righteous rebellion is precisely what changes things.
STAY IN THE STREETS, GO TO THE PEOPLE
This can mark and it must mark the beginning of a new era. But for that to happen, more must go on. Immediately, this struggle must continue—people must stay in the streets. And this struggle must also draw in more people. We will have more to say in the next few days. But right now, for this very important weekend, we call on readers to do the following:
Friday: unite with the efforts of diverse groups to make so-called “black Friday”—that orgy of shopping—a day of “No Shopping As Usual” by making it BLACK LIVES MATTER FRIDAY. If there are no groups doing things around this in your area, then get some friends and go to Wal-Mart with signs and flyers making clear that outrages like the murders by police of Michael Brown, of Vonderrit Myers, or of John Crawford, a young Black man shot down this August by cops in Wal-Mart for examining a toy gun that was on sale there, MUST STOP!
Saturday: go into the communities of the oppressed, where the police abuse is daily life, and draw out and listen to the testimony of the people, unite with their anger and help give this expression. Hold on-the-spot rallies and marches, and pass out—and lead people to BLOW—whistles against police brutality. Make posters and flyers with the slogan “Ferguson Is Everywhere! Police Murder Must Stop!” and get these out to people. Spend the day getting out flyers and posters and copies of Revolution newspaper to people and bring them together to “speak bitterness” at 5 p.m. near the police stations. Look at this video to get an idea of how powerful this can be.
Sunday: unite with the call of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and other groups for sermons in churches on the outrageous injustice in Ferguson—the unpunished assassination of Michael Brown. (Go to congregations of non-Christian religions for services on Friday and Saturday as well.) Then organize the rest of the day for the new week, checking this site for news on what next.
In all this, be ready to rush to the scene of any outbreak of struggle. And be ready to defend anyone who gets arrested fighting for justice, with bail and lawyers and political support. In everything: have banners and posters—visual presence is absolutely important to get out clear basic message and where to go for more.
GET OUT THE LARGER PICTURE
In all this, take out the larger picture. Answer people’s questions about WHY these murdering police keep killing our youth and HOW to stop this and WHAT is revolution by letting them know about the website revcom.us. Strip away the legitimacy of this system—that is, show people that the murdering monsters who run this system, these masters of drones and nukes and prisons and all kinds of horror, they who sit on top of this empire of rape, of kidnaping, of genocide, of exploitation, have absolutely no right to rule, no right to keep using force to keep people down, to keep people exploited, to keep them penned in and locked down and on the run. Get out Revolution newspaper, with word of the recent historic dialogue between Bob Avakian, the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party, and Cornel West, the revolutionary Christian. Introduce people to the work and leadership of Bob Avakian—wield BAsics, the handbook of revolution, while you are out among people, and have copies to sell people.
Find the ways to get speakers for the revolution out there. Look for media opportunities for Carl Dix, or other people who can put forward the need for revolution in a compelling way. (This is a good job for people who cannot, for whatever reason, be out among the people.) Make tons of signs for people with the main slogans against police murder and the name of this site, revcom.us on the bottom, and get these out to people.
Make the Revolution Books bookstores vibrant centers of revolution, and magnetic poles for anyone with a radical, justice-hungry bone in their body.
GET ORGANIZED
Call meetings of the Revolution Club—or have meetings on the spot, after going out among the people or fighting the system. Now is the time for these clubs to grow in a big way. Get out what the club stands for, in palm cards if you have them or leaflets if you don’t. Bring in new people. Call up all the people who have been part of the Clubs for the past few years—nobody goes forward in a straight line, and now is the time when people’s flame has been rekindled. (Again, another good job for people who cannot be in the streets.)
Build the Stop Mass Incarceration Network. Many people have shown that they want to fight this genocidal program of murder after murder, of unjust incarceration of a whole people; give them a way to be part of an organization that is RIGHT NOW finding the ways to carry forward the fight.
Let people know about and build their vanguard, the Revolutionary Communist Party. Right now, in a time of crisis and challenge, the need for a strong party stands out all the more sharply. Think how much more could have been done with a stronger, larger, more widely known party. Then build that party.
Raise funds—raise funds to get out these materials and to support the revolutionary fighters, to enable people to take off work, etc.
And look to this site every day for plans for early next week. In other words, stay tuned—more is coming!
FIGHT THE POWER, AND TRANSFORM THE PEOPLE, FOR REVOLUTION!!!
Volunteers Needed... for revcom.us and Revolution
If you like this article, subscribe, donate to and sustain Revolution newspaper.