What They Say... What Is Real
April 6, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
“The time for demonstrations is over. We need to be in it for the long haul.”
If you’re really in it to stop this, you’ll understand that demonstrations in the street are needed now more than ever. What the hell is your long haul going to amount to if people are put back in their bottles, and demoralized, by the fact that the authorities are still killing Black and Latino youth, still getting away with it, and now that they’ve gotten the green light from Eric “I’m not a savior but I play one on TV” Holder. It’s not even business as usual now—it’s much worse, the powers-that-be are stepping up this terror against the people... and if the forces of resistance “take a pass” it’s frankly a profound fucking betrayal. (See “Three Points of Orientation for Mobilizing Powerful Outpourings of Resistance on April 14.”)
“Yeah, we did that... but protesting didn’t do any good.”
Didn’t do any good? It forced the reality of police murder of Black and Latino people into the consciousness of the whole world, it forced people to confront the reality of the whole history and present-day reality of this country, it raised the hopes and sights of people for a better day, it let people on the bottom of society turn their anger against the real enemy instead of each other... if it didn’t do any good, why are the people on top so hell-bent on suppressing it, so hell-bent on misleading it, on putting people back in their cages? These demonstrations kicked open a door, and the powers-that-be are trying to slam it shut—are you going to let them do that, or are you gonna kick it back open and walk on through this time? (See “To Those Who Ask: Here’s What Good It WILL Do to Shut It Down on April 14.”)
“But wasn’t Michael Brown guilty?”
No, he wasn’t. He was jaywalking in a city in which jaywalking-while-Black (and ONLY while Black) is a crime and, evidently, one punishable by death. See this article for the real truth, and quit believing something just because CNN says it’s true.
“Your messaging is bad. Calling it ‘police murder’ turns people off and is incendiary.”
Yes, and calling a man-eating lion a friendly kitty cat is the way to get a handsome foundation grant. Really, people—it IS murder and if that’s “incendiary,” then those who are ordering and abetting the killing should STOP doing it. (See “Double Down on the Moral and Political Challenge Posted by the Stolen Lives Poster.”)
“We need to hit them where it hurts—we need an economic boycott.”
We answered this already, and it still stands:
After the demonstrations of the summer and fall...
After all the promises and all the investigations that went nowhere...
After the hundreds and hundreds of arrests...
The police are still brutalizing and murdering Black and Latino people—hundreds a year—and getting away with it... in every city and town of America.
We will NOT live in a society that does this. And we will NOT stand by. On April 14, we need to “hit them where it hurts.” And when it comes to STOPPING murder by police... what REALLY “hits them where it hurts” is:
massive outpourings of people, shutting things down all over the country, bringing the “normal operation” of things to a halt through mass political mobilization and action... drawing forth more and more people, from all different parts of society... going straight up against and exposing, BEFORE THE WHOLE WORLD, this whole damn system—its brutally oppressive nature, its towering INjustice, its murdering enforcers the police, its sickening lies that it is “the champion of freedom”—and SHOWING THE WHOLE WORLD that there are masses of people pouring into the streets, right in this country, to demonstrate that they WILL NOT TAKE THIS ANY LONGER!
ALL OUT FOR APRIL 14!
“If you demonstrate, people will get arrested and maybe hurt.”
This sorry excuse has been trotted out against every single movement that ever was, including, let those who claim to be the inheritors of the civil rights movement note, Selma itself, where Martin Luther King was told to back off and where people did in fact get arrested, killed, and beaten. Every movement for justice has always involved sacrifice. This line of argument is like telling a woman to submit to the tyranny of an abusive husband so that she doesn’t “cause him to go off.” We are NOT for provocation, or for stupid stunts—we ARE for people refusing to back down when right is on their side and they are exercising what are supposed to be rights to express themselves. If you capitulate in advance, you will never get anywhere.
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