Why There Must Be a Truly MASSIVE Outpouring Against Police Murder on October 24 and Why YOU Are Needed

By now you’ve seen it more times than you can count. A Black or Latino person, at any time, just walking down the street or driving to work or standing in front of a hotel or even in their home, has their life snuffed out for no reason whatsoever. Video after video of people with their hands up, people running away, people surrendering, people pulled over for a traffic stop, or doing absolutely nothing but minding their own business—verbally abused, body-slammed, tased, gang-stomped and/or outright murdered, often after they have surrendered. Picture after picture of parents, of partners, of children demanding justice, of communities pouring into the streets. Time after time of the victim then being demonized and slandered, of authorities claiming “this wasn’t racial,” of killer cops walking free because they claim “they were scared.” And now one side of the media, the politicians, and powers-that-be viciously attacks those who protest... while the other side says “go slow, be patient, it’s complicated.” No! There’s absolutely nothing complicated here. And there’s no more time for “going slow.” How is any of this legitimate? What kind of society tolerates a system that views and treats an entire group of people, based solely on their skin color or language, as suspects, as criminals, and worse—as people having no rights or even humanity which the police are bound to respect? How long must this go on? Police murder and terror must stop, NOW!

This situation is not static. Either the protests and resistance will be repressed or derailed and the controversy shut down, with the horrors not only staying in place but intensifying... or people will come forth in much greater numbers and determination than before, and seriously change the terms of how all of society looks at this and acts on it. There is a way to do that, to fight this, right now, and to take this fight to a higher level. This October 24 in New York City thousands and thousands will pour into the streets, insisting to the world and the country: THIS MUST STOP! This outpouring aims to change the terms of how people think about this and act on it, and to politically rock those who order and carry out this terror back on their heels. This will draw a sharp line in all of society: WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?? Everybody who agrees with the simple demand that POLICE MURDER AND TERROR MUST STOP should be there on October 24. Let’s make clear to the whole world, in our numbers and determination, that there are many, many people who refuse to tolerate these outrages, who will not be silent and complicit in the face of them. NOBODY with a beating heart and a functioning conscience should stand aside. (A call from Cornel West and Carl Dix... #RiseUpOctober to STOP Police Terror)

There is a place for you in this. Your ideas, your support, your efforts are urgently needed—now—to make this happen. In fact, this can only happen on the scale and scope that is absolutely necessary if many many people throw in on this, now—people who have been fighting this, as well as people who are just now coming to the fight. You are needed. We face a decisive moment, a crossroads, where terms are being set as to what is legitimate, what will be tolerated and what will be opposed. Lives are at stake. Be part of determining the outcome.

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Also see: October 24, New York City: POLICE MURDER MUST STOP! The Struggle to Stop Police Murder