Rise Up October Confronts Rikers Island:
"TODAY ALL THIS CHANGES!"

Rikers Island: 14,000 people imprisoned, 85 percent of them have not been convicted of anything; people locked up because they are poor, because the court system is purposely clogged. People held for weeks, months, even years without a trial. People who are tortured, brutalized, driven insane.

As Sunsara Taylor, correspondent for Revolution/revcom.us and an initiator of StopPatriarchy.org, described it, “This is a torture dungeon. We call it a concentration camp. We say it's Abu Ghraib on the Hudson. None of that is exaggeration.”

Here are some comments from people who demonstrated in support of or participated in the non-violent direction action to Shut Down Rikers.

A young woman headed to an Ivy League college: “This is so different. You know, you grow up, and you read the news, and you're not as sheltered, and it's so weird to be scared, I mean, I'm a little white girl and I even get on guard when I see them (the police). And I think it’s just so great that people are flipping them off, that's just the kind of challenge like, don't just be safe, don't just be comfortable.... My brother called me up last night and told me everything I should know. He's like, you're going to get arrested if you're obstructing the street, so if you don't want to, stand on the sidewalk. He's gone to a protest before. He made me write down the phone number on my arm. He's the best.”

Carl Dix, a representative of the Revolutionary Communist Party and, along with Cornel West, co-initiator of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network: “You see those faces. These are people whose lives have been stolen. There is no middle ground on this. You have to be a part of stepping up and saying 'this has to stop'. Which is what we're saying over these three days. We began it with the loud voice yesterday in Times Square, with 'Say Their Names, No More Stolen Lives'.… This unimaginable horror is real, it has to stop, and we're acting to stop it. That's what Rise Up October is about.”

Reverend Jerome McCorry, coordinator of the #RiseUpOctober Faith Task Force: “Rikers is perhaps the most notorious prison in the United States. We still have too many cases of people losing their lives at Rikers. These people are not committing suicide, they're not locking themselves in hall closets, in broom closets. These are corrupt police who are doing these things and it's being sanctioned by the government or it would cease to exist. That is why I don't believe that we have good cops and bad cops, because if we had good cops, bad cops would be driven off the force and that's important to know too. So that silence makes them complicit to the actions of their counterparts.”

Sharon Irwin, whose grandson Tony Robinson was murdered by police in Madison, Wisconsin: “I use my voice. I use it loud and clear. I have learned since my grandson was murdered all the laws protect the police as they murder. They are given all the evidence. They are allowed to retract their statements. They are allowed to make up lies. And everyone says OK. I have gone over that evidence for seven months, and I have found a smoking gun. But nobody wants to… see or listen to what I have to say. They would rather say, 'I don't see this. I don't hear this. And I'm not speaking to it.'

“We are seven billion strong. What people don't understand is that we have the power. If we do not unite as a people, then we will not succeed. We will all go down together. And I say this: we are a human race. One of us is attacked, all of us should stand together. All of us.”

Chris Silva, whose brother David was murdered by police in Bakersfield, California: “They (Rise Up October) seemed to be the most determined to look for a solution to this overall issue. I came because it just seemed like the best way to go.”

Gabrielle Chanel, whose father Rev. David McCarter was murdered by police in Newton County, Texas: “What we are aiming to do is be part of a bigger movement as it spreads because this (her father's murder) happened in 2011 and we wanted to do something but we couldn't get the momentum.... But as its more prevalent and known about, we can, all of the families can tack onto the same movement and move together. Come together and spread out.”

She said she was “stunned” by this protest, and when asked why, she said, “The people in the movement’s passion. And the reaction to the passion. I'm amazed at how courageous everyone is. It’s awesome. But it's sickening what's going on, too. So it does call you to be an even better person. To give more of yourself because of what's happening. I'm really in awe. I hate to feel like a spectator but I'm here to represent my dad and it's just amazing watching.”

Sunsara Taylor: “If we preserve our safety, if we preserve our security, at the cost of turning our backs on a crime against humanity, we have forfeited our humanity. For when we stand up we are part of something, and changing something, because this is an open wound of this system. This (Rikers Island) is a known crime. And people, when we put our bodies on the line to shut it down, to say it must stop, we will be shedding a light, and changing how millions of people are seeing this and acting, so we are doing this to win.”