Statement by Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, Chicago

Shocking Video Shows Chicago Police Execution of Black youth

Justice for Laquan McDonald!

Download PDF of this statement from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, Chicago

November 24, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Killer cop Van Dyke indicted for 1st degree murder.
Now he must be CONVICTED and sent to Jail. The Whole Damn System Is Guilty as Hell!
POLICE TERROR MUST STOP!  WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Protest Wed. Nov 25, 4 pm and on Black Friday, Nov. 27, 11 am

Dashcam Video of Officer Jason Van Dyke Shooting Laquan McDonald

Police murder Laquan McDonald at 5 minute mark

The whole world can now witness on video the horrendous murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, shot 16 times by Chicago police while he was walking away.  The acts on this video shock the conscience.  No one with an ounce of humanity could watch the police execution of this Black teenager and not be shaken to the core.  Laquan was our fellow human being.  No person should ever be treated like this by an agent of the government, yet murder by police continues over and over.  This video challenges everyone, to confront this reality and to decide and to act: WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON:  The side of the murderers? Or the side of those who demand POLICE MURDER MUST STOP!  There is no middle ground.

Now the murdering cop, Jason Van Dyke, has been charged with first degree murder. Yet for over 13 months the murderer, this cop with a long record of brutality complaints, was not arrested, charged, or even fired.  The six cops who parti­cipated in this execution and the higher-ups have been lying and covering up from the start while the City “investigation process” dragged on and on, refusing to even name the cop.  Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Police Department fought this whole time to suppress the damning video. They even paid $5 million to Laquan’s family. But after a court ruling last week, the City has been forced to release the video.

Laquan McDonald
Laquan McDonald

The powers-that-be have been working overtime to “manage” this crisis. The indictment of Van Dyke  is not a sign that they have suddenly seen the light of justice or changed their nature.  What this shows is their weakness and fear of the eruption of mass outrage by those who face the brutal terror of the police every day joined by those who do not face this directly, but who do not want to live in such a horrendous society. Mass outrage and mass resistance is exactly what’s needed.  One minister said, “If there were no protests it would mean we have become immune to this madness.” Getting an actual conviction of Van Dyke on 1st degree murder will take massive and sustained struggle on a national level as part of the whole struggle to indict ALL the murdering cops nationwide (there is no statute of limitations on murder) and to STOP POLICE TERROR.

POLICE MURDER MUST STOP NOW, and WE MUST ACT TO STOP IT.

This shocking video is being released in a situation of murder after murder targetted especially at Black and Latino people all over this country, a campaign of terror with genocidal implications, where the murdering cops go free.  This is a situation where the burning anger and righteous refusal of the people to take this shit any more has erupted repeatedly into resistance since the uprising in Ferguson over Mike Brown’s murder.  On Oct 22-24 thousands came to New York City to RiseUpOctober and drew a line in society that there is a force in society that is determined to bring millions into the fight to stop police terror now.  For the last three weeks on campuses all over the country students stood up and said we aren’t going to take the racism of this white supremacist society.  As we write this, hundreds of people in Minneapolis have been standing up against the police murder of Jamar Clark for over a week in the face of heavy repression from the police.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the police say the real problem they want to stop is the people who are outraged about the horrible murder of Laquan, not stopping the police who perpetrate this state terror!  This is the logic of a brutal system that was founded on the enslavement of millions of Black people and which has continued this oppression in different forms all the way down to the ugly program of mass incarceration and police terror today. 

We need an end to the whole system of capitalism-imperialism. The role of the police is to serve and protect that system.  We need a whole different system, one where the oppression of Black people and other oppressed nationalities is eliminated, along with all the other outrages this system perpetuates here and around the world. This requires an actual revolution. This revolution is real and possible. To get truly free requires science and leadership and we have this leadership in Bob Avakian (BA), the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party, who has developed the revolutionary science, the strategy, and the vision of a radically better world.  Get with this revolution and get with BA! Everyone who wants to learn more about how we can end this madness and what a future liberating society would look like should go to revcom.us. 

Chicago, November 24
November 24—After the release of the video, hundreds of people marched in outrage late into the night, at one point shutting down Interstate 290/Congress Parkway that runs through downtown Chicago.

Wed, Nov 25: everyone who is shocked by this murder must stand up and act. Protest at 4 pm, State & Jackson (SE corner). If you can’t make it, show your outrage and protest in public wherever you are—make signs and organize others to protest with you. Go to a busy corner, go to the mall, on the bus or the train. Now is the time to stand up.

Then on Black Friday, November 27, Stop Mass Incarceration Network Chicago  has put out the call to take to the streets on N. Michigan Avenue and deliver a powerful message to the world that the Killer Cop Van Dyke Must Be CONVICTED and jailed.  (for more info contact SMIN Chicago at 312-933-9586 or stopmassincarcerationchicago@gmail.com)

                                                                                   

Wed. November 25, 4 pm PROTEST!
 at State and Jackson (SE corner), downtown

Black Friday, November 27, 11 am PROTEST!
at the old Water Tower building on the S.E. corner of Michigan and Pearson

  • Justice for Laquan McDonald
  • Indict, Convict, & Jail Killer Cop Van Dyke, the Whole Damn System is Guilty!
  • Police Terror Must Stop!  Which Side Are You On?
  • Fight the Power, Transform the People, for Revolution!

revcom.us

 

 

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