Spoiling the "Blue Lives Matter" Spectacle in Baltimore
June 1, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Baltimore, Saturday, May 30—Today, a motley crew of 100-150 cops and close associates staged a "Blue Lives Matter" rally in front of City Hall. It was a grotesque scene, not only openly opposing the whole movement for justice for Freddie Gray and the national actions against murder by police, but an almost exclusively whites-only look and feel of a Klan rally without the sheets, exemplified by a man sporting a shirt saying "Operation Blue Thunder—On Time, On Target, Never Quit."
People from the Revolution Club and Baltimore Bloc and others burst onto the scene, stirring intense yelling matches. The basic demand, "Indict, Convict, Send the Killer Cops to Jail. The Whole Damn System Is Guilty as Hell" rang out. Tawanda Jones, sister of Tyrone West, killed by Baltimore police in 2013, led the chant, "We won't stop till killer cops are in cell blocks." A number of people passing by joined in.
Exposing this ugly spectacle posed a dilemma for the Baltimore police who are fond of claiming "no white supremacy being enforced here, see we have a Black police chief and a lot of Black cops"—so suddenly 50 on-duty cops were sent in to "separate" the Blue Lives Matter white supremacists from the angry protesters.
A much larger mobilization needs to happen on July 2 when the cops accused in connection with the murder of Freddie Gray are arraigned. Supporters of the killer cops are expected to be there in force, including many off-duty cops. Those standing for an end to murder by police need to be there and drown out their reactionary shit.
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