A Salute to the Brave Resisters on the Fourth National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality, October 22, 1999
Revolutionary Worker #1027, October 24, 1999
We revolutionaries in the RCP want to shout out to all the brave resisters on October 22.
We are proud to be standing shoulder to shoulder with people all across the country who are taking a stand on this fourth National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation.
Our hearts are together with all the people whose loved ones and comrades have been murdered by the brutal enforcers in blue...all those who have suffered beatings and humiliation for being "the wrong color" or "being in the wrong place" or having "too much pride" or not having "the right papers" or speaking "the wrong language."
We are proud to be among the people who have called for this fourth national day of protest on October 22. Together we are taking an important step on the road toward putting a stop to an intolerable situation...
where killers in blue go free time after time... where the youth are criminalized and disrespected... where a blue wall of silence allows crimes like the police torture to go unpunished... where Black people, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans are treated like moving targets by armed and organized authorities... where Black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal is facing the death penalty because of his revolutionary politics--railroaded for the death of a cop who was brutalizing his brother... where more than 1 3/4 million people are locked up in federal or state prisons and country jails... where more than 3/4 million people were imprisoned in less than four years -- at a time when crime is dropping... where the U.S./Mexico border is a murderous crossing for immigrants... where more Black youth are in prison than in college... and where the fear and anger of many middle class people is misdirected against the people on the bottom, the people under the gun of the police. Today, the problem of police brutality is coming more into the light. The new STOLEN LIVES book -- with 2,000 names of people killed by police -- is a dramatic proof that police murder is an epidemic. Reports from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch confirm that this epidemic of police brutality continues to rage, that a generation of oppressed youth is being incarcerated, and prisoners in the United States are being subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment. More than ever--the VOICES OF THE PEOPLE MUST BE HEARD. October 22 is a chance to make a powerful and necessary statement against the epidemic of police brutality.
*****
October 22 -- We are wearing BLACK to remember, to demonstrate our anger...and our resolve.
October 22--We are saying the NAMES of those whose lives have been stolen from us. We are telling the world how they died. We are calling on all who have been brutalized to come out and testify--alone, no more.
We are resisting, marching, singing, speaking out, lighting candles, standing up for all the people. We are standing on the shoulders of all who have manifested resistance--from Los Angeles to New York, from border to border.
We are putting things back in focus.
Who are the real criminals? Who are the ones that put the dope in the communities and who took the jobs out? Who are the ones building prisons and closing the schools?
All across the country people are beginning to get a different idea on who's really representing justice, who's really representing courage--the political liars and blue-coated brutalizers, or the people who stand up and put out the truth?
*****
Together we are taking some really urgent steps on a path to a different place.
There are times when a movement needs to marshal all its strength for a powerful blow against the oppressor--when people from many different points of view unite to do what needs to be done.
The war coming down on the people signals that this is such a time.
Acting together we can force the truth out. The diversity of who's come together on this can inspire those who've given up hope, awaken those who've been walking in a fog, and shake up those sitting on the fence. The determination that we will show on this Day--and we won't let them turn us around--will draw new forces to our side.
People will see a movement in the streets, and many other arenas of society, based on resisting the brutal murdering "solutions" now in effect. People will see a movement that can transform feelings of isolation and powerlessness into a new sense of solidarity, a knowledge of how to come together to fight the outrages, and a greater degree of organization.
*****
During these past four years we have made a new beginning and new alliances--the people have taken matters into our hands to demand an end to official brutality.
Let's go forward together from this day. We need to bring out ALL the names of those who have been murdered and brutalized. We need to erect memorials in our cities to those who have fallen in this war on the people.
We need justice.
We revolutionary Maoists think it will take a great struggle--requiring us to turn our communities into strongholds of resistance and reach out to millions throughout the society--to really stop the power structure and their enforcers from degrading and brutalizing the people. Every day we confront the reality that this rotten system will never jump back without a fight and this power structure can never solve the problems of the great majority of people.
Sisters and brothers, on October 22 the RCP renews our commitment to stand with the people to wage this fight--not to sell out or turn back, no matter what the enemy uses to come at us, whether it be bullets or bribes. We are willing and prepared to take on the responsibility of helping to build the understanding, organization, unity and fighting capacity of the people and to carry this fight all the way through.
Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the
Criminalization of a Generation!Revolution Is the Hope of the Hopeless!
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