September 26 bake sale to send Ferguson fighters to NYC for #RiseUpOctober
September 29, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
An activist in the movement against police murder which jumped off last year after Mike Brown was murdered by a Ferguson cop organized a bake sale to raise funds for a bus from Ferguson-St. Louis to NYC for #RiseUpOctober. $300 was raised, and many new people were challenged to start deciding “what side are you on?” by donating on the spot. Bake sale volunteers now are calling for the $300 proceeds to be matched 10 times in order to pay for close to half the cost of one charter bus to NYC to make this goal real and realizable.
It was a sunny day and a beautiful scene. The bake sale was held in Tower Grove Park right across the street from MoKaBe's Coffeehouse where people were viciously teargassed by police last fall. A very large Stolen Lives banner faced the street. Throughout the day, scores of people dropped by the table to get homemade cookies, turtles, and red velvet cake and hot coffee donated by MoKaBe's. Several motorists donated right out of their car windows to volunteers who were leafleting and collecting money in the street.
A bake sale organizer said, “I think that October 24, being that we have a lot of people come out to NYC, we can definitely amplify the energy that was initially here in Ferguson and get back going all over again.”
A few motorists driving by shouted out, “Why aren’t you doing something about Black on Black crime?” One volunteer called them out. “That’s your way of saying you support the police without saying you support the police.” She went on to speak about the role of the police and the attacks by the police on the movement to stop police brutality.
Another volunteer at the table said, “I think it is a movement that was really strong and has been dying down for whatever reasons... October 24 will be a day to bring everyone awareness again. And hopefully bring more and more people together.”
Some people met at the bake sale are going back to their neighborhood or school to build for Rise Up October. Along with calling for people to donate matching funds, more bake sales and other fundraisers are being planned by drawing in the people met at the first bake sale.
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