In the NYC Projects: “We have to march against the police and be in the streets on April 14”

April 6, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

In some projects in NYC, a lot of people have known about the revolution and Bob Avakian, and there has also been a lot of friction between the youth in one project and those in another project nearby. A group of revolutionaries took a banner there that said different projects should come together to fight police murder and brutality. We talked to people about participating in the April 6 Cornel West-Carl Dix EMERGENCY meeting and webcast and in shutting down business as usual on April 14.

Listen to BA speak to divisions among the people in the clip “A better world is possible” from Revolution: Why It's Necessary, Why It's Possible, What It's All About.
This talk, followed by questions and answers, is a wide-ranging revolutionary journey, covering many topics. It breaks down the very nature of the society we live in and how humanity has come to a time where a radically different society is possible. It is full of heart and soul, humor and seriousness; it will challenge you and set your heart and mind to flight. Watch the entire film online at www.revolutiontalk.net

We got some very moving messages from people signing the banner: “Police Stop killing our Black Future.” “Until we unite this will continue to get worse. Become a rose out the concrete. Be a part of the solution and not the problem. Our future is becoming extinct because of our own actions. We have to change now. I’m not with this shit anymore!” “May the police stop killin our youth. We have to march against the police and be in the streets on April 14th.”

While people have been expressing a lot of anger to us in the last few days over police murder, most have been reluctant to get involved. Taking the banner into the projects brought the questions onto the table. There was a lot of controversy especially among young people in the projects over whether things can ever change. Whether youth will ever stop killing each other. This led to some very deep conversations about why are things this way and how it can be different, why we need to be together at the EMERGENCY meeting with Carl Dix and Cornel West..

The black-and-white poster of police murder victims got a lot of reaction. People exchanged stories with each other about the different victims. One man greeted with glee the chance to hear Cornel West speak and stopped people he knew on the street to tell them about it. He stayed around for about an hour and emphasized to youth, “How is this going to stop? You need to pay attention to this!” On a number of occasions young people who walked by saying “I’m good,” when challenged with “you know you got a target on your back” would turn around and get flyers.

A woman took 200 flyers for April 6 with a plan to get them to every apartment in her 20-floor building. A homeless man looked at the flyer and said, “I know both of those speakers.” He took a small bunch of flyers, passed them out, and came back to get more. An ex-prisoner said that several of his friends had already called him to see if he was going to the Monday Emergency meeting.

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