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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/550-pack-columbia-university-auditorium-for-rise-up-october-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

550 Pack Columbia University Auditorium for Rise Up October

A Challenge to Columbia University Students and the World

October 8, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

 

After a down-to-the-wire battle to hold the event, 550 people, largely Columbia University students, packed the Lerner Hall Auditorium on the Columbia campus in NYC on Wednesday night, October 7, for a powerful, moving event challenging everyone to take up and organize for Rise Up October.

Columbia’s moves to deny an appropriate space for the event were turned around when students refused to back down, took the battle to the people, and enlisted wider support for the event—and this struggle actually strengthened people’s understanding of the importance of the event, the stakes of the struggle to end police terror, and the importance of Rise Up October.

A student in the Columbia School of Social Work talked to Revolution about what students went through in fighting for a venue, and the changes they went through themselves to make that happen. They had to reach out way beyond the initial core of organizers—to the School of Law, to other colleges at Columbia, to Barnard (a traditionally women’s college affiliated with Columbia). She said, “This is how it happened: We raised more awareness. It had to get political. And we got it. It was a lot of student-led advocating, and we don’t often do that but this time we had to. And there needs to be more of that.” And she emphasized: “It doesn’t stop here. This event has to happen because on October 24, it’s gonna be a broader scale, we’re gonna shut down New York City to raise awareness for all those affected by police brutality. So it goes beyond here. ...This is continuing for the month of October.”

* * *

Featured speakers were Jamal Joseph, Eve Ensler, Nicholas Heyward, Sr., Kimberlé Crenshaw, Carl Dix, and Cornel West. The atmosphere was electric and determined. And the event marked an important step to build on to make Rise Up October a game-changing event in the battle to STOP POLICE TERROR.

Jamal Joseph—one of the Panther 21 and currently professor in the graduate film program at Columbia—opened the evening up with a challenge: Rise Up October! He saluted the students in the School of Social Work who had waged a struggle with the administration to be able to have a major venue for this event.

Jamal Joseph talked about being on the Columbia campus as a youth with the Black Panther Party, during an anti-war protest in the 1960s: “What we witnessed... was the power of the people, what we understood about those gatherings in those moments—and a big round of applause for the students on the committee and the School of Social Work—is that the University recognize that this is something to open the doors to, because you cannot turn back a moment when it is time for liberation and truth-telling and progressive change. Our job tonight is to witness and act on that.”

He posed: “For the people on the front lines, here’s what this must mean, and here’s why a gathering like tonight at Columbia University is important—and the other places we have been—churches, the community, other schools—it’s important because we are looking into the faces of the people, we are understanding the power of the people. And what must happen in Rise Up October is that we have to get people out, so the powers of oppression know the next time they stop a Black or Brown boy or girl, that the next time they stop a poor person or a homeless person, the next time they harass them, they’re not just looking into the eyes of that one particular person, they’re looking into the eyes of all of us! [loud applause] That’s what the power of the people is. Yes we have to use social media, we have to reach people by any way we can, we have to canvass, but we’ve got to do that ground to say that at this point nothing is going to be more effective than to flood the streets so they can understand that this city and this country is rising up in October!”

Eve Ensler—V-Day; author, playwright: The Vagina Monologues—vividly, viscerally took the crowd into the room where Natasha McKenna, a Black woman, desperately in need of mental health care, was brutally degraded, assaulted and murdered by prison personnel. Seven of them, with hazmat suits and Tasers assaulting one naked woman who had told them, “You promised not to kill me.”

“They took their Tasers and zapped her naked body, over and over. Four times—50,000 shockwaves into her body! While they covered her head! It was Abu Ghraib all over. Covered her head! They wrestled her down, tied her to an electric chair, drove her outside, where she was probably already half dead. And you know what, nobody noticed. Because Natasha was not a real woman, she wasn’t a real person, she was a story, she was an idea. She was a racist projection in their minds. And I’m sorry, if we all in this country don’t understand that Natasha McKenna is our sister, she is our sister. That could have been anyone of our sisters. She’s our sister. We are part of that story that killed Natasha McKenna. And if we’re not on the streets October 24th and if you don’t bring every single person out, this police state will eventually come for all of you.”

Nicholas Heyward, Sr. courageously shared the excruciating pain of having his 13-year-old son, Nicholas, Jr, murdered by police—shot down in cold blood as he played with a brightly colored plastic toy gun: “He had already had his mind set on being a basketball player and a lawyer, all of which was within his reach, and then I had to have a coward-ass cop gun him down. The cop asked Nicholas, ‘What are you doing?’ Mind you—the cop asked him. And when Nicholas replied ‘We only playing, we only playing.’ And he shot and killed him anyway. What kind of society, what kind of system is this? Why is he still on the force? And why must we continue to fight this system that we know we not gonna get no justice under? Rise up October! Let’s show them we are tired of this and we are not taking it no more.”

Kimberlé Crenshaw—professor, UCLA and Columbia University School of Law, one of the initiators of the Say Her Name campaign—challenged the audience. She started by asking people to raise their hands if they recognized the names of Eric Garner, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray. Most people raised their hands. But then she continued with the name of women killed by police whose names are less widely known: Michelle Cusseaux, Tanisha Anderson, Maya Palmer, Aura Rosser, Kayla Moore. And she called on the audience to know their names, and SAY their names.

“Melissa Williams was killed along with the partner she was driving with in Cleveland, Ohio. The car backfired. Police mistook that for gunshots. Police chased them throughout Cleveland shooting 137 rounds. An officer ran up on the hood of the car, he alone fired 49 rounds. Said he was in fear of his life. You don’t go on the hood of a car when you’re afraid for your life. Melissa was killed instantly. When we Say Her Name, we need to say: Melissa Williams.”

And Kimberlé Crenshaw talked about how Black woman are killed by police in their homes when in desperate need of help, including “Tanisha Anderson, Black woman, Cleveland, Ohio. Killed a week before Tamir Rice. You don’t know her name. Same police force that killed Tamir killed her. What happened? Her family called because she was having a mental health crisis. The family called for help. Police arrived, decided they were going to take over the situation with coercive force, rather than treating her as a woman in need of help. Tried to put her in a police car, tried to put her in a confined situation, tried to separate her from her family. She resisted. They did a takedown move on her, threw her to the ground, on the cement in the dead of winter in Cleveland, Ohio. Her death ruled a homicide. You need to know Tanisha Anderson’s name! Say her name! Tanisha Anderson!”

Carl Dix—co-initiator of Rise Up October and a representative of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP)—shared heartfelt experiences working with families of those murdered by police. And he framed what he spoke to in a quote from Bob Avakian:

There is the potential for something of unprecedented beauty to arise out of unspeakable ugliness: Black people playing a crucial role in putting an end, at long last, to this system which has, for so long, not just exploited but dehumanized, terrorized and tormented them in a thousand ways—putting an end to this in the only way it can be done—by fighting to emancipate humanity, to put an end to the long night in which human society has been divided into masters and slaves, and the masses of humanity have been lashed, beaten, raped, slaughtered, shackled and shrouded in ignorance and misery.

Carl Dix talked about the ugliness: “All these horrors are completely unnecessary. Things don't have to be this way. We should live in a world where those entrusted with public security would sooner lose their own lives than kill or maim an innocent person.” And the problem: “It’s not just the way the police spread terror in Black and Latino communities. It’s also what was done to the native inhabitants of this land. This land was stolen from them. They were nearly wiped out. Those few who survived were put in concentration camps they call reservations. There is what is done to women in this society with its rape culture, with viewing women as sex objects, and with the interference of government authorities in the very private decisions around when and whether to have a child. There’s what’s done to our immigrant sisters and brothers, driven here by the devastation that the U.S. wreaks in their homelands and then arriving here to face persecution—deported by Obama in record numbers and insulted by fascist idiots like Donald Trump. And then there are the wars for empire—wars in which one million people were killed in Iraq in the past few decades and before that three million in Vietnam and before that in Korea.... I was in their military...when they told me I had to go to Vietnam to kill innocent people for them my answer was ‘Hell no, I ain’t goin’!’ And then there’s also the way they’re devastating the environment of the planet we live on.”

He spoke to both what was revealed in the revolutionary upsurges of the sixties and the setbacks the movement for revolution was hit with over the past decades. And then he pointed out, “That’s where Bob Avakian comes in—he never gave up on the people and he never gave up on revolution. He went to work learning from the experience of revolution and from experience more broadly, and has developed a new synthesis of communism—an even more scientific understanding of the methods, goals, strategy and plan for making revolution and creating a new society. On the basis of this new synthesis, the party Avakian leads, the RCP, is building a movement for revolution. So I’m challenging everyone here, especially you young people—get into this revolution, get into Bob Avakian and what he’s brought forward about how to make revolution. Get with the movement for revolution the RCP is building. Keep your sights aimed on emancipating all of humanity.”

He posed a sharp challenge to the students, and the audience: “Don’t get sucked into framing what you're trying to do in the language and terms of the system or limiting yourself to working within the channels this system puts out there. We’ve seen this movie before, and the result is the whole genocidal situation we face right now—and yes, I said genocide.”

Carl called on everyone, wherever they were coming from, to resist, and to take up Rise Up October and make it happen: “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.”

And Carl Dix laid out exciting, ambitious plans for October 22, 23 and 24 (see accompanying box).

The last speaker was Cornel West—co-initiator of Rise Up October and professor of philosophy and Christian practice at Union Theological Seminary and professor emeritus at Princeton University. He posed an uncompromising moral challenge to students, to academia and beyond: “Don’t tell me how smart you are. There were smart Nazis. Smart white supremacists.”

West said: “You got precious Black and Brown folk shot down like dogs every 28 hours for ten years and not one policeman goes to jail or Federal prison. We did send one to jail in Oakland—that was community pressure over Oscar Grant. They let him out quick. Then you got a Black president, Black attorney general, Black Homeland Security. That doesn’t deliver justice! Police are still getting off scot-free. Those Black faces in high faces—it doesn’t translate to justice for poor and working people. Columbia University, I thought you was committed to truth, and the condition of truth is allowing suffering to speak like the folks we talking about then you’re not serious about education. You’re not serious...

“We live in the age of Ferguson. What is Ferguson, that marvelous new militancy of the younger generation who are tired of the spiritual malnutrition and moral constipation of contemporary capitalist civilization? They’re tired of the emptiness of soul. They’re tired of the stimulation of bodies and instant gratification. They want something deeper. They want something more profound. They want something like joy, not just pleasure. They want something like justice, not superficiality. They want something that affects poor and working people, not just some colorful set of faces on high when folks in the basement still being crushed like cockroaches. That’s what we’re talkin’ about today. That’s why October 24 is crucial. Because we got to let the powers-that-be know this talk about police murder, about police terror, is no fad or fashion, it’s a way of life. If we gonna stay in it, if we gonna be faithful unto death, then we gonna die into life...call into question our cowardliness, call into question our indifference, call into question our callousness. We gonna be reborn with new vision, new courage, new determination, new fortitude.

“But at the same time, I’m gonna end on this note: If love is not at the center, it is sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. I don’t want to know just how sophisticated your analysis is. I don’t want to know how broad your horizons are. I wanna know how deep your love is. Love fundamentally on a steadfast commitment to the welfare of others, which means you willing to take a risk, you willing to bear a burden, you willing to pay a price for something bigger than you. That’s what this younger generation needs.

“Columbia University, are you ready for this? Are you ready for this? Are you ready for Rise Up October? Are you ready for the love train? Are you ready for the justice train?” [crowd erupts: “Rise up! Rise Up!”]

* * *

After the speakers, Nkosi Anderson, member of the National Steering Committee and Faith Task Force for Rise Up October, brought Noche Diaz to the podium. Anderson called on everyone to stand with Noche, who is facing invented, but serious, criminal charges for his role as a Revolution Club leader and a leader of struggle against police terror. Noche said: “This is why they’re coming down hard on people like me. Because they have shown they can inspire change—the ones called the worst of the worst, those who the system calls ‘thugs,’ with tremendous potential for a whole new world. When we rise up in October, next time they come—and they will come, until revolution—[the youth] are gonna know which side you’re on, they’re gonna know whose got their backs.”

People were called on to stand with Noche on October 13 at 9 a.m. at 100 Centre Street in Manhattan when his next court hearing is scheduled.

Nkosi Anderson ended the formal presentations saying, “This is our chance to meet the social challenge of our time”—and led chants of “Rise up! October!”

The presentations were followed by Q&A with the audience and panelists, facilitated by Columbia professor Zerandrian Morris, who kicked off the exchange with “We are here because the terror that my grandfather would speak about regarding Jim Crow is back...,” and noting that Dylann Roof—the white supremacist who carried out a massacre of Black people during Bible study at a church in Charleston, SC—was taken to a Burger King by police.

As people left, the back of the room was a buzz of activity and engagement, including people getting organized to make October 24 a massive success.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/carl-dix-columbia-october-7-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Carl Dix Speaks to Columbia University Students, October 7

"I don't want to keep making hashtags!"

by Carl Dix | October 8, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

This is a rush transcript of Carl Dix’s speech at the October 7 “Police Terror Must Stop WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON” event at Columbia University in New York City. Watch the video of the full event.

 

We’ve heard tonight about what happened to Nicholas Heyward Jr. at the hands of the police. We heard about what happened to Kayla Moore, Michelle Cusseaux, Tanisha Anderson, Melissa Williams. We’ve heard a number of horrors. I have been on tour promoting Rise Up October. In the course of this tour, I interacted with a number of family members of people murdered by the police. I want to mention a couple of them. I just came back from Waukegan, Illinois, being with LaToya and Alice Howell. Six months ago, they buried 17-year-old Justus Howell, the son and grandson of LaToya and Alice. He was shot in the back twice by police. Also on this tour I interacted with Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice. Eight months ago she buried her 12-year-old son, Tamir, gunned down by police. Also on tour I was accompanied for awhile by Mertilla Jones, who five-and-a-half years ago buried her seven-year-old granddaughter, Aiyana Stanley-Jones. In none of these cases have any police been punished in any way.

These are not isolated incidents. It happens all the damn time. They amount to an unspeakable horror... an unspeakable horror that must be stopped. Now to get into what we must do to stop police terror, I want to start out with a quote from Bob Avakian, the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party.

There is the potential for something of unprecedented beauty to arise out of unspeakable ugliness: Black people playing a crucial role in putting an end, at long last, to this system which has, for so long, not just exploited but dehumanized, terrorized and tormented them in a thousand ways—putting an end to this in the only way it can be done—by fighting to emancipate humanity, to put an end to the long night in which human society has been divided into masters and slaves, and the masses of humanity have been lashed, beaten, raped, slaughtered, shackled and shrouded in ignorance and misery.

All these horrors are completely unnecessary. Things don’t have to be this way. We should live in a world where those entrusted with public security would sooner lose their own lives than kill or maim an innocent person. It’s not just the way the police spread terror in Black and Latino communities. It’s also what was done to the native inhabitants of this land. This land was stolen from them. They were nearly wiped out. Those few who survived were put in concentration camps they call reservations. There is what is done to women in this society with its rape culture, with viewing women as sex objects, and with the interference of government authorities in the very private decisions around when and whether to have a child. There’s what’s done to our immigrant sisters and brothers, driven here by the devastation that the U.S. wreaks in their homelands and then arriving here to face persecution—deported by Obama in record numbers and insulted by fascist idiots like Donald Trump. And then there are the wars for empire—wars in which one million people were killed in Iraq in the past few decades and before that three million in Vietnam and before that in Korea.... I was in their military... when they told me I had to go to Vietnam to kill innocent people for them my answer was "Hell no, I ain’t goin’!" And then there’s also the way they’re devastating the environment of the planet we live on.

This is not we should have justice some far off day. Humanity CAN be emancipated. The way to do this is through revolution—thru getting RID of this system and bringing in a system that is based on freeing people from all that ugliness and developing whole new ways for people to relate to each other and to the whole world.

A lotta people tell me, “Carl, you’re crazy. You can’t make revolution. They’re too powerful.” But what’s crazy is going along with this system and expecting things to get better. And let me tell you about their power—I’ve seen it up close, and I’ve seen the very real potential to defeat that power.

We saw the possibility to end these horrors in the 1960s when Black people rose up against the savage oppression being brought down on them, sparking off broader resistance and rocking the whole system back on its heels. The potential to defeat their power was shown in Vietnam, where peasants who were inspired and organized defeated their big powerful army—and part of how they did that was by inspiring soldiers like me to rebel. Back then we wanted to question and change everything. We saw glimmers of a different morality, a whole different way people could relate to each other. We saw a glimpse back then of the beauty Bob Avakian is talking about.

But we didn’t make revolution in this country. In the major places where revolution was made, power was seized back by capitalist exploiters. People around the world and in this country have paid a heavy price in blood for this ever since. A lot of people got too beaten down and gave up. What we got was over 2 million people in prison. 40 percent of Black children are living in poverty. We got crack and AIDS and all the horrors that go with a “dream deferred.” But that’s where Bob Avakian comes in—he never gave up on the people and he never gave up on revolution. He went to work learning from the experience of revolution and from experience more broadly, and has developed a new synthesis of communism—an even more scientific understanding of the methods, goals, strategy and plan for making revolution and creating a new society. On the basis of this new synthesis, the party Avakian leads, the RCP, is building a movement for revolution.

So I’m challenging everyone here, especially you young people—get into this revolution, get into Bob Avakian and what he’s brought forward about how to make revolution. Get with the movement for revolution the RCP is building. Keep your sights aimed on emancipating all of humanity. You can get into Avakian by going to our website—revcom.us—or going to Revolution Books when it opens in its new location in Harlem ... but do get into him and get with the movement for revolution the RCP is building.

Don’t let people tell you we can’t do better than this... America is not eternal, we can do better than hope for itty-bitty changes in HOW they dog us. Don’t get sucked into framing what you’re trying to do in the language and terms of the system or limiting yourself to working within the channels this system puts out there. We’ve seen this movie before, and the result is the whole genocidal situation we face right now—and yes, I said genocide.

Now, coming from the need for and possibility of revolution, I understand that we have to mobilize everyone we can, wherever they’re coming from and however they see the problem and the solution, to fight this madness we face. We can’t let them beat people so far down that we could never rise up against the things they do to us. So what we need to do is to stop police terror.

We are at a crucial turning point. Authorities are desperate to suppress the inspiring protest movement that has grown over the past year, hitting people with mass arrests and heavy charges. Either they will get away with this and killings by police, and the exoneration of killer cops will not only continue but intensify. Or we will come into the streets in even greater numbers with much more determination, acting to stop police terror.

This is what RiseUpOctober is all about doing. It 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.

This will tell the whole world that you have not put our movement into a cage of begging, of lining up behind some savior or other, of passivity—but we are coming at this stronger than ever, we are refusing to tolerate this, we are sending a signal to everyone who wants to fight but can’t find the way, that this fight is getting stronger but it needs you... a signal to everyone who is sitting on the sidelines and wishing for better that the time for wishing and sympathy is over and the time for acting is now... a signal to everyone who hates this that your days of dominating and demonizing must end and will end...a signal to this system that there is a growing force of people in society who think this police murder, and the whole genocidal thing it’s the spear point of, is illegitimate, immoral and MUST STOP!!

Now what we gonna do on those days?

In the morning of October 22, we will gather in Times Square, and we will SAY THEIR NAMES. We’re gonna gather family members of people killed by police, together with prominent voices of conscience, artists, clergy, professional people, and we need to have some students up there too, saying the names of the men and women who have had their lives stolen by those who have sworn to protect. That is how we’re gonna kick off RiseUpOctober.

Then the afternoon of October 22, here in New York City, there’s going to be a demonstration here in New York, in Brooklyn, starting at Borough Hall, moving to Barclays Center, marking the 20th annual Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation. And there will be similar marches around the country.

Friday, October 23 we are going to carry out a non-violent direct action. When I talked about this before I said that details will be upcoming. Well here’s a big detail. This action will focus on shutting down the butcher shop, concentration camp, debtor’s prison that is Rikers Island.

And together through the sheer strength of our numbers, shutting New York down. We will gather in Washington Square Park, march to Columbus Circle, right through the middle of Manhattan.

I applaud all the students have done in fighting for this program, but I have to tell you your work ain’t over. You have to devote the next two weeks of your lives to realizing this vision of a powerful outpouring of resistance in NYC for RiseUpOctober. We need you to be all over social media, not only struggling with everyone you know on this campus, but all your friends from high school, all your cousins, aunts & uncles, everyone you know on every other campus, spreading the word to be in NYC. We need you to donate money to make this happen and to raise money to make this happen.

Look, let me just end on a personal note. I have been working around the horror of police murder for decades. I have been putting together lists of names. I worked on this book Stolen Lives that Nicholas held up. We have a poster that has dozens of pictures of people killed by police. We started doing hashtags when we got into the computer age, but we started this before we were in the computer age. We do hashtags identifying the women and men who have been murdered by police.

I don’t want to keep making hashtags. I don’t.

I don’t want to keep adding names to lists of people killed by the police.

I don’t want to keep having new pictures to put onto those posters.

We got to end this, sisters and brothers!

Look, I’ve got an eight-year-old grandchild. I don’t want her to grow up and her generation be talking about how the police get away with murder and what we’re going to do about it.

We have to stop this. That’s our charge. And that’s what RiseUpOctober is going to be a big contribution towards. So what we need to do is that everybody here needs to do all that they can to make RiseUpOctober as powerful as it needs to be, and can be.

And then we’ve got to do more than that. That’s how important this is. We need to get to a place where when people talk about the history of horrific crimes that this system has inflicted on Black people and other oppressed people the way that Eve was talking about, they will really be talking about history that has been ended, not history that continues to echo and reverberate in the present.

We will be talking about it in a situation where humanity has emancipated itself.

Let’s contribute to making that happen, sisters and brothers. Rise Up October!

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/404/which-side-are-you-on-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Which Side Are You On?

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

September 14, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/407/food-for-thought-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Then Would You Call It Genocide?

Updated September 30, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Imagine if it came to light that in Russia today, Jewish people were systematically and pervasively discriminated against in housing, jobs, education and health care; and that connected to that, their life expectancy was dramatically lower than that of Russian majority people—as low as three decades in some regions!  Let’s even say that the maternal mortality rate for some Jewish women was 12 times as high as that for Russian women in Moscow. 

Imagine further that Russia had by far both the largest prison population and the highest per capita rate of imprisonment in the whole world—so high in fact that 25 percent of all the prisoners in the whole world were in Russia. Imagine that nearly one half of those prisoners were Jewish, while Jews themselves only made up 1/8 of the population.  Imagine that the media and culture purveyed crude stereotypes of Jewish people as violent criminals and degraded fools. 

Finally, imagine that it was documented in countless videos that Russian police patrolled Jewish neighborhoods and routinely stopped and frisked Jews who did nothing wrong, routinely beat them and arrested them on phony charges and sent them to prison, and even routinely murdered Jewish people—and then were not prosecuted because they claimed that they were scared of Jews because they were “demons.” 

Wouldn’t humane people rightly condemn this as a slow genocide?  The U.S. itself would no doubt rush to the United Nations to attack its rival for such gross violations of human rights and would warn that this slow genocide could easily become a fast one.

Well, you don’t have to imagine it. This is going on right here, right now, in America, to Black people.  The conditions and specific facts cited above apply to Black people in the US, not Jews in Russia.  So why do people in America deny that this—genocide—is what is going on right here, carried forward by their own government, supported by way too many of its own people, silently tolerated by way too many others... when it is right in front of their faces??

The time is long since past when this denial can be allowed to continue. The stakes are way too high. People need to clearly take sides AGAINST this genocide, and especially the illegitimate police terror and murder that enforce it, and demand that “THIS MUST STOP!”

The time to do that is NOW, this October. The place to do that is New York City, October 22-24 – where the whole world will be watching, and all of society will be compelled to answer the question: 

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

 

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/carl-dix-on-exonerating-tamir-rice-killers-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Condemn Reports Saying Cops Who Gunned Down Tamir Rice Were Justified!

Authorities Greasing Skids to Exonerate Tamir's Murderers!

by Carl Dix

October 11, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

The prosecutor's release of reports that say the actions of the cops who gunned down Tamir Rice were justified is a blatant step toward exonerating the cops who murdered Tamir. The question is: what are we going to do about this?

We must condemn these reports as the ignorant pig talk they are. And if they go ahead and let these killer cops get off without charges, we must take to the streets with great determination to deliver a message that we refuse to accept the system backing up its cops when they murder Black people. And this is one more reason why everybody who wants to STOP the terror police spread in Black and Latino neighborhoods has to be in NYC for #RiseUpOctober.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/prosecutor-releases-expert-reports-to-justify-police-murder-of-tamir-rice-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

More Reason to Rise Up in NYC on October 22-24

Prosecutor Releases "Expert Reports" to Justify Police Murder of Tamir Rice

October 12, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On October 10, Timothy McGinty, the prosecutor leading the grand jury considering whether to charge the Cleveland cops who gunned down 12-year-old Tamir Rice almost 11 months ago, released two reports he had ordered. These reports, done by a retired FBI agent and a Denver prosecutor, have both concluded the killer cops were justified in murdering this Black child! The prosecutor cautioned people that the grand jury is still considering charges against the cops, but these reports are creating public opinion for letting these murderers walk.

This is BS. It is another reason why there must be a powerful outpouring of thousands upon thousands of people in NYC on October 22, 23 and 24. A system that would try to justify what these cops did to Tamir is no damn good and needs to be done away with through revolution as soon as possible. And the release of these reports makes clear why it's up to us to act to STOP Police Terror! They are telling us we can't believe what we saw with our own eyes on the video of the killing. These cops drove their car right at 12-year-old Tamir as he sat alone in a park, stopped a few feet from him and shot him in less than 2 seconds after they screeched to a halt. Yet these reports claim their actions were “reasonable.” How did they come to this conclusion?

One report cited “the speed with which the confrontation developed,” and the other claimed that the cop who killed Tamir was "in a position of great peril" because he was within a few feet of Rice and that "the officers did not create the violent situation.” This is lying pig talk aimed at covering up these cops’ murderous actions.

These murdering police did “create the violent situation” by charging to within a few feet of Tamir, which is why the confrontation developed so quickly. Both of the reports ignored the fact that Ohio is a state where it's legal to carry real guns, while basically claiming that the toy gun Tamir had was indistinguishable from a real gun. In effect, what they’re saying is that Tamir's black skin made it unnecessary for the cops to either consider whether the gun was real or respect Tamir's right to be armed. Saying that this killing was justified comes down to saying that Black people have no rights that the police have to respect.

The release of these reports must be met with outpourings of condemnation. The authorities are working on exonerating these murdering cops, just like they exonerated the cops who murdered Melissa Williams and Timothy Russell in a hail of 137 police bullets after a 20+ mile car chase in Cleveland.

If people don't take the streets with outrage over this and protest in other ways, it will be a signal to the authorities that they can continue and intensify the wave of police killings and of exonerations of killer cops. This outrage must be manifested not only in Cleveland, but across the country—and not only right now, but brought to NYC for #RiseUpOctober.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/no-more-stolen-lives-say-their-names-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

No More Stolen Lives: Say Their Names

A Public Reading and Remembrance: A Demand for Justice

10 am, Times Square, Thursday, October 22, 2015
Rise Up October to STOP Police Terror, October 22-24, Which Side Are You On?

October 10, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Thursday, October 22, join families whose loved ones have been murdered by the police and a gathering of voices of conscience to Say Their Names and demand Murder by Police Must STOP Now! Before the eyes of the world, we will come together for an unprecedented reading of the names of just some of the many people killed by law enforcement in the last 10+ years. Ranging in age from seven to 92, thousands of lives have been stolen. These were husbands, wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters whose dreams were cut short, leaving hearts broken and families torn apart. A disproportionate number of these victims were Black and Brown—their lives stolen under the color of authority with the state’s approval over and over again.

100 Families of Stolen Lives victims will travel from across the country to New York for Rise Up October. Dozens of them will join prominent voices of conscience from the arts, literature, clergy, and more to Say Their Names, share remembrances and demand that police terror stop now! The diverse range of voices includes those who are directly affected and those who are not but refuse to stand by in silence... who refuse to tolerate living in a society that views and treats Black and Brown people—men, women, straight, or LGBTQ—as suspects, as criminals, and worse, as people having no rights or even humanity that the police are bound to respect or protect.

This dramatic event will give voice to the hidden stories and lives of the thousands and thousands of people who not only have had their lives cut short by law enforcement but who are murdered a second time: by having their character assaulted, demeaned, and criminalized by the defenders of police violence. With readings from cherished voices of conscience, and remembrances from family members, a sense of the scale, scope, and lived impact of the number of lives stolen will be provided. Most important, we will begin to understand these victims as more than abstract names, videos, and statistics. Their humanity will be voiced and celebrated through stories told by those who raised them, planned lives with them, and loved them.

If you’d like to volunteer to help develop the list of names of people killed by the police over the last decades to be read at the public reading and remembrance, or to assist with this event (filming, making artwork commemorating the stolen lives, etc.), please write to: AddMyVoice@RiseUpOctober.org

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/shut-down-rikers-october-23-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Shut Down Rikers!

October 23, Non-Violent Direct Action as Part of #RiseUpOctober

Updated October 15, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Just 300 yards from the runways at LaGuardia Airport, just a few miles from a glistening city, an island sits dedicated to confinement, brutality, and torture of our youth and others. Human beings languish for weeks, months, sometimes years awaiting trial. Almost all Black or Latino. Many simply for lack of money for bail. Many locked down for weeks and months in solitary confinement. Guards inflict a culture of violence—fractured jaws, broken bones, denial of medical care, cover-ups and retaliation against those who report, and rampant sexual violence against the women and LGBT people as well as the men. Rikers typifies and concentrates the immorality and illegitimacy of mass incarceration in the U.S.

It is difficult to say which is a greater shock to the conscience: that this torture and brutality goes on day in and day out, or that millions go about their daily lives accepting this as normal just miles away.

The violence against inmates at Rikers has been studied. It has been exposed. Guards have been sued. Settlements have been paid. The deaths inflicted through brutality and negligence have been documented. The life-long trauma and dysfunction imposed on inmates has been proven. Yet the brutality continues day in and day out. All this is plain for the whole world to see.

The time for wringing our hands is over. The time for cosmetic but essentially meaningless reforms is over. A line must be drawn. People of conscience must put our bodies on the line to stop this depravity and barbarity, else we ourselves are complicit.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

Check back at www.RiseUpOctober.org for details to be announced soon.

This call was initiated by:

Nellie Bailey, Harlem activist
Carl Dix, Revolutionary Communist Party, USA and co-initiator of Stop Mass Incarceration Network
Willie Francois, Associate Pastor, First Corinthians Baptist Church, Harlem*
Rev. Jerome McCorry and Candace McCorry, RiseUpOctober Faith Task Force
Rev. Stephen Phelps, member, Presbytery of New York City*
Cindy Sheehan, mother of Casey Sheehan, killed in unjust U.S. war on Iraq, 2004
Sunsara Taylor, writer for Revolution newspaper, initiator of StopPatriarchy.org
Mia Thornton, NYU student activist
James Vrettos, professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice*

* for identification purposes only

 

#RiseUpOctober is three powerful days of action to STOP Police Terror and Murder and to challenge everyone in society: Which side are you on? Learn more about it: www.riseupoctober.org

 

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/tens-of-thousands-come-to-dc-for-justice-or-else-rally-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Tens of Thousands Come to DC for Justice or Else Rally
What Is Really Needed for the Movement to STOP Police Terror?

October 12, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Tens of thousands of people turned out in Washington, DC on October 10 for a rally demanding “Justice or Else,” led by a coalition initiated by the Nation of Islam. A lot of Black college students turned out from all over, along with a lot of Black families. The mood was serious, purposeful, and fed up with what is happening to Black people and other oppressed nationalities, looking for a way to go forward in resistance and for answers to the deeper question of WHY this keeps going on. Just so many people coming together for that purpose, with real seriousness, gave a sense of potential power that nearly everyone there commented on.

People like Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Travyon Martin, as well as family members of other victims of police murder, and Benjamin Crump, the lawyer for the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, powerfully condemned police murder. Other speakers drew out sharply the many forms of oppression that Black people face in America. The whole U.S. history of genocide against its native inhabitants was movingly decried by a number of Native American speakers. Spanish was spoken from the podium and common cause was drawn with the struggle of immigrants. The roots of the antagonism between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share the same island, were shown to exist in slavery, and a call was issued to overcome these antagonisms and unite to take on their oppression as nations. One highlight of the program was the linking of the struggle of African-American people in the U.S. with the struggle of the Palestinian people. All this was very positive, and needed to be heard.

But while the uprisings against police murder last fall shook this whole society, ever since the militant demonstrations of April 14 and the uprising in Baltimore (which itself was followed by national demonstrations), the movement has not been out in the streets. Some of the forces fighting for justice are focusing on developing “policy reforms,” others are getting into the political campaigns... meanwhile the rulers of this country have come back against the movement with repression and slander, and are increasingly censoring the news of the police murders that do happen. They are trying to turn the “conversation” to “the problem of Black-on-Black violence” (and the police have helped in this by unleashing and directing some of that violence), while assuring the masses that “reform is happening.” In actual fact, for all the talk about reform, not only are the “dogs still in the street,” they are biting with even greater ferocity. The actual struggle to END this reign of murder and terror, and to root out the whole genocidal program of which it is the spearpoint, has come to a crossroads. Many of the thousands who came to DC on October 10 were looking for leadership and direction.

What Is the Problem—What Are Its Depths, and What Is Its Source?

But while the initial part of the program was mainly positive, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, who gave the major speech of the day, put forward an analysis and program that would lead in a seriously wrong direction, both for this movement and in terms of what kind of new society could put an end to this and other horrors.

Farrakhan did applaud the Black Lives Matter movement and the Ferguson, Missouri, uprising (though Nation of Islam actually attempted to suppress the rebellious youths on the scene, as well as slandering and attacking revolutionaries who fought side by side with the youths). He also exposed some of the ugliness of U.S. history. But in the main he provided people with a wrong analysis of the problem and a wrong path forward. His method and approach substituted religious prophecy for scientific analysis—at a time when a scientific understanding of the problem we face and the solution to it is more critical than ever. We will focus in this article on a few key points (even as there is more to talk about at another time).

First, while Farrakhan called out America on many things, he did not really show people anything close to the full dimensions of the genocidal policy now being pursued against African-Americans and the dire implications of this situation; nor did he really get into the causes of it. Instead, he talked in a sort of timeless way about the tricks of the 10 percent of white men who supposedly understand the “laws of cause and effect” and who dominate Black people as a result.

In fact, while what is going on today has a long and ugly history, it is not same-old, same-old; right now is a particularly crucial and dangerous time. The capitalist-imperialist system that actually runs this country (and which is, yes, overwhelmingly run by white people and flesh-and-bone connected to white supremacy) has by this point taken things to an extremely dangerous turn. Right now these capitalists regard millions and millions of Black (and other oppressed nationality) youths as not very “pliable” for exploitation. They find it more profitable to exploit immigrants with absolutely no rights, and to ship production overseas where they can exploit women in low-wage, deadly factories. As a result, these capitalists see our youth in the Black and Brown communities as potential social dynamite—people who must be demonized as “super-predators” and locked down, penned in and if necessary killed off. Farrakhan’s speech did not urgently sound the alarm about this. This is a slow genocide that could become a fast one at any time.

Can Liberation Be Won Through Boycotts and Land Purchase, or Must We Struggle?

Farrakhan did not really call on people to struggle against police murder, to organize and rise up against it. He did not challenge people to draw thousands of others actively into this struggle right now and to move millions more to get on the right side of it and take it up. He did not provide a path toward making this horror STOP.

Instead, he called on people to boycott Christmas and give money to the Nation of Islam to buy land. This land, it seems, would go to build up economic power within capitalist America and then at some point perhaps lead to a separate state. All that would somehow be done in the middle of an America that first forcibly enslaved Black people and then, after slavery was ended in law, still denied them the right to self-determination and enforced generations of terror and oppression and super-exploitation. All this would somehow be done against rulers who have only ever conceded anything as a result of extremely sharp struggle involving millions, such as the Civil War and the Black liberation struggle of the 1960s.

There was talk of “hard truths.” What about the hard truth that only a struggle of at least those earlier dimensions would even have a chance against the New Jim Crow system that now rules the lives of the masses of Black people? Instead, Farrakhan claimed that “God’s judgment” was now on America—but that America’s rulers still had time to repent for all the horrible crimes they’ve committed. This judgment and repentance deal sounds a lot easier than massive struggle, but it was wrong 60 years ago when Nation of Islam put it forward and it is still wrong today.

And by the way, the idea that Black capitalism would do anything other than enrich a few Black capitalists is an illusion—a deadly illusion that only serves those who are or aspire to be a new bourgeoisie, exploiting and ruling over their own people. Capitalism requires exploitation, capitalism requires that some people own the means to produce wealth and that others have to sell themselves for wages to survive, and exploitation means that the majority will always be oppressed. Capitalism is capitalism, no matter the flavor, and as such will only ever benefit the capitalists. The capitalists of an oppressed people are themselves oppressed by the imperialists, and can at times be united with. But if they are given the leadership of the struggle, it will lead not to liberation but merely to a new capitalist class—or really, more often than not, to a deal to be “junior partners” with the reigning oppressor-nation capitalists (as has happened in South Africa). Just to reiterate and be clear: this does NOT mean that we cannot and should not unite with Black capitalists who oppose police terror and brutality, as well as other ways in which oppression comes down; to the contrary, we should and must reach out to such forces. But if the program or outlook representing Black capitalism leads, the struggle will neither get to full emancipation nor even be firm enough around the immediate aim to stop police murder and terror

Religion Is NOT the Road to Emancipation

Here a word must be said about the constant casting of real-world material problems in religious terms. What was done to Africans—the kidnapping and murder and enslavement of millions, and then keeping them chained in living hell for centuries, does not have a damn thing to do with any supposed prophecy from any supposed god. The twin crimes of the enslavement of Africans and the genocide against Native Americans came out of the very real-world workings of the capitalist system. THAT is a scientific fact.

While many, many people with religious beliefs play a positive role in the struggle for liberation—indeed, most people in this struggle ARE religious—and while in many cases these beliefs propel them to do positive and courageous things, in the final analysis if religious thinking guides the struggle, it will not get to liberation. Stories of Moses and the Israelites being saved by God’s intervention against the Pharaoh may be nice (if you don’t read the “fine print”¹) but as a political program they come up way short, to say the least! Indeed, waiting for “God’s judgment” or for any kind of savior is ultimately a slave mentality. It will take struggle against a very worldly—and understandable—capitalist power structure to prevent that power from beating people down and even carrying through genocide. It will take a revolution to dismantle this system of white supremacy and the whole capitalist economic and political system in which it is embedded and which that system in America has always required. To do any of this, we are going to need to rely on a real-world scientific understanding of things, and not hopes of redemption from on high.

10,000 Fearless Men—But to Do What and Against Whom?

Farrakhan’s call for “10,000 fearless Black men” is both vague and off base; at least at one point in his speech he seems to be saying that these men would be deployed to stop the crimes that some Black people do to others, and that if they did that they would then also have to deal with what he called “rogue cops” who “had fun” and benefited from this. This totally mixes up who is the main enemy.

Yes, there is crime that is concentrated in the ghettos—in part due to the conscious steering of such crime by the police into the neighborhoods of the oppressed; in part due to people internalizing the constant drumbeat of the system and its culture that treats Black people as worthless; and in largest part due to people who are given nothing and have nothing but the snarl and contempt of their oppressors actually applying the dog-eat-dog, me-first mandates of capitalism to their lives in the only ways available to them. But even while we struggle with the people caught up in serious crime that actually harms other people (or themselves) to get out of that destructive stuff and get into revolution and mass struggle, they are not anywhere close to the main problem.

The main problem again is the system that both deploys the pigs AND keeps people in a situation in which some of the system’s own theorists say that crime for such youth is a “rational choice.” Yes, we need fearless people (whatever their gender!) right now to stand up and stop this outrageous killing of our people; and ultimately we need many more than 10,000 people to go up against this system, all-out in the struggle for power, at the soonest possible time—to make revolution, to dismantle and destroy this SYSTEM that causes it. It is just that aim—mobilizing and preparing millions to do that, hastening the time when that CAN be done—which the Revolutionary Communist Party is committed to carrying out.

As this movement grows in strength, it SHOULD definitely set different standards and morality among the people, standards that do not allow for predation on each other. But you can only set these standards by involving people in the struggle against the main enemy and, as you do so, struggle with them over what their lives will really be about. If we do that, such people can actually rise from the depths to be emancipators of humanity and nothing less—precisely on the basis of fighting the power, and transforming themselves and others as they do so, for revolution.

We absolutely do NOT need to “police our own people” within the confines of an economic and political system that can never produce anything other than exploitation and oppression. Nor should we call on the police to resolve problems or disputes that take place among the people. This almost always leads to worse disasters, as the countless people who asked for help in dealing with mentally ill relatives and friends, only to see them murdered by police, can so painfully testify. The movement does have to figure out ways to resolve these kinds of things—but this can ONLY be done in the context of going up against the real power that keeps people continually clawing and scratching at each other and themselves, like so many crabs in a barrel.

A System Enforced by Illegitimate Violence—Not a Few “Rogue Cops”

Further: the problem with police and prison goes far beyond some rogue cops. You could have a total cessation of crime done by Black people against Black people tomorrow and it would not have stopped the harassment (leading to murder) of a Sandra Bland, the brutalization of a James Blake, the torture and driving to suicide of Kalief Browder, or the murder of an Eric Garner, a 12-year-old Tamir Rice, a Tanisha Anderson, a 13-year-old Andy Lopez—none of whom were doing a damn thing criminal. These pigs are given a green light by the system to break people’s spirits, to bully, abuse, brutalize, frame up, and outright murder Black and other oppressed people—ALL of these police are given that green light, most of them take advantage of it, and none of them will come forward to oppose it. The problem is not some rogue cops, but the standard operating procedure for a force whose mission and raison d’etre (reason for being) is enforce the relations of exploitation and domination, of degradation and oppression, that this system requires for its functioning and cannot help but generate.

What is required is actual MASS STRUGGLE against those who rule this system—nothing has ever been won without this and no larger struggle and certainly no revolution for human emancipation—and again, this is what is ultimately required—ever could or will be won without it. Right now, the challenge for thousands is to ACT to STOP murder by police—to follow your convictions that this is wrong, to find the best ways to oppose this and make this movement grow, and to learn more about the source of the problem and its solution as you do so.

Patriarchy: Part of the Problem, Most Definitely Not Part of the Solution

Finally, but hardly least, there is the patriarchy that permeated Louis Farrakhan’s speech. The whole speech was suffused with the outlook of the old James Brown song that “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World (But It Would Be Nothing Without a Woman or a Girl).” This is a world in which men are the creators, the leaders, and the warriors—and in which women, even if they are scholars or scientists, are mothers and domestic slaves above all. There are, unfortunately, too many instances of this in Farrakhan’s speech for this brief article to get into—talk of the “luscious hips and lips of women” and even upholding polygamy, to take just a couple examples—but surely one of the worst was when Farrakhan had some women from Nation of Islam come up on stage and then pointed to them and proceeded to brag about how they are trained to cook, to sew, to rear children and, yes, to dress in a way that covers up most of their body.

Even if women are supposedly put on a pedestal in this worldview, they are treated as lesser human beings whose mission is to help “their” men. As for those women who refuse such treatment and refuse to dress and act as lesser beings than men, the implication is that they are undeserving of respect—and therefore “deserving” of the harassment and worse that they get. Farrakhan’s upholding of the right to abortion is of a piece with this—he immediately followed this with a strong assertion that abortion is wrong, shaming the women who DO get abortions and effectively treating women as breeding vessels—a view that has much in common with that of the slave masters.

This is not just a case of someone who happens to have “traditional values” or someone who hasn’t got the news—this is an attempt to cohere a movement around male privilege and domination, and this is something going on all over the world wherever religious fundamentalism forms the core ideology of a movement. The terrible results of such a movement coming to power, especially but not only for women, can be seen in countries like Iran and Afghanistan.

Going along with this is the fact that while a number of other important struggles and causes were spotlighted at the DC rally, not a single speaker represented for the movement against the oppression of women as women. As for the supposed “inclusion” of LGBT people, through the parable of casting the first stone, let’s remember that that parable still assumes that “the woman at the well” had sinned—and by implication, that LGBT people are, by who and how they love, “sinners.”

This is NOT the movement we need to be building. It is true that for some time to come there will be a struggle in this movement over whether we are fighting for a world in which everyone gets emancipated from ALL forms of oppression or for something lesser, but the standards of this movement must be clearly against the oppression of women.

Where to Now?

Tens of thousands of people came out to call for justice, to protest and to seek answers. To all who did come out and who felt the power of their numbers: now is the time to build on this. The question of what to do now to STOP murder by police remains sharply posed; the moment to actually ACT on this situation, to take concrete action and challenge millions of others to do so as well—to ring out the call to ALL society of WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?—is here and now, and urgently must be seized.

 

1. The actual books of the Bible concerning the story of Moses—see, for instance, Numbers 31:7-18—show him to be someone we would consider a tyrannical monster today, inflicting wholesale genocides and mass rapes on people who are not Israelite but who possess land that they think was promised to them by God, and wild, vengeful slaughters not only against the Egyptians but those among the Israelites who disobey him or incur his displeasure. [back]

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/fundraising-letter-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Fundraising Letter Template

Let’s Do This! Raise the Funds Needed to #RiseUpOctober!

October 10, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

 

Here is a letter that should be used to reach out very broadly right now to raise the funds needed to make Rise Up October do what it needs to do.  Use this page, or the Word file at right, to send to people you know and people you have heard of that should be contributing, and tell them to send it to others as well.

 

Dear Friend,

I am writing to ask for your financial support for a historic event: #RiseUpOctober, October 22-24 to STOP Police Terror—Which Side Are You On?

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 police murdering unarmed people—people with their hands up, people running away, people gasping for air... being stomped, choked, tased, shot, and beaten to death. Day after day this happens. Time after time the police walk free.  

This deadly reality was forced into the light of day through the mass resistance that took place in the last year and a half.  The authorities responded on the one hand with repression, and on the other with promises of reforms; symbolic steps here and there were taken.  At this point, we face a crossroads: either the resistance will be repressed or derailed, with the horrors intensifying... or people will come forth in much greater numbers and determination and change the terms of how all of society looks at this and acts on it.

This is what Rise Up October is aiming to accomplish: October 22-24 in New York City thousands and thousands will pour into the streets in different ways, insisting to the world and the country: THIS MUST STOP!   October 22 in Times Square, NYC, parents and relatives of those slain by police telling their stories and giving out their cry for justice in a reading of the names of those murdered.  October 23: mass, nonviolent civil disobedience to “shut down Rikers Island,” the massive prison complex that sits right in the middle of New York.  October 24: all this coming together as thousands and thousands pour through New York, demanding that police murder must stop.  Taken together, these will draw a sharp line in all of society: WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON??  This will re-seize the political initiative and again put the outrage of relentless, unpunished, illegitimate police murder and abuse center stage in the social life of this country.

Initiated by Carl Dix and Cornel West, joined by an Advisory Board including Eve Ensler, Jamal Joseph, Gina Belafonte, Rev. Stephen Phelps, Arturo O'Farrill, other voices of prominence from all walks of life and by more than 70 families of victims of police murder, and many others, this effort needs your support.

But right now, to do any of this, we urgently need your financial support.  We need your financial support for publicity and materials to spread the word.  We need your financial support to bring the families of those murdered by police to New York.  We need your financial support to finance organizing.  Again, this outrage cannot be swept under the rug and your financial support will ensure that it won’t be.

Those with few funds have given generously.  Alicia Kirkman, the mother of Angelo Miller who was killed by Cleveland police in 2007, is selling hot dogs and chips to raise funds. She said, “Rise Up October!... means a lot to me. It’s never happened in our lifetimes. All together: WE ARE NOT TAKING THIS KILLING AND MASS INCARCERATION! We are not tolerating it anymore. We do it in our cities, but never altogether like this... all the relatives of people murdered by police nationwide... I can’t rest until this happens.” Other families of the thousands of stolen lives from across the country are also raising funds to travel to NY doing bake sales and barbecues... all on a mission so that no one else ever has to experience the pain and loss of losing their loved ones under the color of authority.   A Mexican immigrant laborer in LA donated nearly $1000 to send families to New York.  Surely YOU can donate generously to make these three days as powerful as they need to be.

And after you donate, tell others why you're giving and ask them to do the same. We are in the midst of a $100,000 crowdfunding campaign—go to igg.me/at/RiseUpOctober or RiseUpOctober.org (or you can mail a check to the address below).

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.

How do you answer Alicia Kirkman and the thousands of others who have lost their loved ones to murder by police: which side are you on?

I look forward to talking with you about this soon.

All my best,

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/another-week-of-outrageous-crimes-against-humanity-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Another Week of Outrageous Crimes Against Humanity by the Self-Styled "Champion of Human Rights"

by Alan Goodman

October 12, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

You would think if you just listened to the news that the biggest outrage against human rights this week was Russian president Putin’s military aid to the reactionary Assad regime in Syria... but you would be wrong...

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In the week following the October 3  U.S. bombing attack on a Doctors Without Borders [Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in French] hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, the enormity and nature of the crime has come more and more into focus. At last count, twenty-two people were killed, including courageous medical staff and defenseless patients. Among the dead, three children. The bombing left a large region of Afghanistan without access to hospital care. In 2014 more than 22,000 patients received treatment at the hospital and more than 5,900 surgical procedures were performed.

Doctors Without Borders informed NATO (the “coalition” of U.S. forces and their European allies) as well as the U.S.-backed regime of the precise GPS coordinates of the hospital before the bombing, and the attack continued for at least 30 minutes after MSF staffers called the NATO and Afghanistan military commanders to tell them the hospital was under attack.

The hospital treated anyone who needed medical care, as any hospital should. A Doctors Without Borders representative said Afghan and U.S. forces “working together decided to raze to the ground a fully functioning hospital—with more than 180 staff and patients inside—because they claim that members of the Taliban were present.” The group’s general director, Christopher Stokes, said, “This amounts to an admission of a war crime” and called for an investigation by a third-party international agency with the assumption that a war crime had been committed.

Obama issued an insulting and extremely conditional “apology” and promised the U.S. military would “investigate” itself. And the U.S. has not responded to, and U.S. officials and media hardly acknowledge the call for a third-party investigation into war crimes. Imagine if some rival of the U.S. bombed a hospital on purpose—massacring Doctors Without Borders personnel and patients—and in the face of international outrage, insisted it would have it’s own military conduct an investigation into whether they did anything wrong. That would be obscene—but why is it any less obscene when the crime is carried out by the country responsible for more war crimes than any empire in history?

The massacre at Kunduz was a message from the USA to the world. As the U.S. clashes with factions of Islamic fundamentalists who are obstacles to its interests; as it contends with rival powers who smell weakness in the defeats the U.S. is encountering; and to anyone who would cross it; the message was: Don’t fuck with us because there is nothing too depraved, too inhuman, too grotesquely in stark contradiction to our image as the self-proclaimed champion of “human rights” that we won’t do to teach you a lesson.

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On October 8, for the second time in a month, Saudi Arabian fighter jets rained death on innocent civilians at a wedding party in Yemen, the country on Saudi Arabia’s southern border. Twenty-eight people were killed. In late September, Saudi rockets also hit a wedding party in Yemen, killing 130 people. The Saudis are carrying out terrorism from the air against rival forces in Yemen and beyond who they see as threats to their viciously oppressive regime.

The Saudi-led assault on Yemen is in essence mass murder and terror against the population as a whole. Doctors Without Borders in Yemen has said the bombing often leads to “mass casualties,” and that “The airstrikes are terrifying the population.” Between the bombing and a Saudi blockade of Yemen’s ports, fuel and food are in desperate supply in an already impoverished nation, with hospitals forced to close and ambulances stranded for lack of fuel. There are widespread outbreaks of disease and international organizations or agencies that provided essential medical services have been in large part driven from the country.

This is blood on the hands of the rulers of the United States. The USA supplies the planes, the bombs, and diplomatic support for their ally. In July, as the Saudis were escalating their attacks on Yemen, the U.S. State Department approved the sale of $5.4 billion worth of state-of-the-art missiles and technology to precisely locate targets, along with the training to use them. In early September Obama had the Saudi King visit the U.S. where he and the King issued a joint statement pledging to strengthen “the enduring relationship between their countries” that “has grown deeper and stronger over the past seven decades in the political, economic, military, security, cultural and other spheres of mutual interest.” Translated from diplomatic language: Go on and carry out a massacre in Yemen, we’re with you.

* * *

To live in America last week (and the week before, and the week before...) was to be programmed to believe that the biggest crime that ever took place in Libya in recent years was the killing of four Americans at the U.S. embassy in Benghazi in 2012.

But you would never know that a U.S. and NATO bombing campaign—where 10,000 bombs were dropped on Libya in 2011—resulted in at least dozens of documented killings of groups of unarmed, innocent civilians. And that a civil war that their assault set off led to the deaths of thousands and thousands of people.

In conditions where the Western powers had no interest in documenting death and destruction, Human Rights Watch detailed eight specific incidents where at least 72 Libyan civilians died as the result of NATO’s bombing campaign. A third of the victims were children under the age of 18. In one incident, a high-tech laser-guided missile destroyed the home of the Jfara family killing five people, including a nine-year-old girl. And if you’re looking for covered up crimes, Human Rights Watch reported NATO “failed to acknowledge these casualties or examine how and why they occurred.”

The U.S. and European powers attacked Libya to remove a ruler they found an impediment to their interests and so far, that attack and its aftermath has been responsible for the deaths of thousands and thousands of people. Beyond the death and destruction, the U.S. and the West left Libya in shambles with much of the country’s infrastructure destroyed, including the only plant manufacturing pipes for Libya’s essential water and irrigation network.

* * *

Three events, in one week, tell you more than a billion civics lessons and ruling class media lies about the actual nature of U.S. use of force around the world. Wherever they go, whatever crimes they commit, whatever justifications they invoke, the wars and terror the U.S. brings to the world are ILLEGITIMATE. People in the U.S. have no interest in the overseas crimes of the ruling class. And we have a RESPONSIBILITY to call them out and oppose them.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/chaos-in-congress-cracks-in-the-wall-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

"Chaos" in Congress...Cracks in the Wall

October 12, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On September 25, Republican congressman John Boehner announced he would resign as Speaker of the House of Representatives, and was quitting Congress. The conflict among the Republicans that drove him to resign—that mainstream news is calling “chaos” in Congress—is so intense that more than two weeks after Boehner announced his resignation, the Republicans have not been able to come up with a new Speaker of the House—a position second in line to the presidency after the vice president.

What is going on? John Boehner is a hard-core reactionary. He invokes racist code words about cutting “entitlement programs” to whip up a white-supremacist base. He invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu come to Congress and attack Obama and the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal. Four years ago he nearly shut down the government demanding cuts in funding to Planned Parenthood, and he is “widely viewed as the most passionate opponent of abortion ever to wield the speaker’s gavel.” (New York Times). 

But for hard-core Tea Party forces in the Republican Party, that’s nowhere near enough. They are on a mission and in a rush to impose drastic changes that would inflict vicious and extreme hardship on large sections of people. They are convinced this is necessary to maintain the U.S. as a capitalist-imperialist power. Other forces in the Republican Party fear that this Tea Party agenda would throw society into turmoil in ways that would endanger the whole setup.

On the “other side of the aisle”—the Democrats see a need for a certain level of social services, and a thin layer of “diversity” and “multi-culturalism” as necessary to maintain the system in a world going through huge economic, cultural, and demographic changes. But because white supremacy and women’s oppression are so tightly woven into this whole setup, they couldn’t do more than scratch the surface of those pillars of U.S. society, even if they wanted to. Look at what Obama has done: presiding over mass incarceration, police terror, rapidly shrinking access to abortion, unjust wars around the world, environmental devastation, and deportation of immigrants in record numbers.

All factions in this clash see a need to shore up the U.S. empire and the domestic social fabric with oppression and repression, even as they have serious differences over how to do that. The fact that their differences are so intense right now illustrates how sharply they are up against extreme problems for which they have no solutions—none that are in the interests of humanity.

Bob Avakian has made the point—speaking of the situation for the oppressed—that it can feel as if we’re locked in a huge prison yard surrounded by a huge steel wall that reaches up past our field of vision and seems incredibly thick, but that in fact, if you analyze things scientifically, there are cracks in that wall. And what is going on in Congress is one of those cracks.

There are no “good guys” in the nasty infighting in the halls of power. But these cracks in their walls of oppression can be worked on and taken advantage of, coming from interests of the seven billion people on this planet.

We have a strategy for revolution that DOES represent the interests of the seven billion, and that gives us a way to act on crises and conflicts within the powers-that-be to prepare the ground, prepare the people, and prepare the vanguard for revolution. Get into it, become a part of that.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/epidemic-of-police-terror-not-product-of-popular-demand-by-african-americans-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

No—the Epidemic of Police Terror Is NOT a Product of Popular Demand by African-Americans

October 12, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Michael Fortner is the author of a book called The Black Silent Majority which is being hyped by the powers-that-be and their media. In an op-ed piece in the New York Times that lays out the basic message of his book, Fortner insists that the epidemic of police terror and mass incarceration—or as he puts it, “the propensity to over-police and over-imprison”—is a product, at least to a significant degree, of “African-Americans’ own hard-fought battle against the crime and violence inside their own communities.” And he explicitly argues this in opposition to the conclusion of the Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow—insisting that is “[not] the result of a white-supremacist social order.”

Reality check: Police brutality and mass incarceration are no more a result of a “hard-fought battle” by the “Black silent majority” in the African-American community than poverty, unemployment, terrible schools, lack of access to medical care or recreation, and a barrage of so-called “news” and “entertainment” that demonizes Black people as “thugs.” None of these things are a response to public demand. And ALL these things, including police brutality and mass incarceration are products of and enforce a SYSTEM built on genocide and slavery, unjust wars of empire, exploitation, and oppression.

As we put it in Crime Among the People and the Police: A Revolutionary View:

There should be no “ambiguity” or “confusion” about the role of police in dealing with crime among the people. Let’s look at the actual relations here. People have been maintained forcibly in conditions where, to quote a conservative writer, Edward Luttwak, for masses of youth in the inner city, crime is a “rational choice.” Even with the risk of prison and lives cut short, crime is a “rational choice” under this system. Why? Because of the workings of this system, there are no decent jobs and there is no education for millions of Black and Latino people in the inner cities, there is forced segregation to this day, and there are forced conditions of poverty. There is absolutely no justification for bringing down violence on people who have been forcibly kept in this position in their millions and millions for generations.

Which side are you on?

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/some-lessons-in-building-the-rise-up-october-event-at-columbia-university-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Some Lessons in Building the Rise Up October Event at Columbia University

by A Revolutionary Volunteer for #RiseUpOctober

October 11, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

 

There was a down-to-the-wire battle to hold a major and very successful Rise Up October mobilizing and organizing event of 550 people, largely Columbia University students, on the Columbia campus in NYC on October 7. (Watch the video of the event, read the speech by Carl Dix “I don’t want to keep making hashtags!” and “A Challenge to Columbia University Students and the World.”)

Many factors came together to make the event at Columbia happen. Most fundamentally, there is the actual epidemic of police terror and the fact that ever since the uprising in Ferguson, Missouri, after the police murder of Mike Brown (and leading up to that) there has been a mood and attitude among those literally “under the gun” of police terror to not take it anymore. And large sections of society have been forced to confront—to different degrees and in different ways—what to do about this. But we had to start from this basis and then do work to unlock the potential for students to take up Rise Up October. And there was also the fact that the Columbia administration “helped us out” by trying to censor the event. I’m not making light of that—it was an outrageous move to ban serious engagement with police brutality and murder on campus, and came close to shutting down what turned out to be a tremendous thing. But because people did not back down, and instead made the university’s interference and censorship a big issue on campus—and as university’s role was getting more and more exposed—the event became a bigger deal and more students built for it, made it happen, came to it, and got organized for Rise Up October.

A student interviewed in Revolution described changes she and others went through: “This is how it happened: We raised more awareness. It had to get political. And we got it. It was a lot of student-led advocating, and we don’t often do that but this time we had to. And there needs to be more of that.” And she emphasized: “It doesn’t stop here. This event has to happen because on October 24, it’s gonna be a broader scale, we’re gonna shut down New York City to raise awareness for all those affected by police brutality. So it goes beyond here.... This is continuing for the month of October.”

Making this event happen also required radical transformations in how those of us in the movement for revolution approached playing our role. Within this bigger picture, that’s mainly what my letter is about: to share what we learned and how we changed our thinking and approach. And I’m sharing this to contribute to the breakthroughs we need to make between now and October 22, 23, and especially the massive mobilization in NYC on October 24.

Non-Linear Approach

As part of the national student task force for #RiseUpOctober, we know how important a campus like Columbia University has been throughout NYC and across society. A couple weeks back we knew we could bring together an incredible lineup of speakers that students could engage with as part of organizing for #RiseUpOctober, the big three days of protest and resistance against police murder and terror coming up in New York on October 22-24.

But at first we only knew a few students there. We had trouble getting a room from the start. In fact the administration only gave permission for a venue a little more than 24 hours before the event! Still, that night, more than 550 people came out to hear this program, students emceed, took responsibility for the integrity of the event, organized. At the end of the night over 120 people signed up to organize or support #RiseUpOctober.

So, how’d it happen?

A couple weeks ago a young woman contacted #RiseUpOctober wanting to organize a program on the Columbia/Barnard campus. She immediately contacted all the necessary channels and was given the runaround in booking a large venue. Some of us who had just come to town to volunteer with #RiseUpOctober, along with a couple of young comrades in New York, plunged in to help. We worked with several other students to try to book a venue that could fit a sizable audience. And at every turn, we were given multiple excuses: “Oh, you didn’t fill out the right paperwork,” “Oh, you need student organization credentials,” “Oh, your paperwork is too late,” etc. At a certain point we were getting so self-consumed with the bureaucracy that we had to take a step back. In addition, this approach was reflective of how we usually plan programs: we book a room, then we create mass public opinion, and then we try to organize people off programs.

Instead, we tried something new!

First, we went back to re-root ourselves in reality—that the oppression of Black and other oppressed nationality people is a huge outrageous crime of this system... but that this whole system sits on a very unstable foundation and while there’s a lot of shit that’s getting pumped at people to go back to “business as usual,” there’s a deep swelling anger that has to get unleashed and organized. We were getting lost in the organizing of an “event” instead of starting from the basis and necessity, and then coming from that finding and seizing on every opportunity from which to bring forward and organize students for #RiseUpOctober with this program being a key way to do that. We had to keep reminding ourselves—we are not “a handful of people coming in from the outside,” we represent a whole different world and in this particular case we are speaking for the people whose faces are on that Stolen Lives poster, along with many, many others who are locked down, terrorized, abused, bullied, beaten, and raped by this system and its enforcers.

We knew this program had to happen. So we quickly changed our approach and put resolving this contradiction before the students we were working with and the entire student body. Together we went out with a large display with the list of speakers and called on students to make this event happen. We were very bold as to why students needed to hear from these speakers at this time and in this moment. And this had a reverberating effect. Students began to get into motion demanding a room. Professors got emailed; administrators’ doors were knocked; students were introducing us to all types of different networks.

But still no room. Some of the students were getting discouraged and even our team was feeling the effect. But instead of caving in, we went even further. We released a flyer stating how the administration was preventing students from hearing from these speakers. The flyer included a letter from a PhD student who wrote: “It is unconscionable for Columbia University to remain institutionally and formally silent about the huge movement that is coming together for Rise Up October, to protest against police brutality and mass incarceration, especially when members of our own faculty are prepared to speak up in a public setting.”

Along with this flyer, we saturated campus with palm cards for #RiseUpOctober because while there was a lot of favorable opinion amongst the student body to have this program, there was a bit of a disconnect with the reality of this genocide—so that opinion needed to be strengthened into partisanship based on the reality of what is going on. So the new palm card with the faces of those who’ve been killed at the hands of the police was broadly distributed. The team on the campus really tried to get into and apply the agitation modeled in the article “Then Would You Call It Genocide?” which is posted at revcom.us. And let me emphasize—anyone can do that.

We bumped into one of the speakers on campus and informed the other speakers of the difficulty students were having in booking a room. They all agreed this program had to happen and agreed to do it on the steps of the campus—which a lot of students were very enthusiastic about because of its defiance and also its seriousness in posing the question: “Which Side Are You On? STOP Police Terror.” So we made sure to make this known; we started to publicize a time and a place to gather—with or without a room—even as we continued to go out very broadly to make it known that the university was blocking all efforts to have these speakers speak to students about police murder and white supremacy.

Heading into the weekend of October 3-4, we still didn’t have a room. While we were beginning to build public opinion on this program, we had to do more and we worked to put the battle for a room in the context of everything we were aiming to accomplish in October.

Some of the students we were in the mix with were people who already knew each other and were working hard on this, bringing all kinds of their ties to bear. Others were new to things. We in the movement for revolution had to make changes in the “culture” of how we do things “on the spot”—and not off to the side of things—so in different ways, on different levels, we were all going through changes together in order to win the fight for a venue and make the event a success. For instance, our team had a met a student on the train who joined up with us. When I arrived to give an orientation, it seemed everyone had been talking for some time. I knew I had to intervene to get our team continuing to go out very boldly because while we could have just sat there for hours having really good discussions, we couldn’t afford to lose sight of the big fight we had to wage right then. I invited the student we just met to be part of our orientation. I drew from “Which Side Are You On? Why There Must Be a Truly MASSIVE Outpouring Against Police Murder on October 24 and Why YOU Are Needed.” In addition, I used BAsics 1:1 to speak to the reality of Amerikkka and I spoke to the need for revolution and why the revcoms [revolutionary communists] have to be proceeding with the orientation of Fight the Power, and Transform the People, for Revolution. All this seemed to come off as a very alternative discussion for this student (in a good way). This student spoke to how in this country Black people have never been given rights and talked some of how that’s manifested from slavery to the new Jim Crow. They were very powerful comments.

As part of our orientation we made beginning concrete plans. We started a petition (and another student started a petition online) and continued to saturate the campus with a flyer that more explicitly stated that the administration was blocking students the opportunity to hear this program and challenged them to do otherwise. The petition was used as a way to involve many more students in the process of seeing the importance of this program and why their participation was key. This student seemed inspired and went to quickly draft the petition and we divided up into teams. He joined a team even as he was of two minds whether Columbia students were really interested in the topic. This itself contains a lesson—students who DO care come to feel isolated; but when a force steps out in a bold way to really challenge the students, and make the terms of the fight clear, they find that they can bring out a different side of their fellow students.

After this outing this student made the following statement: “Mass incarceration and police brutality continue to be a major issue in minority communities. It’s up to us as a people to start banding together and address these issues at hand. So come out, and help to support the launch of events to stop police terror taking place on October 7. We need support from students, staff members, members of the community to help this event get pushed forward, and would really appreciate your support. So contact us, reach out, assemble, protest, agitate, and let’s just help all of this go through.”

Afterwards I summed up that this had to be our approach. We had to work even more closely with the students we were meeting and/or already working with in fighting to book a room. We had to unleash them amongst their peers in ways that were meaningful and part of stepping into a process of doing things they’ve never done before. So with that orientation, our team met up with another student and took a similar approach. I think the other volunteers may have been a bit taken back on how enthusiastically the student took up the challenge to get out there and struggle with others. This student came to life and challenged students to step forward and be part of stopping this New Jim Crow... and this was just the beginning of the process as he further built off of that leading into October 7.

Working with students all the way through

On Tuesday morning, we got a call about meeting with a top administrator who wanted to meet the students organizing October 7. We quickly called around with news of this development. Four students stopped everything they were doing and gathered up. This was the first time they all met each other (even as they’d been following each other’s work online and on social media). We had to give a quick orientation of what we just accomplished and were beginning to bring forward. We put it back to them. We said something along the lines of “This is an indication of the power you have in stepping forward to change everything and you have to sit in that understanding and carry that confidence that what we’ve begun to do can have a MAJOR effect!” They all looked at each other with joy and seemed geared up for this meeting. We made clear that they were responsible for making this program happen and that we’d play a more secondary role and only intervene if necessary. They were nervous but seemed prepared for this challenge.

At the meeting, the administration stopped putting up bureaucratic obstacles and the necessary paperwork was completed. While it was never said, the struggle waged by students and the defiance of the panelists determined to speak to the Columbia student body was clearly the driving factor in this 180-degree turnaround. Immediately we went into motion, and near the end of the day we were given the largest room on campus! There was a collective joy that we won this battle, but we quickly realized this was only the beginning. We had to quickly get into gear and further wield and mobilize every positive factor to make this program a success.

Not losing sight of the bigger picture

All that I’m describing above went by very quickly, but we struggled to never lose sight of the bigger picture; in other words for whom are we doing all this and why it matters. Before our very important meeting with the administration, we were briefly getting to know each other (since some of us had never met). A young woman was getting ready to travel to Germany and we began to reflect on the Syrian refugee EMERGENCY. This opened up a brief discussion on Bob Avakian’s (BA) point of “Why do people come here from all over the world...” which people were very much in agreement with. After our very important meeting some of us sat together waiting in anticipation. A TA [teaching assistant] was grading paperwork and we were reflecting on how closely framed the educational system really is. Nowadays students don’t read whole books for classes, they are assigned excerpts from books and discussions are framed with getting the essence of articles—but you don’t really get to discuss whether what’s being argued is true or not and whether it corresponds to reality.

As we continued to wait, CNN played in the background and headline news talked about a police chief weeping over the death of an infant (not that the death of an infant is not tragic). but the question got posed why is this headline news? This just takes one isolated thing to conceal the real nature of the police. From there we got into the science of the oppression of Black people by walking through BA’s “Three Strikes” quote. While this student was familiar with pieces of the puzzle, this analysis seemed very new. We didn’t directly speak to the headline news, but it was an important opportunity to further frame the importance of everything we’re doing and further speak to the complexity of this system having no future for the masses of youth.

A room is booked! But still not losing sight of why we’re doing all this

With a lot of enthusiasm and joy we stepped up to the challenge to let EVERYBODY know of this program (in 24 hours). The sponsoring organizations made sure to email, FB message, talk to, flyer every single individual and organization they could possibly imagine. The #RiseUpOctober national student task force called on everyone to reach out to all their networks (since this program could be seen by all with Internet access) and build for the event at Columbia U all day. A couple students from different campuses and Columbia U students were among those who, throughout the day, got out thousands of flyers. There was agitation coming from many different directions and our small team was not afraid to step on people’s toes. Everyone brought out the best in each other to make it known to the student body that a room was booked and they were being recruited to build for it. Many students were happy to know that a room was booked and took stacks of flyers to their classes, dorms, etc. This team was determined to sharply polarize the campus with Which Side Are You On? Stop Police Terror as part of building for this program (and they had a lot of fun doing so).

I was responsible for a lot of the coordination. I met with the sponsoring organizations and they were in full gear to make this program a success. They were very nervous because they’d never done something like this on such short notice (and really neither had I). We all worked all the way through to not lose sight of the importance of #RiseUpOctober. They strove to proceed from the fact that they were the new freedom fighters taking the stage and they had to sit with the importance of what they were opening up to the entire student body AND that they not lose sight of the reality: of the thousands taken from us at the hands of the police and the need to STOP Police Terror. With that, we went forward and even though all the pieces weren’t neatly organized, we divided up leadership responsibilities and relied on our collectivity.

Before the doors opened, a line began to form. There was a lot of enthusiasm and excitement and everybody in that room was challenged to actively take part in #RiseUpOctober. I’m not going to try and capture all that came together. EVERYONE should watch the video: gather groupings of people and WATCH—especially all the speakers’ opening remarks (even as the entire program was a process in itself).

Really what’s your life going to be about?

A lot of the students who came forward to make this program happen were deeply concerned about the oppression of Black people and the crimes of this system, but were also pursuing all sorts of directions and questions. We learned how much they agonize about the state of the world; yet many don’t really think you can actually change the world (even as they are deeply wrestling with the limitations of reform). We learned about the deep level of competition in academia and how questions of epistemology and morality are constantly crashing up against each other. We know that students are always channeled in the direction of choosing a career, but there’s so much struggle that goes on in that process as to “What kind of person will I be? (one that knows all these horrors are happening and turns the cheek or one who confronts these horrors and seeks to find a way to STOP them).”

The afternoon of October 7, I asked a student to speak (on the stage) about why he threw all in to make this program happen. He had forgotten he had class that evening and his professor threatened everybody that if they miss a class they basically fail the class. He deeply cared about stopping police terror, but he also felt that short of getting a career he could never really pursue his passion. We talked about the importance of science and why short of getting into BA and with the RCP you really can’t see the pathways for making revolution and emancipating humanity. He listened very closely and deeply struggled with what it means to passionately proceed from reality and ACT to change the world. He ended up coming a little late to the program but was deeply challenged by Carl Dix’s remarks.

The sponsoring organizations are involved in all sorts of NGOs (internships, etc.) and sometimes some of the students told me that they can’t sleep because of the horrors they hear: rape, torture, etc. and sometimes can’t swallow the positions they have to force people into to get a little bit of the crumbs of this system. One student has family in exile because of their ties in Central America. Revolution is not a new concept, but the possibility of an ACTUAL revolution and the emancipation of ALL of humanity is NEW. This further emphasized the need for students (and others) to do the work and get into BA and with the RCP. There are answers to these big questions and this is all part of opening up a new stage of communist revolution that they have to be part of; and it emphasized the need to be constantly going back and forth between these big questions and the struggle at hand, even when that struggle is as intense as this one was.

Less than two weeks to #RiseUpOctober

Another young woman has been pursuing her convictions that terror by police must STOP and has been organizing for #RiseUpOctober with a lot of creativity. She’s a recent graduate and has been wrestling with the question of accountability and how if one is really serious about STOPPING police terror, they have to be seriously organizing for #RiseUpOctober. And I thought her approach is correct in really putting it back to people: “If you’re not organizing for #RiseUpOctober, then you’re not serious about STOPPING POLICE TERROR.” In summing up, the national student task force found this to be very helpful because it puts forward very clearly what #RiseUpOctober is about, but it also allows people to raise their deeper disagreements of why they’re not throwing-in, and for us to go to work on that.

There’s so much more to sum up including the follow-up work off this program. But the lessons above should be part of how even in the next week or so people on campuses across the country can fight to have a major impact because of the crossroads we face in the fight to STOP Police Terror: applying a radically simple plan to bring together and organize scores of students. You can organize a program with speakers from your area; or you can organize a video showing of the program at Columbia. But whatever you do, remember what you represent... fight boldly for what needs to happen... and seek out, challenge, work with, and learn from those who want to see real change and are ready to learn about a whole new world in the process.

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/ending-oppression-with-economic-boycott-a-ridiculous-idea-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Ending Oppression with Economic Boycott? A Ridiculous Idea

by Joe Veale and a member of the Los Angeles Revolution Club

October 12, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Some people say that Black people, Latino people, other oppressed nationalities should hurt the system by withholding their income from it—not spending their hard-earned dollars with the system.

By doing so, the argument goes, they would be able to force the police to stop terrorizing and murdering Black people, Latino people, and oppressed groups of people.

By boycotting the system, the argument continues—you can force the system to at least treat people with some consideration of their basic human dignity.

This is a ridiculous idea.

Look at reality. Just one example:

The greatest loss in history of Black family wealth—wealth that was stripped away—wealth stolen right from under the feet of people—occurred during the Great Recession of 2007-2009.

By the very working of this capitalist imperialist system—and the decisions and polices adopted in line with this system—one-half of the collective wealth of African Americans was stripped away during the Great Recession of 2007-2009.

This system forces Black people to “withhold” their wealth every fucking day. If “withholding” your wealth from this system would end police terror, police murder, if it would make this fucking capitalist imperialist system treat African Americans, Native American, Latino people more equally, that would have happened a long time ago.

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/405/reality-check-polemics-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Reality Check

Updated October 5, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

 

What REALLY Changes Things?

Those who insist voting can bring change, but determined resistance and struggle cannot... have it backwards. Yes the powers that be wield their police, army, and media to enforce their rule, but they’re in deep shit around the world and have conflicts within their own ranks—they can be challenged and defeated. A lesson from history: In 1964, a Democrat (Lyndon Johnson) won a landslide victory running for president as a “peace” candidate. He massively escalated the Vietnam War. In 1972, Republican Dick Nixon ran for president threatening to escalate the war further. He was forced to pull out U.S. troops and sign a “peace agreement” that led to the defeat of the U.S. in Vietnam. In neither case did how people voted in the elections determine what happened. The actual factors were a whole set of events in the world along with defeats the U.S. suffered in its wars for empire, and protest and rebellion in the homeland. A critical lesson for today: Real change never comes through working through this system’s elections, but determined struggle can be a game changer.

 

Why Economic Boycotts Will Not STOP Murder by Police

The real power the masses of people have is the ability to challenge the injustice this system has brought down on Black people and other oppressed people from the very beginning of this country; not withholding our dollars from the economy of the country.

The outpourings of protest have stripped away the cover of legitimacy the rulers work to keep over the savage oppression and the vicious exploitation this capitalist-imperialist system brings down on people. Rather than calling on people to stay home and not shop, which is a very passive form of activity, we need to mobilize even more powerful resistance, bringing forward wave after wave of people taking to the streets and saying NO MORE to police getting away with murder... It is easier to stay home and not shop or to work on getting people to do that than to go right into the teeth of the repression, the mass arrests and the threats the authorities have unleashed against those who have stood up to say this shit must STOP! But it won’t stop the horrors from continuing to be perpetrated against the people.

—Carl Dix, representative of the Revolutionary Communist Party
and co-initiator of #RiseUpOctober

 

Codifying Racism into the Law

Every time another pig uses “I feared for my life” as a justifiable legal excuse for the straight-up murder of unarmed Black or Latino people, this system is codifying racism into the law. They are saying that it’s legally “justifiable” for an armed enforcer of this system to murder someone based on their racist, white supremacist ideas—ideas that are shaped by this racist, white supremacist system. Such a system is murderous and decrepit, it’s totally fucking illegitimate and needs to be swept away!

 

Who Are You?

To those who say: “Who are you to be standing up against police murder?” We’re people who think this is outrageous and has to stop—where do you stand?

And to those who say: “You’re invading my safe space by being so sharp.” Bullshit! There is no safe space, for you or for the masses of people getting harassed, beat down, brutalized, and murdered.

Now let’s get down and change all this once and for all!

 

Crime Among the People and the Police: A Revolutionary View

There should be no “ambiguity” or “confusion” about the role of police in dealing with crime among the people. Let’s look at the actual relations here. People have been maintained forcibly in conditions where, to quote a conservative writer, Edward Luttwak, for masses of youth in the inner city, crime is a “rational choice.” Even with the risk of prison and lives cut short, crime is a “rational choice” under this system. Why? Because of the workings of this system, there are no decent jobs and there is no education for millions of Black and Latino people in the inner cities, there is forced segregation to this day, and there are forced conditions of poverty. There is absolutely no justification for bringing down violence on people who have been forcibly kept in this position in their millions and millions for generations.

 

A Point to Media Mouthpieces

To Fox, CNN, MSNBC, and the media mouthpieces of this system who defend police violence and murder: At every point in the history of this country, when it comes to Black people, people just like you defended the enslavement and the vicious violence they were subjected to and then came around later and said it was wrong. When the overseers were cracking the whip and the slave chasers were running amok, people like you defended it as necessary to keep the slaves in line... until the next phase of white supremacy, where you came around and said that, after all, slavery was so wrong—while you backed up Jim Crow, KKK, and widespread lynching. Now you’re up there, ready to admit that that was just terrible, while you defend the current form of white supremacy: police murder, brutality, and mass incarceration. Until you admit that and are ready to fully expose the violence this system rests on and perpetrates, shut the fuck up!

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/shut-down-rikers-fact-sheet-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Shut Down Rikers Fact Sheet

October 12, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Rikers Island is the second largest jail system in the country. It is located on an island in the East River, right next to Manhattan, a mere 300 yards from the runways at LaGuardia Airport. It consists of 10 jails which house an average of 14,000 inmates per night. Since 1990, the city has settled six class action filed against Rikers due to rampant brutality and gross violations of prisoners’ rights. The most recent (2015) class action suit found a culture of "deep-seated violence," resulting in a "staggering" number of injuries, where "adolescents are at a constant risk of physical harm."  

The systematic brutality and abuse going on at Rikers is what's going on in prisons all over this country. It is part and parcel of mass incarceration in the USA, serving an essential function for this system of repression and control.  

Languishing weeks, months, years without trial  

• 85% of the people at Rikers have not had a trial or been convicted of a crime.  
• As of March 2014, 400 people had been at Rikers for at least two years without being convicted of a crime.  
• Half a dozen had been there six years without being convicted of a crime.  
• Some 1,400 people had been waiting at least a year to have their cases settled, some of them arrested for crimes that wouldn't even have sentences for that long if they were found guilty.  

129 “serious injuries” inflicted by guards in eleven months in 2013... increased violence in 2014  

• "Serious injuries" includes fractures, wounds requiring stitches and head injuries.  
• 77% of those seriously injured had been diagnosed with mental illness.  
• 80% of those seriously injured reported being beaten after being handcuffed.  
• 5 of those seriously injured were beaten following suicide attempts.  
• On a single day in 2012, over 43% of 705 adolescent males at Rikers had been subjected to violence by staff on at least one occasion during their time there.  
• In 2014, the use of force by guards at Rikers had gone up nearly 90% over the previous five years, even as the jail's population had declined.  
• In the first six months of 2014, guards at Rikers used force on inmates 1,927 times – an increase of more than one third compared to the same period the year before.  

Culture of sexual violence  

• A 2012 survey of women at Rikers found that 5.9% report being sexually victimized by staff.  
• Two women have sued for a culture of rape – and repeated rape – by a guard (Benny Santiago) who they said openly carried out rape and sexual assault against them, including by threatening their families on the outside if they did not comply.  

 15 deaths precipitated by medical neglect in 5 years, including:  

• Bradley Ballard, age 39, a schizophrenic prisoner was denied some of his medications and left alone in his cell for seven days. His toilet was clogged and overflowing. He was found naked, covered in feces, with his genitals swollen and badly infected. He died hours later.  
• Andy Henriquez was brought to Rikers at age 16. After three years, he was still waiting for trial and was put in solitary confinement. He complained of chest pains for months, but guards did not take him seriously. On April 7, 2013, he called out for help, but the guards did nothing. Other prisoners who shouted in alarm were also ignored. He died from a tear in his aorta.  
• Rolando Perez, 36, died at Rikers in January, 2014, two days after he was put in solitary. Inmates heard Perez screaming for his medication — pills he relied on since age 16 to control a severe seizure disorder. The medical examiner said he died of a seizure disorder and heart problems. He’d been put in solitary without clearance from the mental health and medical staff.  
• David Caban, a 38-year-old with diagnosed schizophrenia, died four days after arriving at Rikers. State investigators found that Caban received a drug injection to calm him down without being monitored or sent for emergency hospitalization. Then he was sent back to a dorm where he ran amok, charging at a guard. He was then handcuffed and left alone on a holding cell floor, rocking and grunting. One guard checked on an unresponsive Caban and nudged him with her foot but didn't call doctors because, she said, he was still breathing. He was found dead 10 minutes later.  

Driven to suicide and long-term trauma  

Inmates subjected to the brutality, long-term solitary confinement, and deprival of basic freedoms and rights typical of Rikers Island suffer life-long trauma and damages.  

Kalief Browder was only 16 years old when he ended up at Rikers, accused of stealing a backpack. He was held in solitary confinement for two years and repeatedly beaten by prison guards and other inmates. He refused to plead guilty, insisting on his innocence. Finally, the charges were dropped and Kalief was released, but he was unable to escape the damage of the years of torture and abuse. On June 6, 2015, he took his own life. But really, his death is on the hands of Rikers and the whole criminal “justice” system that stole his youth and tortured him for years.  

Join the movement to STOP Police Terror and Shut Down Rikers!
www.RiseUpOctober.org  

 

Thanks to www.RevCom.us for much of the information gathered here. Other sources include the NYTimes, AP News, cnn.com, Correctional Department data, Legal Aid Society, and more.

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/cleveland-rise-up-october-denounces-and-exposes-prosecutor-reports-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Cleveland: Rise Up October Denounces and Exposes Prosecutor Reports Saying Murder of Tamir Rice Was "Reasonable"

October 12, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

October 11—15 people from Rise Up October Cleveland gathered at Cudell Recreation Center, where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was murdered by police on November 22, 2014. They denounced and exposed the two so-called “expert” reports issued by the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office that found that the pigs who murdered Tamir acted in a “reasonable” manner. The press conference was covered by the three main local TV stations and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

The main presenter was Rev. Jerome McCorry, National Faith Coordinator for Rise Up October. “I would say I’m surprised, but I’m not,” McCorry said of the reports. “To be surprised would mean I expected something different. The city of Cleveland has covered up more tragedy and police terror than we have seen anywhere else in the state of Ohio.” He exposed that the release of these reports is one more step by Prosecutor McGinty to let the cops walk free for killing Tamir. McGinty has refused to indict the cops; waited for the Sheriff’s investigation, which did not draw a conclusion; commissioned several reports by police officials or cronies; and is now releasing reports for the media to create public opinion—to set it up for the grand jury to not indict.

Rev. McCorry said that while traveling all over the country organizing for Rise Up October, he heard people talking about the police murders in Cleveland and other cities in Ohio. He said, “If necessary, we will see to it that Cleveland, in fact, becomes the next Ferguson. If they are going to act like Ferguson, then we are going to bring some of the Ferguson action here to Cleveland.”

He spoke to the question of “Black-on-Black” crime, a major issue in Cleveland where there have been over 100 homicides this year, including recent drive-by killings of three children. The media and chief of police have used this to blame the people and direct people’s anger away from the murdering cops. Rev. McCorry said that the problems feed into each other as part of a larger systemic issue. He said, “Because my house is a little dirty and needs cleaning does not give you the right to throw trash in my front yard. Stop the excuses...The same system that is killing our children outright is creating the conditions in the hood that are causing children to go after one another.”

Bill Swain, representing Cleveland Rise Up October, criticized the reports released by the prosecutor, saying that they are nothing but another way to justify the killing of Tamir Rice, and challenged people to get on the bus to New York City for Rise Up October to stop police murder. He added that family members of loved ones killed by police will be leading the national march in NYC on October 24.

Three Cleveland family members of people whose lives were stolen by police also spoke: Brenda Bickerstaff, sister of Craig Bickerstaff and aunt of Ralkina Jones; Alicia Kirkman, mother of Angelo Miller; and Art Blakey, brother of Kiana Nicole Blakey. People felt both their pain and determination to end police murder.

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/victory-in-legal-case-of-arrests-from-anthony-hill-protest-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Victory in Legal Case of Arrests from the Anthony Hill Protest in Chamblee, Georgia, on Blow the Whistle Day

October 6, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From readers:

On March 14, 2015, the Saturday after DeKalb County, Georgia, police murdered naked and unarmed Anthony Hill at his apartment complex in Chamblee, a powerful outpouring of protest called for by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network on national Blow the Whistle Day hit the streets of Chamblee. The protest involved over 100 people from the apartment complex and activists from various communities and organizations. As the march was ending, the DeKalb County police snatched and arrested seven activists from the crowd, including several members of the Atlanta Revolution Club, and eventually took six to jail and slapped them with multiple charges (see Revolution’s original coverage of the protest).

Last week, DeKalb County dropped all the charges and dismissed the case against the six activists! This is a sweet and important legal victory that stopped this attempt by DeKalb County to criminalize political protest and intimidate people from rising up against the murderous police force.

DeKalb police killed again in August, chasing and then tasing Troy Robinson while he was on top of an eight-foot wall, causing him to fall to his death with a broken neck. Troy was the third person killed by DeKalb County police within the past year. The police chief, Dr. Cedric Alexander, is president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives and a frequent “expert” commentator on CNN. He infamously issued statements quickly after the murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner that urged people to be calm and patient and trust that the Ferguson and New York police chiefs would be thorough and “transparent” in their investigations.

None of the DeKalb County cops involved in these murders has been charged or indicted. Family members, their lawyers, and community activists have been relentless in the struggle for justice, which continues. Some of the activists whose charges were dropped in the Chamblee case celebrated by being back out in the face of the DeKalb County police the following day to protest the “Beat the Badge” police fundraiser 5K race (see correspondence on that protest here).

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/zion-illinois-memorial-for-justus-howell-murdered-by-police-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Zion, Illinois: Memorial for Justus Howell, Murdered by Police

"We're not going to stand for this police terror!"

October 6, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On Sunday, October 4 the gray sky reflected the mood of 50 to 60 people gathered at the spot where Justus Howell had been murdered by police 6 months ago in Zion, Illinois. Zion sits along Lake Michigan, almost to the border of Wisconsin. In a different world it would be a pretty vacation spot. Justus was shot twice in the back while he was running away by Zion police. The district attorney declined to prosecute the cop.  

Justus was killed in front of a house in a residential neighborhood. The owner of the house allowed it to be draped with a gentle artistic fabric installation. Its creator is a supporter of Tony Robinson's family in Madison, Wisconsin. Tony was just 19 when he was killed by police there, not that long before Justus was murdered.

The remembrance/protest gathering was attended by friends, neighbors and relatives of Justus, local community activists, as well as people who traveled from Chicago to be there—students, Stop Mass Incarceration Network activists, the Revolution Club and more.

The gathering was addressed by Carl Dix and Reverend Jerome McCorry, national leaders of Rise Up October who had traveled to Zion mark this six-month anniversary with the Howell family. Reverend McCorry had a powerful impact on the faith community in Zion/Waukegan over the three days he was there. He challenged them to do what was right in standing up and taking on police terror and took them to task when they failed to do so. Dix and McCorry addressed the crowd about the importance of Rise Up October in New York City on October 22 through the massive march on October 24th. Alice Howell, Justus's grandmother and a member of the national steering committee also called on people to come to New York City on October 24 for a massive demonstration to stop police terror.

Carl Dix talked more about the challenge of Rise Up October:

This has to stop. Justus was a young man who should have been looking forward to the rest of his life. His life was stolen by someone who was sworn to serve and protect. And then the system covered it up. This happens every day, especially to Black and Brown young people. Not just the brothers, they kill sisters too. This has to stop. We can no longer stand by while they kill our children. We have to tell everybody, this is an issue for you. There ain't no standing on the side while this is going on. Because if you stand on the side when people are being killed for nothing other than the color of their skin, you're no longer a human being. That's what that comes down to. We're going to New York, to say stop police terror, which side are you on, we're going to be there in October and we want you all to be with us, but we're also going to say to people right now, stop police terror, which side are you on? There is no middle ground, you're either on the side of acting to stop this or you're on the side of saying it's okay to continue. Is it OK for this to continue? (Crowd: No!!!!)

LaToya Howell, Justice's mother shared her pain, grief and anger at Justus's life having been stolen by the police in a flash. As she spoke from the heart, she also demonstrated the courage and determination to fight not only for justice for Justus but so this doesn't happen again to even her “worst enemy.” Her words left many faces in the crowd stained with tears.

LaToya Howell, Justus Howell’s mother

Y'all, this means a lot, this is the beginning of a large movement. He's talking about Rise up October, that's in NY. I'm raising funds for all of us to go to New York, make an impact to the world. We're going to let them know, we're not going to stand for this police terror, we're not going to stand for y'all killing our kids, it's unacceptable, we can't stand and by and watch, we got to do something. Plant your feet in the ground and stand up. This crowd right here, is enough to move the nation, all you got to do is make sure another person will come with you. We will multiply and we will conquer. Power to the people!... Let y'all community know we will not be silent. People scared to come out, scared to lose their jobs, some people saying "Oh, if I am part of this, I might lose my position." It's bigger than that. This could have been your shorty, Justus is your shorty. He wasn't shooting people up, he was running away. And they took his life, that stuff ain’t right. Some people telling us they don't want to be part of an angry and bitter movement. First of all, if your shorty was gunned down for nothing, you're trying to say you wouldn't be angry? I'm pissed off and I'm going to be like that for the rest of my life. This ain’t something I expected. We protect our children every day. I wasn't there to take a bullet for my son. But guess what, I'm here and I'm gonna be here for the rest of my life...my baby was a high school student, an artist, a rap star, he had dreams as high as the sky. They took that from him. That's an injustice. So I want you all to go tell somebody, get on social media right now...they trying to wipe it under the rug, shoo it away. I want to thank you all for being here. These shorties, that's who we protect, this is who we live for, we have to guard their future. Justus was your friend or your family. We need you to stand up and do whatever it is in your power to stand up for those who have fallen.

Justus's father expressed his love to everyone who came, sobbing as he described his love for his son while silver and gold balloons were released into the air in Justus's memory.

Then the crowd marched to the Zion police department. Chants rang out:

"We won't be silent, why not! We won't forget those two shots."
"We won't throw in the towel! Justice for Justus Howell."
"Indict, convict, send the killer cops to jail, the whole damn system is guilty as hell."

At the police station, in an act of international solidarity, a Latina came to represent for and draw the connection between the 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa teacher's college in Mexico and the police murder of Justus and other Black and Brown youth in the U.S.  She said:

In the Latino community, like you, we have been put down. Like Latoya said, don't just like us on Facebook... We need to be united...fight for justice. I represent those mothers who lost their kids in Ayotzinapa, college people, fighting for their rights. They disappeared them, buried them... We need to be together, stand together.

As people spoke, LaToya, in pain and anger, banged on the walls of the police station and called the police out for keeping Justus's possessions which she wanted returned for the memorial. The police locked the door to the station, cowering inside the whole time the protest was outside their doors.

After the march back,  people were called on to buy tickets to New York for Rise Up October. A Columbia College student told the crowd how she started a go-fund me campaign to raise money for herself and many others to go to New York. Everyone was invited to join the Howells to hear Carl Dix and Revered McCorry the next night at a program in Zion to build for Rise Up October.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/texas-cop-chokes-and-takes-down-14-year-old-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Texas Cop Chokes and Takes Down 14-Year-Old

October 12, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Look at this video of a cop choking a 14-year-old youth and slamming him to the ground. This happened at a high school in Round Rock, Texas. There was apparently a fight between the youth, Gyasi Hughes, and another student. This could and should have been dealt with by cooling down the situation—a typical squabble between youths that happens all the time in schools all over—without anybody getting hurt. The last thing that was needed was for the system’s armed enforcers to come into this. And sure enough, the pig ends up viciously attacking Gyasi—for nothing! A system with police that treat our youth like this is totally worthless and illegitimate.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/1000-dollars-raised-at-chicago-area-hospital-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

$1,000 Raised at a Chicago-Area Hospital

October 12, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

We just raised $1,000 in one department in a Chicago area hospital. An activist gave the PDF “Bring the families of 100 Police Murder Victims to #RiseUpOctober” to a few co-workers who recently have expressed concern about police murders and who were starting to see the true magnitude of this epidemic. He also showed them the 11-minute video from the August 27 meeting in NYC. A Black hospital worker, who lives on the West Side and has experienced threats by the police, and three nurses decided to take the challenge to support these families to as many people in the department as possible. A physician who admits patients there had already contributed and allowed us to say what he had given. He also said we could tell the story of his encounter with the police. He was in his 20s, well dressed, having just left church on a winter morning; the police stopped his car and falsely claimed he ran a red light. He was forced to lie in the slush face down, with hands cuffed behind his back, while they ran his license.

One of the nurses wrote a beautiful fundraising letter stating our purpose and plan. A physician in our department offered to match whatever the nurses or hospital workers in the department could raise and this was in her letter. We also used the YouTube videos of LaToya Howell and Mertilla Jones, which once you enter the YouTube IDs can be quickly shown to others on the spot on a cell phone or department computer and could be texted to many people through our 10-day campaign. We also learned that the actual video of police murder, like the murder of Oscar Grant on the San Francisco BART platform in 2009, really helps people to get what is happening to people of color! We also used a really powerful and outrageous 30-second video on YouTube from Dallas from earlier this year, where a mother calls for police to help get her bipolar schizophrenic son to the hospital for treatment and instead they murder him for holding a screwdriver in his own doorway... caught on their own bodycam!!

These sorts of videos opened many eyes of middle class people around us, who just really have no idea. Following this, we also used the video of Uncle Bobby, Oscar Grant’s uncle, calling for backing these beautiful family members whose voices must and will be heard on O24!! We also used Rev. McCorry’s powerful statement and Carl Dix’s statement on what are reasonable demands from Revolution newspaper and, of course, word of mouth. Through our 10-day campaign, we created an atmosphere where many were engaged and affected and contributed. We are so happy that we have made this contribution and offer our love and solidarity to these families who have suffered so much and are so courageous!

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/407/an-open-letter-to-voices-of-conscience-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

An Open Letter to Voices of Conscience
When it comes to police terror, WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

September 30, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Dear Celebrities who still remain silent;
Progressive people who care but have not acted;
People of means who may not face police terror personally but who could provide the means for those who bear the brunt of this everyday a platform where their courageous voices could move the hearts and minds of the broader public:

You live in a country that has, since its birth, considered Black lives as less than human. The ideology of white supremacy that this country was founded on, that justified slavery and propelled forward the development of capitalism has continued down through the centuries—through discriminatory laws and terror unleashed upon a people—to this very day. From Jim Crow and lynching to mass incarceration and police who murder with impunity—this has throughout the history of this country been justified under the pretense of CRIME and keeping “ the good people safe”—recycled and re-purposed for different decades.

You who would condemn Jim Crow yesterday...
Where are you now and what would YOU do today?

Whole generations of Black and Latino people have been criminalized and consigned to utterly inhuman conditions of mass incarceration. The largest prison population in the world exists in our midst—hiding in plain sight with the consent of a population that for decades has tolerated a travesty of historic proportions.

A system of punishment of the poor—where there is NOT equality and justice for all but laws that comprise a modern day system of debtor peonage and government discrimination—paying forward the misery to each new generation in a downward spiral with genocidal consequences.

A thousand people a year—850 this year so far killed by police. Video after video of people pulled over in minor traffic violations, videos of people surrendering, videos of people running away, videos of people mentally ill instead of getting medical attention being summarily executed. Instance after instance of people doing nothing other than being Black or Latino but who are profiled, stopped and so often shot down because they “look like a suspect.”

Police who consider whole groups of people—because of the color of their skin or the language they speak—as having no rights that the police are bound to respect.

You know this—this has been brought to your attention because people have risen up to say, “Enough! We will not have this.” This was brought to your attention because many thousands of young people disrupted business as usual over that last year.

At a moment when that resistance is being shushed, when demonstrators are being prosecuted and police who murder are protected, when “Go slow, let the system work,” is being counseled by people more interested in preserving the status quo than changing it—and when liberals are too easily assuaged by promises of minor policy changes like body cameras (yes this can make a difference but now that we are seeing video after video without prosecution—the question is: What NOW Are You Going to Do?): Rise Up October is saying that protest must not be derailed. The controversy must not be suppressed, and the resistance that has made THE difference must be re-mobilized to go to another level.

If it is not, not only will nothing in the end have actually changed, but the pace of the brutality and barbarity will have intensified. With the political and moral atmosphere being fouled by wall-to-wall election coverage of arenas filled with morons cheering for undisguised bigotry and reported on by ALL the major media as “legitimate,” nothing less than many, many thousands of us taking to the streets with renewed determination will change this ugly dynamic and set different moral and political terms. To say most clearly: THIS MUST STOP.

There is a way to do this. By participating and supporting financially the outpouring on October 22 through 24. These days open with 100 families traveling from all over the country, joined with prominent voices where we will Say Their Names in Times Square on October 22. On October 23, there will be nonviolent civil disobedience. A massive march on October 24 will aim at changing the terms of how people think and act, politically rocking the country so that everyone has to decide: “On the matter of POLICE MURDER AND TERROR MUST STOP, Which Side Am I On? Will my silence be complicity or will I stand with the people who refuse to tolerate these outrages?” Those who carry out, back up and enforce this terror have to be rocked back on their heels. THIS MUST STOP.

The controversy must not be shut down and the suffering that continues must not be allowed to be swept under the rug. Millions have to demand THIS MUST STOP.

As Lorien Carter, aunt of Tony Robinson killed by Madison police this past year, put it:

“The ‘Truths’ they are providing to you are not truths at all. The reason #RiseUpOctober is so important is because I neglected the facts and my nephew paid... If this makes you uncomfortable, I’m glad. It should. The blood of all these people stain your hands, the same way it does mine.”

BE PART OF THE SOLUTION:

1. Contribute $1,000 dollars to sponsor family members who have lost loved ones to police murder to come to NYC. DONATE HERE.

2. Make a substantial donation for advertising and getting the word out. DONATE HERE.

3. Be part of Reading the Names on October 22. Contact addmyvoice@riseupoctober.org.

4. Endorse the call initiated by Carl Dix and Cornel West and commit to getting five other endorsements of prominent people, churches and organizations to. Read the call below and SEND ENDORSEMENT TO addmyvoice@riseupoctober.org.

5. Publicly commit to being in New York City on October 24. Contact addmyvoice@riseupoctober.org

6. Call the Rise Up October National Office at 646-709-1961 to find out what more you can do.

***

Initiated by Carl Dix and Cornel West

Advisory Board includes: Carl Dix, Eve Ensler, Arturo O’Farrill, Jamal Joseph, Rev. Stephen Phelps and Cornel West.

Call for a Major National Manifestation Against Police Terror

#RiseUpOctober to STOP Police Terror
Which Side Are You On?
Come to New York City!

OCTOBER 24
Washington Square Park, New York City, 11:00 am

March at 1:00 pm
Closing Rally at Columbus Circle at 4:00 pm

Actions on October 22 & 23

Eric Garner... Michael Brown...Freddie Gray... Rekia Boyd... Andy Lopez...Tamir Rice

One after another—and so many others, precious Black and Brown lives—victims of police murder. We think of their faces, and furiously ache for justice. Over 1000 people a year killed by police—yet since 2005, less than 60 indictments, less than 25 convictions! *

Millions languish in prison, generation after generation, Black and Latino brothers and sisters. The spearpoint of a whole matrix of oppression.

People have struggled, resisted, risen up. This must go on and go further—in many different ways, intensifying.

At the same time, these repeated outrages cry out for a major, national manifestation this fall that states very clearly:

NO! THESE MURDERS BY POLICE MUST STOP—NOW!!

This demonstration will be resistance-based, uncompromising in spirit and, at the same time, pluralistic and diverse, involving hundreds of thousands of people, reaching into every corner of this society and powerfully impacting the whole world.

History has shown that no significant change has been won without mass determined resistance.

We refuse to be derailed by promises of reform that are merely that: promises. We refuse to be intimidated by government repression or by threats from forces of open and unrepentant racism and fascism. We will respond to the urgency of the political situation by mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people to take to the streets to say these horrors must stop.

We aim to amplify the many forms of resistance against police murder and mass incarceration. More important, we aim to change the whole social landscape, to the point where a growing section of people all over take ever-increasing initiative and make it unmistakably clear that they refuse to live in a society that sanctions this outrage, and where those who do NOT feel this way are put on the defensive.

Join us—on October 24 in the streets of New York City.

*Thousands Dead, Few Prosecuted - Washington Post, 4/12/15; Police Killings Rise Slightly, Though Increased Focus May Suggest Otherwise - New York Times, 4/30/15 [back]

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/awtwns-diesel-engines-emissions-fraud-and-cop21-climate-summit-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

From A World To Win News Service

Diesel engines, emissions fraud and the COP21 climate summit

October 12, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

5 October 2015 A World to Win News Service. Germany was supposed to be a world leader in reducing carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions, “a model for other industrialised nations.” (The New York Times, 2 October 2015) Then came the Volkswagen emissions scandal.

The car company, it turns out, made and sold at least 11 million vehicles that, although marketed as low emission vehicles, actually emitted far higher levels of pollutants than stated, with onboard software designed to fool government tests.

These particular pollutants are even more immediately dangerous than carbon dioxide. Nitrogen oxides and ozone harm the lungs, causing immediate damage and lowering people’s resistance to respiratory illnesses, as well as contributing to global warming. The exhaust spewed out of the tailpipes of these diesel engine cars can be as much as 40 times the legal limit for pollutants in the U.S., where the issue was brought to light by NGO researchers.

VW seems to have committed an almost unbelievably brazen act of fraud in this case, but there are two reasons why they did it.

First, they more or less had to. In 2008 it became clear to VW that their diesel engines could not meet U.S. emission standards—which may have been meant to restrict VW’s access to the U.S. market, just as some European Union food safety standards have been accused of being a way to keep out U.S. poultry and meat products, for instance. Even if it had been technically possible for VW to meet these standards, reducing toxic exhaust gases and particles would have made their products much less fuel efficient, and therefore much less attractive to buyers. VW had invested a lot to manufacture these engines. Now it risked a drastic cutback in market share rather than the marketing coup it needed.

This posed a mortal danger to VW in its competition with its North American rivals. Its management may be fired for getting caught, but it’s unlikely that investors would have allowed them to survive a drastic loss on the company’s investment and the competitiveness its future depends on.

The second reason is that they thought they could get away with it.

That thinking was encouraged by a context of complacency with diesel emissions, especially in Western Europe, where diesel-equipped cars are very common. Some commentators have written about this as a question of European tastes, but that “taste” is a direct result of deliberate government policies.

Volkswagen is Germany’s biggest company and a major pillar of its export-oriented economy. It was founded as a government enterprise under the Nazis. Governments from the 1930s to today have always treated it in consequence of its importance for the overall functioning of monopoly capitalism in that country. Chancellor Angela Merkel, like her Social Democrat predecessor, sits on the board that sets company policies, as do regional officials, since 20 percent of VW stock is owned by the state of Lower Saxony.

What lies behind this latest scam is not any particular German greed, but global competition between vehicle manufacturers, the nationally based capital formations they are often central to, and the states that represent those interests. “I have no illusions,” said a longtime senior official in the German Federal Environmental Agency, speaking about VW’s motives in this fraud. “It’s a war. If you don’t understand the positions of those you are fighting, you don’t have a chance.” (NYT, 2 October)

He knows that even the agency charged with protecting the environment has to take the competitiveness of German capital into account—in fact, it is obliged to accept those interests as the boundaries within which environmental protection measures could be taken.

Merkel, along with other EU leaders including UK Prime Minister David Cameron, succeeded in turning back already agreed upon new European carbon dioxide emission standards in 2013. Her aim was to protect the German auto industry and E.On and RZE, the country’s leading energy companies.

The French government, for its own reasons, has been even more zealous about promoting and protecting diesel engines. When the country adopted the policy of making nuclear energy its main source of electrical power, the government wanted to protect the refineries owned by France’s oil giants, which play an even more central role for French capital than the car industry. The fuel used to generate electricity and diesel fuel is the same thing. Sales taxes were set to make diesel fuel substantially cheaper than regular, along with other measures to encourage people to buy diesel vehicles, even though it was known that diesel engines are more dangerous to human health and the atmosphere than standard motors. In fact, partly because a decades-long emphasis on diesel engines has given German, French and other European manufacturers a technological edge over their U.S. rivals in that field, boosting worldwide appetites for diesel engines is an important part of EU export efforts.

Just as U.S. President Barack Obama has given the go-ahead for fracking, Arctic oil drilling and other moves that are vital to the competitiveness of the U.S. oil industry and the global interests of the U.S. empire, so French President Francois Hollande has been equally active in promoting Arctic oil ventures, fracking, oil sands extraction and other environmentally disastrous moves by French oil companies like Total, along with the very aggressive world expansion programmes of French nuclear energy companies. Like in Germany, the interests of these companies, at the core of French capital, have always been and still are largely protected by the state.

These state policies, the inevitable consequence of the international competition that drives the world capitalist and imperialist system, have become so notorious that a French Green Party parliamentarian and researcher has labelled the present situation an environmental “counter-revolution” in that restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions are drastically slowing down. (Yannick Jadot, Telerama.fr Website, 3 October 2015) The cuts set for 2020-30, he calculates, will be half of those called for in 2010-20 due to galloping “energy nationalism” focused on protecting key economic sectors. He notes that the EU policies have promoted diesel motors for decades, and that the major governments have been complicit not only in setting permissive standards but also in allowing testing procedures he calls a known charade, since in Europe, as in the U.S., motor vehicle emissions are not measured under normal operating conditions and therefore tend to greatly underestimate the pollution produced. Higher fuel efficiency standards—which sell cars—are being met by turning a blind eye to that fact. (Financial Times, 25 September 2015)

The answer, the French Green politician said, is to untangle the interests of the states and the big monopolies and overturn the influence of “the lobbies”. But European countries with historically state-linked energy companies and car manufacturers, and the U.S., where this was not officially the case, act in basically the same way. For instance, GM concealed a safety problem that predictably led to many deaths, and was not harshly punished when it got caught in 2014. U.S. commentators calling for VW to be brought to its knees for its crimes didn’t apply the same standard to GM.

Crucially, no major government advocates policies to get beyond the irrational and inherently polluting transportation system that depends on people buying more and more cars.

To look at the problem in broader terms, more than 140 countries have submitted their national energy goals in preparation for the COP21 international climate change summit to be held in December in Paris. Even if they don’t act like Germany, France, the UK, the U.S., etc., have so far and instead actually try to reach their stated goals, these figures would represent a potentially catastrophic increase in global warming of 2.7 C degrees by the end of the century. In comparison, the 0.85 C increase in global average temperatures since the start of the industrial age is already wreaking havoc with the planet.

If consistent, the Green deputy’s own remarks would lead to the conclusion that the capitalist states have always represented the interests of nationally based finance capital, especially in the monopoly capitalist countries sitting atop the world imperialist system. The market would overrule any attempt to act any other way.

This is the situation that people enraged by the present and foreseeable destruction of the global environment must face up to.

 

A World to Win News Service is put out by A World to Win magazine, a political and theoretical review inspired by the formation of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, the embryonic center of the world's Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties and organizations.

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/remembering-mexico-city-1985-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Remembering Mexico City, 1985: "It was like second nature to make the inconvenient dead vanish"

October 12, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Letter from a reader:

Thirty years ago I was in Mexico City after the devastating magnitude 8 earthquake of September 19, 1985. Recently memories of what I saw have come back to me after seeing a bunch of articles in the U.S. press about the lingering effects of the historic quake. But what strikes me is the nonchalance with which the U.S. press reports that the Mexican government claims that 5,000 people died, but that activists and non-governmental organizations claim that at least 30,000 died.

Wait... what?

You just reported a “minor” discrepancy of 25,000 human beings without a second thought.

In fact, the National Seismological Service estimated the number of dead at 45,000.

When I walked through the streets of the Distrito Federal (Mexico City) in October 1985, there was barely a wall or fence I passed which was not covered with photos of missing people, with heartbreaking handwritten messages like “Have you seen my daughter... my brother... my father....”

So how did at least 25,000 bodies just disappear?

At the end of one street I saw what looked from afar like a ragged mountain. Getting closer, I found that it was a multi-story garment factory which had collapsed like a stack of pancakes because the building was not built for heavy garment industry equipment. In front of the building there was an encampment of women garment workers who had survived and who were staying there day and night to try to prevent the government from simply sweeping away the rubble along with the bodies of many of their coworkers like so much garbage. One woman, who was cooking a meal for the camp over a fire in street, told me, most of us are single mothers, nobody up there cares what happens to us. They want us to disappear so that no one questions who allowed these buildings to be built so crappy and these sweatshops to operate here.

This was one of more than 1,000 collapsed workshops in the garment district alone. How many bodies were simply scooped up and dumped with the mountains of rubble?

It was like second nature for the Mexican government to just make the inconvenient dead vanish.

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/407/why-i-am-joining-other-faith-leaders-to-stand-with-families-of-police-victims-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Why I am Joining Other Faith Leaders to Stand With Families of Police Victims for #RiseUpOctober

by Rabbi Michael Lerner

October 5, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Originally posted at huffingpost.com. Reproduced here with the author’s permission.

 

The numbers are shocking. According to a new study by the Washington Post and Bowling Green State University, at least 1100 people were killed by police in 2014, the highest number in decades. Only one officer was convicted of any crime for every 1,000 killed, the study found. So far in 2015 at least 897 people have been killed by police. A disproportionate number are Black or Brown.

The life-long trauma is even worse: “My son, LaReko Williams was tasered to Death,” says his mother Meko Williams of his son’s killing by Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina police in 2011. “An expert witness in the civil trial, Dr. Shahad, said that he never in his life seen a heart that look like that. The electricity fried his heart...” “They came in and automatically blew my granddaughter’s brains out in front of me,” said Mertilla Jones, grandmother of seven-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones, who was murdered by Detroit cops May 16, 2010. “Like I said, I seen the light of life leave out of Aiyana’s eyes. I never seen anything like this in my life.”

A deep moral and political challenge is being posed for all of us: What do we do?

One step is to keep this issue before the public consciousness. I believe that every city ought to create a citizens’ police review commission with some members appointed by the clergy of the African American community and the other members elected in city-wide elections. That review committee should be empowered to investigate every single instance in which excessive force by police has been alleged, and the power to fire, suspend or bring to trial any police officer whom they deem to have violated reasonable standards of conduct or imposed bodily injury or death. At the same time, every school district in the country should require a class at each grade level from kindergarten through college on the history and actuality of racism in this country so that citizens sitting on grand juries or ordinary juries have the intellectual foundation needed to understand the way that racism often shapes the behavior of our police forces or at least the section of our police forces most likely to use violence against minorities or other citizens.

To make these steps possible, it will take ordinary citizens placing these measures on local ballots or demanding that their elected officials implement them. To get an energized population to do this, we have an obligation to keep this issue in the public eye. RiseUpOctober.org. is an effort to do this. This coalition is organizing speak outs around the US and “adopting” families of police murder victims, and raising money to help them travel to New York City to take part in #RiseUpOctober, three days of protest starting Oct 22 with a reading of the names of people killed by police and culminating in a hopefully massive march on October 24th.

The goal of #RiseUpOctober is to bring together people from all walks of life to manifest our moral determination in the public square: POLICE TERROR MUST STOP NOW. Alongside the families of 100 people who have been murdered by police, thousands together will call out and challenge people throughout society: Will you stand up against police violence?

#RiseUpOctober is a broad based response to a moral and political emergency. Initiated by Cornel West and Carl Dix, its call has been signed by hundreds, including initially 74 members of families who have lost loved ones to police violence, 31 leaders of the faith community, notable voices including Noam Chomsky, Ed Asner, Immortal Technique, Shepard Fairey, and Peter Coyote. Its Advisory Board is made up of Gina Belafonte, Carl Dix, Eve Ensler, Jamal Joseph, Arturo O’Farrill, Rev. Stephen Phelps, Cornel West.

Faith Task Force

I am part of the Faith Task Force, headed up by Rev. Jerome McCorry, a civil rights leader from Dayton, OH, who says of the epidemic of police brutality and mass incarceration, “For those of us in the Christian faith this represents a 'What would Jesus do moment.' As was the case in the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, the faith community must again speak out with clarity of vision to combat the New Jim Crow of Mass Incarceration.” Those of us in the Jewish world know and come from a history of being assaulted and killed by instruments of the state, whether that was a Christian state in the middle ages, or contemporary right-wing nationalist and fascistic states , or self-described communist states of Eastern Europe. We have an obligation to stand against police violence, even when many of us do not expect to personally be subject to it. (Though don’t be so sure).

“One of the things that God says according to the traditions is that he hates brutality against the oppressed,” says Faith Task Force member Rev. Stephen Phelps of the Presbytery of New York City, a Christian minister and author whose writings have frequently appeared in Tikkun magazine, the voice of spiritual progressives and secular humanists www.tikkun.org. “What’s it mean if god hates that? Does that mean that we forgive and sit back and wait? I don’t think so. Does it mean ‘vengeance is mine,’ sayeth the Lord, therefore we sit back and wait? Does it mean doom is coming? Sit back and wait for doom? I don’t think so. No, I think there is only one thing that we really need to get into about what God hates. God hates it when people are shaken and refuse to wake up.”

Nkosi Anderson articulates our call this way: “Do you feel that it’s OK, for this country in particular, to have the highest rates of mass incarceration in the entire world? I come at this as a prophetic, as a revolutionary Christian....It’s saying that, hey we have a call to confront evils across the board...the conditions that we are facing today create a clear moral line.”

100 Families for #RiseUpOctober

Those who have lost family members and loved-ones have been key in propelling the movement for October 24. They have borne the excruciating pain of losing loved ones at the hands of the state and then being denied justice, but instead watching in agony as the police go unpunished, while their dead loved ones are demonized.

Here’s one such story: September 14, 2013, Charlotte, North Carolina. Jonathan Ferrell—a 24-year-old Black man—was injured in a one-vehicle accident. When he knocked on doors seeking help in an upscale white community, police were called. When they came onto the scene, they shot Jonathan 10 times, killing him!

His mother Georgia Ferrell has endorsed the CALL for Rise Up October, and she issued this statement:

“We have to keep this struggle alive. I’m working hard here fighting for justice. We have to put those officers behind bars. This is an attack on our children! We have to keep praying and we have to keep fighting to stop them. If we stop... if we rest for a moment... it starts all over again. We have to be in the forefront. My parents marched for equal rights, to be treated right. Why in 2015 is this happening?! Rise Up October I want to let the nation know what’s going on. We need a new future. People in authority don’t stand up and speak for the people. No one in authority has stood up and said innocent people are being killed. Jonathan was seeking help! The President says nothing. When Freddie Gray is killed by police and young people stand up the President says the kids are thugs. I’m a Christian and a parent. If Jonathan was doing anything wrong I’d say so. He needs help and the police fire their guns. This must be stopped. I’m flying to NYC for Rise Up October. I’ve put the word out for funds. And I am using my own money. I am very excited about Rise Up October. We need to do this!”

A centerpiece of #RiseUpOctober will be 100+ families of those who have been murdered by police coming to New York. “Never before have this many families of police murder gathered in one place. Never before has the world had to confront so many of the faces of those whose lives have been torn apart by police terror and murder. Never before have their courage and cries for justice been fused together with each other on this scale, and with many thousands more from all walks of life demanding: POLICE TERROR MUST STOP?”

Communities of Faith...Inspired by These Families, Working to Bring them to New York

Meeting these family members or hearing their stories, has been profoundly troubling, and profoundly inspiring. I think Nkosi Anderson spoke for many of us when he said: “I’ve been first and foremost humbled by their deep strength and their deep love. I don’t know what I would do if I lost someone near and dear to me. I’d probably retreat, I’d probably fall into destructive behavior. I don’t know what I would do. And so I’m just amazed whenever I see these families not just lament their own loss but use it as an opportunity to speak out against injustices that are continuing to effect others—saying “Hey you know what? I’m not going to wallow in my pain but I’m going take a stand in honor of my fallen family member to say that this must stop.” And so for me, I’m just humbled to see that type of courage and love of people for them to do that.”

So a key component of the Faith Task Force’s work is sharing these stories with many, many others, urging them to support these families, and concretely organizing and raising funds so they can come to New York and inspiring many thousands and drawing strength from each other and all of us.

As Carl Dix put it, “You might say that these religious leaders are courageously stepping forward to connect with the Mamie Till-Mobleys of our day. As many of you know, with the families of police murder victims playing an especially courageous and clarion role. They are the Mamie Till Mobleys of our day - just as she refused to have Emmett Till’s body touched up and insisted the whole world see what was done to her baby, these families endure excruciating pain and open it to the world to demand people wake up and win justice.”

In all this, the $100,000 crowd funding campaign taking place right now is crucial to raising the funds needed to bring families from across the country to New York for #RiseUpOctober. So I encourage everyone to donate now at: igg.me/at/riseupoctober

As in all situations of this sort, sometimes the rhetoric gets a bit over-heated and that can become a turn off for me and others. But I believe that we should stand with the victims of this police violence and endure some overheated rhetoric, because in the final analysis this is a just cause and our society would be far better off if police felt a serious contraint on their use of violence.

For more information: http://riseupoctober.nationbuilder.com/

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CALENDAR LISTING:

WHAT: Mass Rally and March - Stop Police Terror & Murder! Which Side Are You On?

WHEN: Saturday, October 24

WHERE:

11:00 Gather at Washington Square Park for OPENING RALLY

1:00 MARCH

4:00 CLOSING RALLY Columbus Circle, along Central Park South

5:30 March from Columbus Circle, route TBA

POLICE TERROR MUST STOP! WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

RiseUpOctober.org - riseupoctober.nationbuilder.com

646.709.1961

press@riseupoctober.org

#RiseUpOctober

Facebook - www.facebook.com/events/767581106685589/

About - riseupoctober.nationbuilder.com/abt_riseupoctober

Call to Action - riseupoctober.nationbuilder.com/

Who We Are - riseupoctober.nationbuilder.com/who_we_are

Initial Endorsers - riseupoctober.nationbuilder.com/endorsers

100 Families Project - riseupoctober.nationbuilder.com/100_families_project

 

“When people become inspired en masse, which is not too often, they can leave their stupidity behind and truly move mountains and advance the glory of mankind. October 24th can well be one of those rare occasions when this occurs.”

- Ed Asner on #RiseUpOctober/Which Side Are You On?

 

Rabbi Michael Lerner is co-chair with Vandana Shiva of the interfaith and secular-humanist welcoming Network of Spiritual Progressives, editor of Tikkun magazine, and author of 11 books including with Cornel West: Jews and Blacks: A Dialogue on Race, Religion and Culture in America; Jewish Renwal:A Path to Healing and Transformation; The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country from the Religious Right; and Embracing Israel/Palestine: A strategy for Middle East peace. Rabbi Lerner invites you to read the worldview of the secular-atheist-welcoming Network of Spiritual Progressives at www.spiritualprogressives.org/covenant. He can be reached at RabbiLerner.tikkun.

Follow Rabbi Michael Lerner on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rabbilerner

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/justice-for-vonderrit-myers-now-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

A Year After Police Murder, Lies and Coverup:

Justice for VonDerrit Myers NOW

Updated October 7, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

October 8 marks the anniversary of the death of VonDerrit Myers Jr. On that day, one year ago, Jason Flanery, a St. Louis, Missouri cop working as security guard, chased VonDerrit down and killed him in a hail of gunfire.

Immediately after VonDerrit’s killing, people who had been protesting at the nearby Ferguson, Missouri police station—against the police murder of Michael Brown—jumped in their cars and took off to the murder site. They joined young people from that south side St. Louis neighborhood. Ministers were there to join in protesting the killing. And in the year since, there have been repeated protests. A month of actions around VonDerrit's murder is going on in St. Louis currently. And activists are calling for a national day of action around VonDerrit on Oct. 22.

VonDerrit’s Mother: “He Was Loved.... He Had Big Dreams”

Leading up to the anniversary of her son’s death, VonDerrit’s mother—Syreeta Myers—issued this statement:

“Unfortunately I was forced into this club no parent wants to be a part of. My one and only child, VonDerrit Myers Jr. was executed by an off duty cop October 8, 2014. The media attacked my son’s character and demonized him.

“Here is what you don’t know about VonDerrit. He was loved. He was a student. He loved basketball and the latest fashion. He was intelligent and an intellectual. He had big dreams.

“When VonDerrit was killed he was not committing a crime. He just left out of a store after buying a sandwich. Jason Flannery did not have the right to pursue anyone that was not engaged in a felony act. There was no forensic evidence or one eye witness that put a gun in VonDerrit’s hand. All the bullet wounds to VonDerrit’s body were from the rear, and one fatal shot to his head.

“This has left my family confused, hurt, lost, empty, and destroyed. That’s why we need people to join us at Rise Up October in New York, Oct. 22, 23, 24.

“Justice for all the families that have been impacted by police brutality.”

Prosecutor Backs Murdering Cop

On May 18, 2015—over seven months after VonDerrit’s murder—St. Louis City Circuit Attorney (prosecutor) Jennifer Joyce announced there would be no criminal charges against Jason Flanery. No indictment, no trial, not even a grand jury pretense, because according to the prosecutor, there was “no reasonable basis for filing criminal charges.” The prosecutor’s report is a cover-up. And it is based on and enshrines a legal framework and justifications for cops to racially profile, target, hunt down and murder Black youth for no reason at all.

The incident that ended with VonDerrit’s death began with Flanery, employed as a private security guard for a wealthy enclave in the Shaw neighborhood where VonDerrit lived, giving chase to a young man. Flanery lost that youth, then came upon VonDerrit who he mistook for the first youth he was chasing. Flanery confronted, chased and killed VonDerrit.

Flanery and the St. Louis Police Department never acknowledged this mistaken identity—that Flanery started chasing one person and then gunned down a different young man. That was revealed from GPS records from the ankle bracelet VonDerrit was required to wear. GPS records, and a surveillance video from a neighborhood market where VonDerrit walked and bought a sandwich, proved that he wasn’t the same person Flanery initially chased.

The legal justification given for chasing the first youth is that he ran away from Flanery, leaving his basketball behind, and that his hand was pinned to his stomach, possibly indicating possession of a gun. No gun was ever seen or found. So not only did Flanery kill the “wrong” Black man, he had no reason to be messing with the person he was originally harassing in the first place.

Flanery then encountered VonDerrit, who according to this pig was committing the “crime” of putting on a jacket! Flanery claimed this must have been to change his identity—as if any Black person putting on a jacket is guilty of a crime and should be killed!

Flanery says he commanded VonDerrit to get on the ground but VonDerrit backed away and cursed at him, while supposedly “grabbing his waistband.” Flanery claimed there was a scuffle, and VonDerrit escaped and ran away. Flanery shot VonDerrit six times in the back of the legs before shooting him in the head and killing him.

Lies and Coverup

Flanery claims there was an exchange of gunfire, and he acted in self-defense. But he stated in his police report that the gun he recovered in the gangway where VonDerrit lay dead had a shell casing jammed inside it, rendering it unable to fire. If VonDerrit had a gun, it was not working when Flanery shot him in the head and killed him.

The prosecutor’s report contains numerous findings that contradict the account given by Flanery (who refused to be interviewed by the prosecutor) or given by the St. Louis police. In Flanery’s statement to police, he said that the reason the back of VonDeritt’s legs were shot six times was not because VonDerrit was running away with his back turned, but because he was on the ground and his legs were lifted in the air in front of him. The prosecutor’s report determined VonDerrit was shot in the back of the legs while running up a hill. But the teport somehow failed to note that Flanery lied about how and why he shot VonDerrit.

In the months following VonDerrit’s death, police loudly announced that gunpowder residue was recovered from VonDerrit’s hands as proof that the gun found at the scene was VonDerrit’s and that this supposedly proved Flanery’s story of killing him in self-defense. This became another big media story. The prosecutor's report states there is no definitive gunpowder residue evidence that VonDerrit discharged a firearm that night. And the prosecutor’s report states that the gun identified as VonDerrit’s yielded no fingerprints or DNA evidence from VonDerrit or anyone else. 

In his statement to the police, Flanery identified VonDerrit’s recovered weapon as a 9 mm Ruger. Later, this was changed to a Smith and Wesson. This fit nicely with what became a big media story when an image from social media showing VonDerrit with a Smith and Wesson was loudly blared in news stories, as if simply having a picture of a person holding a gun is evidence he shot at someone.

Details that are stated in the prosecutor’s report—that definitive evidence of gunpowder residue from a discharged weapon was not found on VonDerrit, that fingerprints or DNA from VonDerrit or anyone else was not found on the gun, that the type and make of the gun said to be VonDerrit’s was changed, and with some witness statements regarding the gunfire sounds and sequences, along with a known practice of police planting weapons to justify their murders (like was shown in the video of the police murder of Walter Scott) have raised suspicions that the gun that police and prosecutor say was VonDerrit’s was actually planted by police.

A SYSTEM of “Legalized” Police Murder

The prosecutor’s report invokes laws that justify police brutality and murder. These are hunt-and-kill codes.

A legal standard used in the prosecutor’s report is that the use of physical force, such as Flanery pulling out his gun and then forcibly grabbing VonDerrit when he saw him, is legally justified when “the officer reasonably believes the arrest is lawful.” So the attempted arrest, or at least an “investigative stop,” is lawful even though Flanery was grabbing the wrong person (mistaken for the person he chased earlier), whose only offense was running away from him.

A St. Louis American article reviewing the prosecutor’s draft report provided in advance, refers to the legal justification for cops chasing down someone who has done nothing. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Illinois v. Wardlow states that unprovoked flight from a police officer justifies the officer in pursuing the suspect for an investigative stop. UNPROVOKED flight?  Think about this! Every single day Black and Brown people are stopped, harassed, brutalized, and often killed by cops.

Can any reasonable person deny that all this amounts to a standard where a Black person is presumed “guilty till proven innocent,” if they live long enough to prove their innocence?

The prosecutor’s report also states that “deadly force” is justified when a suspect “is attempting to escape by use of a deadly weapon.” And remember that cops see evidence of a deadly weapon when a Black youth touches his waistband. These legal rulings read like a slave catcher’s manual. One thing you will NOT find in the prosecutor’s report is anything about the rights of a young Black person to be treated like a human being and not as a permanent criminal suspect with a target on their back.

Yes there IS a Sinister Coverup

The same media that has repeatedly promoted police statements as fact which later are proven to be false (without bothering to inform the public they were lied to), has ridiculed the notion that there might be a cover-up in VonDerrit’s murder. In December, after the St. Louis Police Department came out with their report upholding Flanery’s murder of VonDerrit, a video interview with VonDerrit’s parents was broadcast. The reporter’s voiceover says mockingly: “to believe the version of events Vonderrit Myers Jr.’s parents believe, you have to be willing to believe the police are staging a sinister cover-up. It’s just that simple.” What is actually “just that simple” is the proven instances and pattern of how police and prosecutors routinely lie, cover up and provide legal justification for police murders. They have been caught doing this repeatedly.

Yes, there is a “sinister coverup” and it goes way, way beyond this particular police murder. Sometimes prosecutors lead Grand Juries to let killer police walk, like with Darren Wilson who murdered Mike Brown in Ferguson. Sometimes there is some kind of “special investigator” brought in. Over and over again police murder Black and Brown people and walk away with a pat on the back.

Which Side Are You On?

In a statement issued immediately after the murder of VonDerrit Myers, Carl Dix said:

Why does an off-duty cop feel like he can be making "pedestrian stops" of Black youth while he's moonlighting as a security guard? This killing and the story the police are using to justify it reflect how Black people are criminalized in this society. Some Black youth walking together are suspicious and need to be jacked up by a cop, even if the cop is off duty. This is like the Black Codes that southern states, including Missouri, enforced during the days of slavery which gave whites the power to break up any gatherings of 3 or more Black people. And it brings to mind the 1857 Dred Scott decision by the U.S. Supreme Court which said that Black people had no rights that white people are bound to respect.

THIS SHIT MUST BE STOPPED, AND IT'S UP TO US TO STOP IT.

Which side are you on?

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/intense-challenging-forum-zion-illinois-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Intense, Challenging Forum in Zion, Illinois:
What Must We Do to STOP Police Terror?

October 7, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

The Loving Arms Outreach Ministry opened its doors to welcome the forum “What Must We Do to STOP Police Terror?” in Zion just days before it was scheduled to take place, after other churches and schools had declined to provide a venue.

It was an intense, challenging forum in many different ways. Four families who had loved ones murdered by police began the evening. LaToya Howell, whose son Justus Howell was murdered by Zion police, described in anguish her decision to leave Justus, the day he was shot, with his friends in Zion because ironically the town she was going to in Wisconsin is known for its hostility to Black people. She talked about how Justus knew about Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown and how she had schooled him to put his hands up when stopped by police. “He was terrified” when confronted by the police, so he ran and then the police shot him twice in the back. LaToya described in anguishing detail frantically calling to find out what happened to Justus after she heard he was at the hospital. LaToya tore into the police’s lying justifications for killing Justus—lies that have been swallowed by some people in the community. The grief was overwhelming as people from other families held her.

Sharon Irwin and Lorien Carter, the grandmother and aunt of Tony Robinson, killed by Madison, Wisconsin, police, told the story of the police murder of 19-year-old Tony. Gloria Pinex was there. Gloria was one of the first stolen lives parents to go up to Zion in the days after Justus was killed. She talked about her four-year battle for justice for her son Darius and the cover-up by City of Chicago attorneys and the Chicago police—a cover-up that started in the hour right after Darius was killed in Englewood. (See “New revelations in 2011 murder by police of Darius Pinex: Criminal Conspiracy by the Chicago PD: How to get away with murder.”) Another mother, Venus Anderson, told a horrific story of her son Christopher, 27, who was shot by police literally while a patient at a hospital in Highland Park, north of Chicago. Christopher and his young daughter were brought by ambulance to the ER after a car accident in November 2014, and police shot him with nine bullets in less than two seconds because he was agitated about his daughter’s treatment.

And the fact that these murders by police are just the tip of the iceberg drove home how this police terror must be stopped.

The evening featured Carl Dix, who was given a stirring introduction by Jed Stone, an attorney who practices in Lake County, where Zion is located. He talked about how the war on drugs had been a war on the poor and that Lake County was notorious nationwide for false confessions/convictions. Jed expressed his disappointment that more people were not there to hear from both the families and especially from Carl Dix, who he called an “American hero” for Carl’s decades of revolutionary work, fighting against the oppression of Black people, police brutality, and mass incarceration. Stone drew from his experience in the 1960s about how determined if at first small numbers of people can mushroom into many tens of thousands more when they have right on their side.

Carl Dix spoke as a revolutionary communist and co-initiator, with Cornel West, of Rise Up October. He read the recent statement from Bob Avakian (see box on this page), which framed his discussion of both the movement for real revolution and Rise Up October. He went into the ugly history of the oppression of Black people starting with slavery down to today. He said he spoke with the cousin of Emmett Till earlier in the day, recounting that nightmare in 1955 of Emmett’s lynching at the hands of racists in Mississippi and the courage of his mother in making society confront what had been done to her son. He compared this with the courage of the mothers at the forum. He challenged the audience that this society with all its horrors is not permanent nor the best that is possible and to not accept itty-bitty changes. It is entirely reasonable, Dix said, to demand that the police stop killing people—it would not have been hard to STOP choking Eric Garner when he kept telling the police he could not breathe. The audience broke into enthusiastic applause when Dix announced the plans for the non-violent direct action against the notorious Rikers Island prison in New York City on October 23, as part of the Rise Up October protests October 22-24, as he hammered away at what a hellhole of a debtors’ prison exists right in the heart of NYC. The audience gave Dix a standing ovation at the end of his speech.

Reverend Jerome McCorry filled the space with his angry exposure of police murders in Ohio. John Crawford was shot by police in Walmart as he talked on his phone holding a toy gun he had picked up off the shelf. Another man was beaten by the police, and then the police refused to take him inside a hospital emergency room, taking him instead to a bridge and throwing him off it into the river below. The same cops broke out a window of the police car from the inside so they could lie and say the man in their custody escaped. In excruciating detail, Rev. McCorry painted a picture of this outrage for which no cop was ever punished.

Rev. McCorry was scathing in his criticism of the churches and ministers who are not taking up this urgent fight, who are cozy with city officials and police departments, who put keeping their grants above standing on the right side. It was a sharp moral challenge to those who were there and to the ministers who were not there... the ministers who knew all about the event because of the work of the Howells’ and McCorry’s dialogues with them in the days before the program.

As the evening wound up, people who are getting on the buses to go to NYC for Rise Up October were asked to stand up, and others pledged to raise the money to make sure the families and the buses got there. It was very good and important that people from around the North Shore who do not face what happens in communities of the oppressed every day came to learn and to show their support for the Howells and the other families and to hear Carl Dix and Rev. McCorry. Funds were raised on the spot and pledges taken for more.

It is probably safe to say that Zion/Waukegan has never seen a forum like this!!!

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/statement-by-alicia-kirkman-mother-of-angelo-miller-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Statement for Rise Up October by Alicia Kirkman, mother of Angelo Miller, killed by Cleveland policeman John Lundy, March 23, 2007

October 8, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Rise Up October! It means a lot to me. It’s never happened in our lifetimes. All together: WE ARE NOT TAKING THIS KILLING AND MASS INCARCERATION! We are not tolerating it anymore. We do it in our cities, but never altogether like this. I knew we had to do this, all the relatives of people murdered by police nationwide... but I never knew how to do it, so I never tried. And I can’t rest until this happens. Last night, everything hit me. I don’t talk about this much... so it was real emotional for me. Rise Up October shows what everybody is doing, everything that is being done. And I am included. Before, I held back, thinking my son, Angelo Miller, had done something wrong, take a radio out of car, and that’s why not a lot of support. But the police shot his car up with 8 bullets and murdered him. His hands were up! They were supposedly going to charge those cops for murdering my son. That never happened. How is this justified?!

Now, I am reaching out to families for Rise Up October to STOP police from murdering young people like my son. I got my goal of 25 people to NYC from the families in this area from my outreach. I got fundraising plans with big events October 10 and also neighborhood sales with hot dogs, chips and soda. Some families are confused, like they become activists and get taken up under the wing of the city and police to fight violence in the community. Sometimes they don’t know where to turn and end up there. But what happened to their sons is not right and they got to be with Rise Up October and in NYC too. Rise Up October is really challenging me. I am still hurting. But I am no quitter and now I can’t stop, I am working to reach out to all the families everyday and I am working to be a better fundraiser. I’m not stopping and I can’t even sleep! How about you? Which Side Are You On?

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/deadly-dead-end-of-the-proper-channels-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

The Deadly Dead End of “The Proper Channels” and Why Rise Up October Is EXACTLY What’s Needed

by Annie Day

October 9, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

 

I want to share with Revolution readers an important struggle I’ve been having about Rise Up October and why THIS—in opposition to turning the resistance that rose up in the last year and a half into the slow, and completely illusory road of patient reform and “proper channels”—is what’s needed. I was working with a couple people who were initially very excited about taking up Rise Up October and were particularly moved by coming to an event with Carl Dix and others where they heard families of victims of police murder speak. Right after the event, they had a lot to say about what difference it made to hear people who experienced this loss in person... how different this was from the virtual reality so many people live in. They were also part of a group reading of the Call for Rise Up October aloud at the event and said that while the whole thing was very sobering, it was also uplifting because we were actually doing something about it... and doing so together.

They made plans right away to start reaching out to their circles and had a whole range of other ideas for fundraising and more. But once they started reaching out about this, they got demoralized by some of the responses from their friends and concerned about how they would seem and sound... what the “reasonable demands” are, that they had concerns that “which side are you on?” is too aggressive an approach. To be clear, they didn’t themselves disagree that it’s wrong to be inactive in the face of what’s happening, but were worried that this would “turn people off.”

We’re still struggling this all through, but in the midst of this, one of them sent me a link to an article by Peniel Joseph in Huffington Post from last January: “Time for #BlackLivesMatter to Turn Protest Into Policy.” The subtitle of the article gives you an immediate sense of where he is coming from: “Demanding that President Obama make it clear where he stands on the question of racial justice in the criminal-justice system is the best place to start.”

What follows is my response.

***

Are you sending this article because you think this is the way to go? I’d be interested as to why you think that.

I think this requires a substantive response...

If you read again the Call for Rise Up October, you’ll see the argument very clearly that going through “proper channels” to insist that police murder, brutality, and mass incarceration must stop will completely derail the resistance that broke out a year and a half ago. What is required: “This demonstration will be resistance-based, uncompromising in spirit and, at the same time, pluralistic and diverse, involving hundreds of thousands of people, reaching into every corner of this society and powerfully impacting the whole world.”

Two examples taking off from the Peniel Joseph article you sent.

1. He cites positively the experience of The Dreamers [on immigration reform]. I encourage you to look them up if you’re not familiar. They were heroic young activists who put themselves on the line to fight for education and a future. What happened? While the Dreamers were protesting through “proper channels,” Obama deported more immigrants than any other sitting president in history. He incarcerated thousands upon thousands of families fleeing to the U.S. because of the deadly conditions that exist in their home counties (conditions that were created by the U.S. in the first place). Some laws were put into place which enabled The Dreamers to postpone deportation for themselves; meanwhile their families and those not able to go to school were deported in huge numbers... and the U.S. put into place very dangerous registration procedures aimed at bringing large numbers of immigrants out of the shadows to better surveil and control them. And all while fascist forces continued—and continue—to whip up a deadly xenophobic atmosphere.

Meanwhile, the powerful immigrant rights movement which sprung up several years ago was channeled into support for the Democrats, casting all its opposition into pro-U.S. terms and was completely demobilized, disoriented, and demoralized. This was a deadly dead end and an important lesson in exactly what is wrong with what Peniel Joseph is counseling. (I don’t have time now to pull up all the numbers, but I encourage you to research this further and don’t take my word for it.)

2. Then just look at the record of the president that Joseph is encouraging you to appeal to. What has he actually done to stop police murder, brutality, and mass incarceration? What is the actual substance of his record? I can cite some things here (a DOJ that has NEVER under Obama prosecuted a killer cop; Obama pardoned a few dozen prisoners but has overseen the war on drugs while president; and he then turned around and condemned the protesters as thugs, all the while defending the police killing our youth) but I really encourage you to look this up yourself and make the argument that appealing to the commander-in-chief of the American empire will do anything for the lives of Black and Brown people in this country. When has it ever and why will it now?

I’m going to enclose below the text of the call that we all read together the night we met and really encourage you to read it and think deeply about it. It makes this point: “History has shown that no significant change has been won without mass determined resistance.”

Can you make the case otherwise?

Finally, Carl Dix spoke well to the question of “reasonable demands” in his speech. Here’s our demand: 1. stop killing our people, and 2. indict, convict, and send cops who do murder people to jail. How is that not reasonable?

We really are at a turning point in history. Either the movement that began in Ferguson gets suffocated and derailed through repression and dead end channels of reform or it grows bigger, broader, more diverse and determined. This is right now, right here and on all of us—including you guys.

Finally on all this: you REALLY can’t base yourself on what makes you or people you know comfortable. You have to base yourself on what’s true and fight for that, no matter how it might challenge or unseat people. You were moved by hearing the stories of families of victims of police murder. You were right to be moved. Now remember those stories... multiply them by thousands and thousands and thousands. What is your responsibility to them? What is your responsibility to prevent this from ever happening to anyone else ever again?

Watch this video from Oscar Grant’s uncle, Uncle Bobby. (If you’re not familiar with Oscar Grant, watch the film Fruitvale Station on Netflix... watch it right now). Oscar was 22 years old, was shot in the back on New Year’s Eve 2009, he was handcuffed, lying face down in a BART station in Oakland.

And think of these words from Lorien Carter, whose 19-year-old nephew Tony Robinson was killed by Madison police this year:

“The ‘Truths’ they are providing to you are not truths at all. The reason #RiseUpOctober is so important is because I neglected the facts and my nephew paid... If this makes you uncomfortable, I’m glad. It should. The blood of all these people stain your hands, the same way it does mine.”

BE PART OF THE SOLUTION.

I look forward to your thoughts.

Warmly—and with a serious challenge,

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A final thought: even if what you’re aiming for is reform, it is still the case that absolutely nothing will ever change for the better without broad, deep and determined resistance... and that without such resistance people will be ground down and demoralized while the genocide grinds on and even picks up steam, no matter how brilliantly “reasonable” the policy suggestions might be.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/benny-anderson-on-the-police-murder-of-his-brother-johnny-and-on-rise-up-october-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Benny Anderson on the Police Murder of His Brother Johnny—and on Rise Up October:

"This is a pivotal moment in history"

October 9, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Johnny Ray Anderson was murdered by Los Angeles County Sheriffs in the city of Hawaiian Gardens on July 5 this year. (See “Johnny Anderson, 42, murdered in cold blood by LA County Sheriffs“) Johnny’s brother, Benny Anderson, has been fighting for justice since that murder. He is among those family members of victims of police terror who, as Rise Up October Steering Committee member Nkosi Anderson said in an interview with Revolution, have taken the stand that “Hey you know what? I’m not going to wallow in my pain but I’m going take a stand in honor of my fallen family member to say that this must stop.” The following are excerpts from interviews with Benny Anderson on The Michael Slate Show on KPFK radio on September 11 and more recently by a Revolution reporter.

 

From The Michael Slate Show:

My brother was a great person. He was the father of seven children. He was in a vacant [yard]. He was approached by the police. He was under the Hawaiian Gardens gang injunction*, and he knew he was trespassing. He didn’t want to go to jail, so he jumped the fence; and they decided “we’re gonna chase you out of our neighborhood, we’re gonna kill you.” That was totally wrong. He didn’t have his shirt on; he was unarmed. He was a non-violent person, you know, a funny guy.

I’m standing right here in front of his grave right now. As his older brother, I’ve got to speak for him, because he can’t talk no more. And I’d like to say to the audience—before this happened to me and my family, I used to see this all the time on the news, you know; it’s happening all over the country. An unarmed person being gunned down by the police. I used to think, “That’s pretty messed up; how could people do this, to a human being?” I never thought, “What can I do about it,” until it actually happened to me and my family. So I encourage everybody that’s listening, don’t let it hit home; because it can happen to anybody. Listen and support; do some research. I’ve been doing a lot of research; reading about situations across the country, about these murders by police. This is wrong. To take a human life; just like that. Just cause they can.

Benny spoke with a Revolution reporter during a recent protest:

Revolution: What do you say to people who ask you why do you want to go to Rise Up October in New York?

Benny Anderson: I want to go to be a voice for my brother, and for all the innocent people that were murdered—to put a stop to police murder, and police brutality, [with] them getting away with murder. I mean literally. These people are killers. They sit back, and it don’t matter who they kill either. They kill with impunity. This needs to stop!

Revolution: Think about thousands and thousands in the street, with a hundred victims of police terror represented by their families and loved ones.

Benny Anderson: I’m hoping that people will see our faces. There are a lot of people just on the sidelines, asking, “What does that have to do with me?” Or “That’s none of my business.” I’m hoping, just seeing our numbers, this has got to mean something. Because if there are thousands and thousands of people out there, and a lot of family members out there, and they see our faces, I’m hoping they’ll see there’s something to this. I’m hoping it will change their mind, the way they think. We all have to live together... I would hate to see this happen to anybody else. The reality of it is, if we don’t do nothing about it, it’s gonna keep happening—every day.

I watch people. I put up posters and I watch. And you see people just walk right by it. So that’s telling us it’s none of their business. “What has that got to do with me?” It has a LOT to do with you. Another thing, why I represent my brother and all the families is for our children, and for their children—the generations to come. These police, they become militarized. Why? They’re like, “We gotta enforce the rules that are set upon us.” They’re going overboard by killing innocent people. That’s wrong.

Revolution: At the Rise Up October Tour stop in L.A. with Carl Dix, you said you were doing some reading. What have you been reading?

Benny Anderson: A little of everything—about the stuff going on across the country, about all these killings, of all these people getting murdered for nothing. Unarmed. I’ve been reading stopmassincarceration.net—I’ve been going there daily. I’ve been reading the BAsics that was given to me recently, from (the works of) Bob Avakian. I just got into the book. I got on The Michael Slate show. I’ve been in the archives and looked at a couple of videos of Bob Avakian himself. I thought it was all right. You know, it’s true; this society, the way it is, and the police that enforce this society, and we have to live in this society. It needs to change. And we, as the people, we’re the ones that have to change it. We have to just not give up. And keep going forward.

And as far as Rise Up October, we need to do this. This is a pivotal moment in history, where the world’s gonna see that, “Hey, we can’t live like this no more.” And they’re gonna see how many people it has affected. And I’m all for it. This Rise Up October, I’ve been telling everybody around me, I’m hoping I can get there.

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* Used extensively all over the L.A. area, gang injunctions are civil court orders that make otherwise legal, everyday activities illegal. Anyone law enforcement says is a friend of someone they’ve associated with a gang can be put on the list. For people targeted, it is as if they were on parole without having committed any crime. [back]

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/raising-funds-chicago-south-shore-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Raising Funds on the Sidewalk in Chicago's South Shore Neighborhood

October 12, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Raising funds on the sidewalk in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood for themselves and others to get on the bus to go to NYC for Rise Up October. They said "we had muffins, chips & cookies for donations. We raised $103."

In the words of one of the young women: "Why I want to go to New York. To honestly get what's really going on in the world known. I am 15 years old. I was arrested for protesting police brutality on April 14th in Chicago. Help raise funds to get me and my friends and family on the bus." This young woman got involved with protesting police brutality after Martese Johnson was viciously beaten and arrested at the University of Virginia. Martese had graduated from her high school and was a huge success story so it was a big shock to the students when they saw the picture of his bloody face on the sidewalk.

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/update-new-developments-in-battle-to-defend-noche-diaz-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Update: New Developments in Battle to Defend Noche Diaz

October 13, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Noche Diaz was scheduled to go to trial today in New York City. The powers-that-be are out to lock up Noche for leading resistance to police terror and building the movement for revolution—they singled him out for arrest last August and November.  

Noche and a dozen supporters representing a range of political movements and perspectives were at the court, ready for trial.  However, the prosecution filed a motion to consolidate the charges against Noche from two different arrests, one on August 14 a few days after the murder of Mike Brown and one on November 25, 2014, after it was announced the cop who murdered Mike Brown would not be charged.  Noche's legal team is evaluating whether or not consolidating the charges would be prejudicial to his case and will respond to the prosecution's motion in November.  The next court appearance for Noche is scheduled for December 3, 2015. 

Noche and his supporters are emphasizing that the battle to compel the prosecution to drop these charges is part of the political battle for #RiseUpOctober and to stop police terror. 

At an important event of 550 people at Columbia University on October 7, Nkosi Anderson, a member of the National Steering Committee and Faith Task Force for Rise Up October, called Noche up to the podium, where he was greeted with powerful support from the audience of mostly Columbia students.  Noche's supporters are encouraging people to sign the petition demanding charges be dropped against him at https://www.change.org/p/hands-off-noche.

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/409/cheers-to-filmmaker-joshua-oppenheimer-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Cheers to Filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer for Op-Ed Exposing U.S.-Backed Massacre in Indonesia

October 13, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From 1965 to 1966, the military in Indonesia carried out a massive slaughter of communists and others. In a September 29 op-ed in the New York Times, filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer writes, “This week marks the 50th anniversary of the beginning of a mass slaughter in Indonesia. With American support, more than 500,000 people were murdered by the Indonesian Army and its civilian death squads. At least 750,000 more were tortured and sent to concentration camps, many for decades.” (“Suharto’s Purge, Indonesia’s Silence”)

The massacre targeted communists and others the reactionary army considered opponents of the Suharto regime, which had come to power in a U.S.-backed coup. So many people were killed that rivers in parts of Indonesia were filled with bodies.

Oppenheimer, director of two documentary films about the mass slaughter, The Act of Killing (2013) and The Look of Silence (2015), goes on to expose U.S. culpability in the massacre. He notes that U.S. and British officials had met earlier in 1962 to discuss how to “liquidate” the populist Indonesian President Sukarno and “to replace him with someone more deferential to Western strategic and commercial interests”—the Suharto military regime. “Then, when genocide broke out, America provided equipment, weapons and money. The United States compiled lists containing thousands of names of public figures likely to oppose the new military regime, and handed them over to the Indonesian military, presumably with the expectation that they would be killed. Western aid to Suharto’s dictatorship, ultimately amounting to tens of billions of dollars, began flowing while corpses still clogged Indonesia’s rivers. The American media celebrated Suharto’s rise and his campaign of death. Time magazine said it was the ‘best news for years in Asia.’”

The 1965-66 massacre in Indonesia is yet another towering crime of U.S. imperialism that all too many people in the U.S. do not know about—and that they should open their eyes to and oppose.

 

 

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/409/challenge-to-participants-in-justice-or-else-rally-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

A Challenge to Participants in the "Justice Or Else" Rally in DC:

POLICE TERROR MUST STOP!
RISE UP OCTOBER!

October 13, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Tens of thousands of people turned out in Washington, DC on October 10 for a rally led by a coalition initiated by the Nation of Islam. The tens of thousands of people in D.C. for “Justice or Else” on October 10 came out to call for justice, to protest and to seek answers. To all who did come out and who felt the power of their numbers: now is the time to build on this. The question of what to do now to STOP murder by police remains sharply posed; the moment to actually ACT on this situation, to take concrete action and challenge millions of others to do so as well—to ring out the call to ALL society of WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?—is here and now, and urgently must be seized.

When asked what they thought was the biggest issue facing Black people today, the one thing that came up more than any other thing; that came up over and over, was police murder and brutality of Black people.  A Black man from Wilmington, Delaware – where the police recently gunned down and killed a Black man, paralyzed from the waist down, in a wheelchair – said, “How can you not indict the police who choked Mr. Garner? ...The police are killing and it’s almost like a genocide. We are killing ourselves and the police are also along with it and there is no justice. I was just thinking it’s like when they were going out West in this country they were killing the buffalos and the Indians to move them out of the way. And now they are killing Black people to get ‘em out of the way because they do not want us here.”

There IS an epidemic of police terror. And 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 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.

And YOU are needed. Get organized and be part of this. You’ll find all the resources you need to throw in to make this happen at www.revcom.us; www.stopmassincarceration.net; and www.riseupoctober.org. Call (646) 709-1961 or email info@riseupoctober.org

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/video-shows-police-tased-matthew-ajibade-before-death-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Video shows police tasing a bloody, restrained Matthew Ajibade in the testicles before his death

Updated October 15, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

This piece by Shaun King originally appeared at DailyKos.com on October 13, 2015.

 

It is now abundantly clear that Matthew Ajibade was murdered by police in Savannah, Georgia. For over 10 months, police and prosecutors have concealed the video evidence of his murder not only from the public, but from Ajibade's closest friends and family members. His death in police custody was ruled a homicide by coroners, but the whole of Savannah's government has colluded in covering up the sadistic and brutal murder of a beloved artist and photographer who was a student at Savannah College of Art and Design.

The video below is awful and is confirmation that the United States tortures and kills its prisoners on American soil. Torture is not something that happens far away in Abu Ghraib: It's happening here.

In case you can't stomach the video, here's an explanation of what happens, so that you can understand it and prepare to speak out against it.

On New Year's Day 2015, Matthew Ajibade was arrested after a mental health crisis. Instead of being taken to a hospital, Ajibade, who was otherwise in perfect physical condition, was taken to jail—against his family's wishes. In a video we received last week, police are seen punching and kicking Matthew Ajibade in the face and head before restraining him.

Now, after Ajibade was stripped of his clothes and handcuffed to a restraining chair, we see the worst. The police Taser has a camera attached to it that is automatically triggered when the device is turned on.

Strapped to the chair after already being beaten and stunned with a Taser multiple times, we see a red light, the target of the Taser, continually pointed at Matthew's groin. The audio from the Taser camera is distorted, but we see little to no movement from Ajibade.

It gets much worse.

Soon, we see that the Taser is moving closer to his genitals. As the camera gets closer to his genitals, it is deployed. You hear the awful shock of the Taser, followed by the unforgettable screams of Matthew Ajibade. The video then ends—perhaps as the Taser is turned off, but we don't know.

What we do know is that Matthew Ajibade died in his cell, strapped to this restraining chair, soon after being Tasered here. The timestamp on the video states that it is 4:45 AM on the morning of January 2.

Police claimed they found Ajibade "unresponsive" in his jail cell at 1:38 AM.

Either way, the video below shows a restrained man being tortured to death in our jails.

Nobody was charged with Matthew Ajibade's murder—and we now see that officials concealed this video because they knew we'd call for such charges if we ever saw it.

 

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/409/art-4-rise-up-october-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Art 4 Rise Up October

October 13, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

“Art 4 Rise Up October,” held October 11 in Chicago, was only possible because many Chicago artists generously donated beautiful art to raise funds for the 100 Families campaign  including lithographs, oil paintings, monoprints, photographs, and signed posters. The silent auction was held at La Catrina, a cafe and center in the Pilsen community, an historically Mexican-American neighborhood in Chicago that is also home to many of the artists who contributed. The evening was dedicated to Jose Guerrero, a lithographer and renowned muralist who was an early supporter of Art 4 Rise Up October but died just a few days before the event. He was a maestro (teacher) to many, a friend to more, and a revolutionary fighter for justice with largeness of mind who will remain an inspiration to all of us. The organizers of Art 4 Rise Up October placed a framed square of black on the wall, with a sign “Jose Guerrero, presente” below it in his memory.

Jill McLaughlin’s piece, No More Generations of Our Youth  was on display as well; it’s available as a perk on the indiegogo campaign. Robinlee Garber and Rick Vines played guitar and percussion and sang an amazing range of songs throughout the evening, including one written by Rick, “I Can’t Breathe.” He wrote it after reading about the vicious murder of Eric Garner. At the event, Rick announced that all proceeds from the sale of the song online will go to this movement to STOP Police Terror. Initial proceeds of $460 have already been posted, with more to come as bidders are notified of their prizes. We hope to find ways to make art work that was not sold at this event available to others who also want to support this movement to STOP Police Terror.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/409/a-prelude-to-rise-up-october-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

"A Prelude to Rise Up October"

October 12, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

With Rise Up October barely a month away, a member of World Can’t Wait wanted to host an evening to raise awareness and funds so family members who have lost loved ones to police bullets can go to New York. The situation at home wasn’t one that allowed for a social gathering so a small community room was reserved at a local library. It turned out to be a great alternative and the evening was a success in many ways. About 15 people came to hear a woman whose son was murdered by police who has become active in building for Rise Up October, fighting for justice for her son and all victims, and about $550 was raised. People went away with materials to help build for Rise Up October, some people invited the guest speaker to their religious congregation, and other connections were made to help build October 24.

The event was built mainly by personal invitation to a “Prelude to Rise Up October,” sent through email or in person, but not on Facebook or lists. Most of the people attending were familiar faces, with a sprinkling of new ones. Chairs were arranged in a big circle to keep an informal atmosphere. The 11 minute video from the August 27 Night in Harlem was shown while people gathered, and the evening opened with a powerful statement by a woman whose son was cut down by police and then assassinated again in the press. Then the discussion took off! One older Black woman spoke about her family’s oral history going back to slavery, drawing a clear line through the history of this country down to today. “Remedies” were proposed in the form of better training, better education, mental health screenings, and more. World Can’t Wait and Stop Mass Incarceration Network supporters kept coming back to the systemic nature of the problem and the need for masses of people, of all nationalities and backgrounds, to come out in the streets NOW to say, NO MORE!  

A strong and serious energy permeated the whole gathering. Everyone felt it. No one left early. The importance of this prelude event and of Rise Up October in NYC was articulated. Here we are in the fall of 2015 more than a year after Ferguson and we must continue the momentum. The popular uprising to demand real justice and masses getting in the streets against nationwide police violence must not only continue, it must increase and we are all responsible to help build the movement. We have an advantage we have never had before with smart phones to more easily record police violence and expose the lies in their reports that have for decades been judged truthful by courts. The system has been exposed as corrupt to the general population and their attacks upon those of us demanding justice must also be overcome.  It can be done and Rise Up October is the crucial movement needed right now to keep this momentum going.

We encourage everyone reading this to find your own ways to bring people together to raise the funds and mobilize people to make this happen!

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/409/cleveland-evening-for-rise-up-october-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

True Light Missionary Baptist Church, Cleveland

An evening for Rise Up October

October 13, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

“STOP POLICE TERROR! RISE UP OCTOBER!” reverberated off the walls and into the streets when #RiseUpOctober held a community gathering at True Light Missionary Baptist Church in Cleveland Saturday evening.

The evening began almost an hour before the event was scheduled―when one of the church deacons grabbed a bullhorn, Stolen Lives posters and flyers and went into the street hailing cars driving by and calling on people to Rise Up October to stop the police from murdering our youth.  He called on everyone as they entered to take it to the street―and many did.

The gathering opened with powerful music by True Light's Praise Team that brought many to their feet dancing in the aisles and a heartfelt welcome from the Reverend Robert V. Aitken.  It featured Reverend Jerome McCorry, from Dayton Ohio, Faith Coordinator and member of the steering committee of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, and Stolen Lives family members: Brenda Bickerstaff, sister of Craig Bickerstaff and aunt of Ralkina Jones; Alicia Kirkman, mother of Angelo Miller; and Art Blakey, brother of Kiana Nicole Blakey.  Their courage, spoken through excruciating pain, challenged and inspired everyone in the church.  Rev. McCorry brought the crowd to its feet calling for October 24 as the time to "Get up, get out, and Rise Up in New York―to Stop Police Terror". 

Element Seven set the stage for the families to speak with an inspiring, dynamic performance of “A Change is Gonna Come”with song, dance and viola.  The Young Scholars, two pre-teen youth who had come with their family from Erie Pennsylvania for a protest for Tamir Rice earlier in the day, contributed original spoken word and dance that called out police violence against the people and violence among the people.  Puncture the Silence, an affiliate of Stop Mass Incarceration Network, and Reverend Jimmy Gates of Mt Zion Missionary Baptist Church offered statements of support.  We closed the night, loud and determined, with Art Blakey leading everyone in singing“Hell You Talmbout” ―and saying their names.

$647 was raised to send family members and others to New York when the church deacons passed the plate; new organizers stepped forward, with church members organizing for a True Life Church contingent in Rise Up October and people making plans to organize their friends to support and get on the buses.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/409/prairie-view-texas-police-brutality-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Prairie View, Texas

Police Brutality, "According to Policy"

October 13, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Jonathan Miller is a 26-year-old city council member in Prairie View, Texas. On Thursday night, October 8, Miller was calmly standing in front of his own home, enjoying life with some college friends. Then Prairie View cops pulled up. They forced Miller to his knees, tasered him in the back to the point that his shirt was bloodied, and arrested him!

Yes—this is the same town where Sandra Bland was pulled over and beaten for driving while Black and female, thrown into the Waller County jail, and lynched. Like Sandra Bland, Miller is a graduate of Prairie View A&M University. Some friends from school had come to stay with him during Homecoming Weekend. They all had spent the afternoon working on a cleanup of the subdivision where Miller lives. They were hanging around together, working on dance steps they could use at homecoming events.

But Prairie View cops, including one of the same pigs who harassed and brutalized Sandra Bland—determined through their pig logic that these young Black men were in a “suspicious area ... known for drug activities”. And they decided to fuck with them. The Prairie View police chief already has announced that the cops who assaulted Jonathan Miller acted “according to policy.”

Standing in front of your home in Prairie View ... walking down the sidewalk in Midtown Manhattan ... shopping in a Walmart near Dayton, Ohio ... riding a train home to Oakland—Black people are subjected to being brutalized and beaten by police at any moment, like Jonathan Miller in Texas or James Blake in New York; or outright murdered by police, like John Crawford III in Ohio and Oscar Grant in California. It is all “according to policy.” It is all hardwired into a system that has oppression of Black people as a cornerstone.

And it must STOP! WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/409/crewing-up-in-queens-for-rise-up-october.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

An Interview with Joey Johnson

Crewing Up in Queens for Rise Up October

October 14, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

This week, revcom.us/Revolution had the opportunity to interview Joey Johnson(JJ) who has come to New York City to join the waves of people there working to make happen the events from October 22-24. He is working with a team of people in Jamaica, Queens.

 

Revolution: I was thinking we should start out by talking a little about Jamaica, Queens. You’ve been out there talking to a lot of people and learning about what the lives of people are like and about their encounters with the police. That’s the place Sean Bell was brutally murdered right before his wedding day and that’s put a certain stamp on that part of New York City.

Joey Johnson: Just to start off, it’s been tremendously exciting. It’s fascinating on one level. Okay, so Jamaica, Queens—you are just kind of like parachuting in and not knowing much about it at all, but learning really quickly. It’s an incredible place. I mean, it’s just teeming with people, as a lot of New York is. I think it’s 98 percent Black. It’s not only African-Americans, so many also from the Caribbean, not just Jamaica but other places in the Caribbean, Africans and Haitians. And in this one area, Jamaica, Queens, where we’ve been concentrating, people tell me it’s a transit hub for a lot of people, a lot of the working poor, proletarians, but also like 30 high schools. It’s fucking mind-blowing. At 3 o’clock every day it’s a wild scene, just teeming with young people.

And the pig harassment of the people is pretty intense. The pigs roll deep in groups of four in vans and SUVs and on foot. They’re out there and they’re pretty intense, like jacking up these young people and it’s like stop and frisk, whatever they’ve said they’ve done or not done about that—it’s ongoing. It is more like how the Israeli soldiers come at the Palestinian youths and it is not just the brutality but also the humiliation. And there is a deep sentiment out there of loathing all of this; just deep disgust and anger with it. I’ve heard so many stories, including from people who knew Sean Bell. We’ve gotten out somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 palm cards, people readily take them up and take stacks and take up the challenge of distributing them. People tell you things about their own ordeals. I met so many people who themselves have been brutalized, who almost didn’t survive or a friend of theirs was killed.

People tell you stories like this one guy who had fresh bruises on his face and he told me that two days before they busted him for an open container. And he said to them, why are you doing this to me, there’s murderers out here, why you harassing me? And they put him in the squad car and they told him to shut up and he said to them, no, I don’t have to shut up; I have the right to remain silent and I have the right to say what I think about what you’re doing, say what I think. Then they beat him up, they knocked him out, they knocked him unconscious and he doesn’t even remember exactly everything that happened, except that they went at him. And then he woke up in the precinct and they refused to take him in the precinct and they took him to the hospital because he was injured.

People we know, that we’ve met out there and are working with us closely, took us out to where Sean Bell was killed. We talked to people all throughout the neighborhood, like a muffler repair shop, auto mechanics, beauty salons, barbershops. The Sean Bell murder runs deep with the people; it’s like Oscar Grant out in the Bay Area, really egregious. And they named the street after him. They took us out there to show us that and then we canvassed through the whole area talking to people.

I met this young brother, you could tell he was like a star football player. The way he carried himself and he had all his shoulder pads and his helmet, his equipment with him. And he had a lot of suppressed anger about police brutality. And the more you talked to him and pulled it out, him sharing his own stories but then he just talked about how the other kids in the school weren’t going to do anything. And I said to him, well, you got to challenge them, you got to be a leader. In football there are people who are leaders, players who pull the whole team forward. And I said you got to do that in this part of your life.

So that’s what’s out there, but because it’s out there doesn’t mean it will make it to Manhattan on October 24. It’s got to be organized. And I feel like that’s the challenge we face.

Another quick story is, over at this junior college, we met this guy from Haiti, he’s been here like four years. You meet people who’ve been working things out in their own head, going back to Trayvon Martin, just watching all this and seeing that things are going in a bad direction, in society overall. He definitely felt a sense of responsibility to do something about it.

Revolution: You’re pointing to a lot of raw material in people’s experiences, and their anger. Can you talk about the way you are approaching this—to really unleash that potential? One of the things I understand is that you are working to bring to life, and work with a team of people that is building for October 24. Could you talk about that a bit?

JJ: The team is really exciting. I hooked up with a guy who has been doing Stop Mass Incarceration [work]. He’s been in and out, busy with other projects, but he’s put quite a lot of time into this. We’ve done a lot together and he’s really motivated around it. And then there’s other people including some young Black men in their early 20s and a Latino in his early 30s who’s an Iraq vet. He really wants to do something meaningful with his life after he’s seen what this system has done to people around the world and here.

So I’m very excited about the team. People come in and out, there’s different challenges, but when we crew up together it’s really good, we go together, we go to the transit hub, we go to the schools. And when we’ve been out there—it’s not only that they harass the masses, but the pigs have been pretty belligerent, they’ve harassed us quite a bit. They stop their patrol cars in the middle of an intersection, blocking traffic to sit there and stare at us. We just keep doing what we’re doing and don’t get baited, don’t get drawn into it, we call it out and all that. But one day, and they were like, “clear the sidewalk, clear the sidewalk” and they’re right up behind us doing that shit; and wow, this was on a whole other level, they don’t want us connecting with these young people. Or they come up asking can they have a palm card and we agitate loudly for all the masses to hear, “No they ain’t for you!” And then a while later they will be across the street holding up a palm card. They are really petty pigs like that. But all this has also been drawing the masses to us, people don’t like us being harassed like this. It is what they too have endured.

One day we were out there and our crew had just started doing mass distribution at this transit hub and a couple of masses joined with us right on the spot and one of them, a Jamaican brother, was doing some agitation and he was pretty good, he was hitting the points. So the pigs come up, about five of them, and do like a half circle to intimidate people, people coming up the escalator from the subway. But these guys don’t fade away, they just keep doing what they doing. That’s part of what’s going on out there too.

Back to the team. I think people are getting cohesion, working together and talking and walking through and seeing the basis for this; and then it was really special, three people from our team—including two people who are newer to the team, came to the night at Columbia [on October 7] and this was like: whoa!

I feel like that event helped catapult a lot of things, opened a lot of people’s horizons and a lot of doors much wider because the way the student organizations and the groupings of people that took it up out there, the students. The speeches were all incredible. Eve Ensler, Carl Dix, Nicholas Heyward—everybody who was on the panel hit hard. But I was also really moved by the students—you could tell they were moved, as never before, with a sense of purpose.

We’ve gone to a couple of colleges in Jamaica. We’ve made some progress at one college because we met a professor and another woman who is some kind of administrator and has all these connections with different professors. She was really enthusiastic but then you know how things can drag out and other things come up and they don’t get back to you. But as soon as that event happened at Columbia, I shot that back at her. She told me this whole story, though, about how she took it to her students; she really wanted to involve them. And they had a debate about gun violence versus Rise Up October—which one should they take up as their capstone project, which is like their school-year project. And gun violence narrowly won the vote. So then I responded with an email and I used that thing about crime among the people from revcom.us—the Reality Check article; I sent that to her and said I really wished I would have been there for that discussion because the system is responsible for both of these things; it’s not one versus the other. They enforce these conditions, they’re responsible for both of them. So she goes, okay, we got to make something happen. It’s like that letter in the paper where someone was dialoging and so then the person responded to them, they went to their friends and then said maybe this is too extreme, we should do something more reasonable. So then the person working with them wrote a whole response.

Well, that’s what I did around this, I challenged them around it. So she was like, I don’t know if we can do this in two weeks, maybe we’ll do this as an after event in November. And I was like, no, no, no—too much urgency here. It’ll really make a difference if you do something for it, to open up to let these students know. I said, look you don’t have to carry it all by yourself. She said, I’m an adjunct professor, I don’t really have that much standing here. I said, go to this other woman in the department who was really enthusiastic. So then she called her afterwards and she emailed me afterwards and said we’re having a teach-in on October 21 and I said righteous, that’s great. But it’s a good example of not accommodating, but challenging people and working through the obstacles together.

So it’s working in different spheres. We’re doing the work at the transit hub with all these thousands of basic masses. Many places you have to scratch to find concentrations of people, here it’s like how do you not get lost in the multitudes. There’s that at the transit hub and then there’s the colleges; both of these things are going on.

The team has gone out to the colleges. We’ll go to a school and people will say hit the cafeteria, let’s hit the departments. Maybe someone will say, we should go to the administration first and it’s like nah, nah. Let’s go to the student organizations and to the departments, because sometimes you just walk through the departments and you see what’s on the professor’s door. Like at another college, we found a professor who wrote about the Central Park 5 and the media bias against them. On another door there was a guy who made a film about the Amistad rebellion. So we’re trying to follow up with them. We’ve got a lot of irons in the fire, to try to bring forth. And then we’ve gone to the meetings of kind of the equivalent of the Black Student Union or different groups to try and involve them.

Revolution: It’s an important dynamic that is being set into motion... in the sense of, on the one hand, going out very broadly to people on the bottom and drawing them forward to stop police terror. And there’s a dynamic between that and drawing forward broader forces. You have different people from different places seeing other people in motion—the broader forces are moved when people on the bottom move and they learn about the reality of what goes on every day in this country. And then, it’s also true that people on the bottom feel like they have some backing when they see other people stepping into the fight, standing up, and they see there is this whole broader section of society, and it gives people breathing room to step into larger things. You do get a feel for how this is a societal wide thing, even as this is full of contradiction and struggle.

JJ: We’ve gotten down with a pastor who’s got a small congregation, but who’s got a lot of respect, standing in the community out there because of fighting for a long time against stop and frisk. This pastor’s known Stop Mass Incarceration for some time and appreciated the Call [from Carl Dix and Cornel West] but did initially have a view that things need to happen in Queens because of all the ugly the police are doing to the people there. But then I said, but look, things need to happen in Dayton, Ohio. But on this day, people need to be in New York City in Manhattan, we have to bring all this together.

That’s the whole point, instead of people being isolated in their own cities or communities, this is unprecedented, there’s never been a coming together of hundreds of family members who all share one thing in common, they all lost a loved one to murder at the hands of the police. This is unprecedented. And then the pastor got the vision of the Call and readily endorsed it and said, “You all have commissioned me. It feels like we were blessed to do this.” That’s the framework the pastor is coming from.

So the pastor right away set up a meeting between us and a stop the violence group that’s more focused on the gang violence—but they see the need to deal with this as well.

Then the pastor took out a front-page ad in a community newspaper and the Rise Up October poster is going to be right on the front page of the paper and it has a distribution of 40,000 or something like that.

And the pastor’s calling for a meeting and for support with 125 pastors, and doing a mailing, and we’re trying to do it with them. Then one of the other team members was going out to another church today to get out the palm cards and talk to people and get the right connections.

You can do a lot in a couple of weeks actually.

Revolution: Well, you are getting a certain, as we used to say, calculus going. I would like to get a little better understanding of the people who are stepping forward because that makes a huge difference, the people in the community who are stepping forward, going out to the churches. You’ve met these people but then what’s the process of their being integrated into this team? I realize it’s not 24-7 for everybody, but they’re being part of a certain collective team.

JJ: One person who is part of the team said, after we had been running together for two-three days, I still don’t understand and nobody has actually explained it to me, how a march is going to make a difference. Because we’re going to do this on October 24 and on October 25 the police are still going to be killing people.

So we came at it from a number of different angles. I said, look, you got to pull back the lens. I can’t remember exactly, but some of the different points I made was what difference has it made that people stood up, going back to Ferguson, and what happened here after the grand jury decisions around Eric Garner and Michael Brown—what happened all over the country. The tens of thousands of people that stood up and went into the streets and blocked bridges and blocked freeways and did these die-ins to symbolize the thousands of stolen lives, people murdered by the police. And then in Baltimore people rose up the way they did. What difference has it made? I said it’s forced millions of people to confront this, who otherwise would have been either oblivious or indifferent or uninformed, whatever you want to say. Across society, it has put the way the police are brutalizing and murdering people before people——in a way it hasn’t been for decades.

I said, that’s really important! Don’t take that for granted just because we have that. If that wasn’t important then why are the authorities trying so hard to shut it down, rule it out of order, de-legitimize the movement with all this bullshit about how Black Lives Matter is a hate group and the protests are causing cops to get shot. And I told him about the piece Larry Wilmore did on the Nightly Show, about how that’s a total propaganda of the system, that actually less cops have been shot in 2015 than in decades, and how it’s just a whole thing that they’re running on people to try to de-legitimize the movement that has arisen. You know, it’s amazing, you have people like Anderson Cooper or Don Lemon, they never liked the uprising of the masses from Ferguson going forward but it’s like when Katrina happened, they weep a little, but look how readily they want to turn out the lights on this movement against police brutality and terror. It’s like Bob Avakian says about Anderson Cooper and his “keeping them honest” bullshit, where is it now?

And people have to see that. That’s the point in the editorial about the situation’s 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!” I’ve been using the 3 Points a lot—I’ll show you my copy, it’s all ragged... you can’t underestimate how you have to set the orientation, and then reset the orientation. You set the orientation and then you go out and get hit with things and then you need to reset the orientation. And people thank you for reading it, resetting the orientation.

And then I told him, look, we have to rock this New Jim Crow and this intensifying police terror back on its heels and challenge people with the urgency of it. And I told him my own understanding as a revolutionary communist that we have to sweep away the whole system of capitalism and imperialism so we get to the underlying system that is responsible for this mass incarceration and police terror, criminalizing whole generations, and so many other crimes against humanity around the world—I like the way that comrade Carl [Dix] connected all this at Columbia University, including that we have a revolutionary leader in Bob Avakian, in BA, that has forged a strategy for a revolution in this country and has brought forward a new synthesis of revolution and communism, a society we would want to live in. And some people have bought BAsics off of just reading the quotes from BA about the real role of the police, or the Key Concentrations of Social Contradictions, and the Strategy for Revolution. And people are reading Revolution newspaper. But then you have to also come back to the point, that is an ongoing and important discussion and regardless of what people think about that, they got to see the moment we’re in right now. The powers that be want to shut this controversy down and get back to the business as usual of killing with impunity. So what are we gonna do.

Revolution: So do you think he’s more fully seeing why this needs to happen?

JJ: I don’t think it’s all straight line but I think there’s forward momentum. And some people they come forward and then they disappear for a little bit. We met this one guy who worked with us for one day who’s what’s called a “lite feet” dancer on the subway trains, and they get harassed by the police. He was only with the team one day and then I think he got some pushback, as they say, some opposition from his, he called it the “old heads” who said they ain’t with the marches, they want something more militant.

But I told the young brother, we actually need revolution and have a strategy, but that involves “fighting the power and transforming the people for revolution” today if you want to even have a chance to get to a revolution. And this just ain’t any ole march, hundreds of family members of people killed by the police are coming from all over the country to NYC to march and tell the world that the police are terrorizing Black and Latino communities in this country. But I don’t know if they get that.

But we just need to persevere with these youths. I mean, they get harassed, there’s a whole thing that goes on with them—where they get enough citations and they can get banned from the subway and that’s like a fucking death sentence, how are you supposed to do anything in NYC if you are banned from the trains? And they’re just phenomenal dancers.

Revolution: So how do you see things unfolding, with two weeks to go? There is time to go all-out even as you are focusing on bringing people together and organizing for people to go together to October 24.

JJ: Oh, the church pastor wants a bus or in some way have an organized way for people from Queens to come into Manhattan, like a delegation. So they’re really trying to get this mailing out to these other pastors. They called a meeting with them before around this police brutality shit. They sent out a mailing to 125 and 20 showed up and I said, that’s good, we can roll with that.

Revolution: The experience you’re describing is interesting, because you could contrast it with the approach of: well, the church wants to bring a bus but we don’t have enough money. Instead the approach is, they don’t have enough money to cover it, so let’s reach out to other ministers. If you’re starting from the need and the basis that you’re describing about the vision—the police are really an occupying army—and the basis to reach out broadly to ministers who care about their parishioners, and you can see how things could go to a whole different level, because you’re looking at these challenges as, not “shoot, we don’t have a bus,” but we can get a bus if we expand the movement. You didn’t have a team when you started, but you started with who you got and organize others.

JJ: I think it means keep coming back to “Why There Must Be a Truly MASSIVE Outpouring Against Police Murder on October 24 and Why YOU Are Needed” in terms of the urgency and the stakes and what it says about what difference it will make for people to throw in, the last point: “In fact, this can only happen on the scale and scope that is absolutely necessary if 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.” The whole third point.

Revolution: There is a certain scope to what you’re doing. It’s not an approach of one by one by one. But actually how do we reach out broadly and then when people who step into it, they reach out to another 125 ministers, the professor at the college gets with another professor to organize a teach-in. There’s a certain geometric progression as opposed to one by one. From what you’re describing, you’ve gone out very broadly, connected with all different kinds of people and then the people who have stepped forward themselves have taken more responsibility for making October 24 what it needs to be. There was this outpouring and then the powers that be have hit back and now there’s the question of taking the initiative and taking things to a whole other level. In other words, it’s the people who are really passionate about this and growing numbers of people who are saying no, we’re going to step out and say this must stop. There’s a certain quality to it beyond, it’s not just a continuation of what’s happened but a qualitative step beyond what has happened before. And that will have an impact. This is taking the offensive in a certain way; it’s not just responding to the latest thing, as important as that is, and that’s very important. But it’s taking the offensive that’s what you’ve been taking out to people, what difference this is going to make. No, you’re not going to stop police brutality ultimately without revolution, we know that. But this could be a big step in building the movement for revolution even as it will rock them back on their heels, that’s a fact.

Revolution: You mentioned people are reading BAsics and Revolution newspaper...

JJ: Yes, we have gotten out a lot of issues of Revolution—we could be getting out more. And with the team, I’m really struggling, hey, you need to go to revcom.us every day. I mean, people have these smart phones—I mean, yes, we need to get to a situation where millions are going to revcom.us, but especially when we are in battle like this, people that have stepped forward to join these teams, we need to more strongly encourage and challenge people they need to go daily because there is so much reporting, including articles that really help people see the basis to do more. It is the “grasp revolution, promote production” versus just “production, production, production”—fuck that. They can go to revcom.us and see the short clips from BA from Revolution—Nothing Less!

And yes, BAsics often sells itself. It walks away from you [if you] open it up and show them the quote about the role of the police, ask them to read the quote aloud, and also the Statement on Strategy, when you tell people, hey, look, there’s actually a strategy. To be honest, we should be doing more of all this because it is about keeping in mind the strategic needs of the masses. It ain’t all just about this battle. People really do need to become emancipators of humanity. And they need the science of communism to do that. I mentioned earlier that a person bought BAsics off the quote, 3:30:

Some Principles for Building a Movement for Revolution

At every point, we must be searching out the key concentrations of social contradictions and the methods and forms which can strengthen the political consciousness of the masses, as well as their fighting capacity and organization in carrying out political resistance against the crimes of this system; which can increasingly bring the necessity, and the possibility, of a radically different world to life for growing numbers of people; and which can strengthen the understanding and determination of the advanced, revolutionary-minded masses in particular to take up our strategic objectives not merely as far-off and essentially abstract goals (or ideals) but as things to be actively striven for and built toward.

The objective and orientation must be to carry out work which, together with the development of the objective situation, can transform the political terrain, so that the legitimacy of the established order, and the right and ability of the ruling class to rule, is called into question, in an acute and active sense, throughout society; so that resistance to this system becomes increasingly broad, deep and determined; so that the “pole” and the organized vanguard force of revolutionary communism is greatly strengthened; and so that, at the decisive time, this advanced force is able to lead the struggle of millions, and tens of millions, to make revolution.

Because this brother said, I go to people where they’re at, when people say they feel strongly about lack of good housing and education, and he said, this is about that.

And I said, it is about that, but look, the ability of the police to just murder you just wantonly, with impunity, for them to just arbitrarily be able to just take your life, all that other stuff is foul and is part of the conditions of life that this system enforces on millions of people and the oppression of whole peoples. But I said, this is a concentration of all that, for them to just be able to arbitrarily take your life and nothing to come of it. And I said, this is something that the RCP has actually scientifically determined that this is a fault line, a key concentration of social contradictions is the way that the police enforce these relations of oppression and exploitation; the conditions of life that the system is determined to keep people in. That’s it right there. So off of that people are buying and reading BAsics.

I think there’s a lot more work to be done around that. I like the way that Carl did it at Columbia when he talked about all these horrors that the system does all over the planet. Murder by the police doesn’t stand alone, it’s part of what they do all over the planet, this is what they do. People suffering horribly and unnecessarily. Whether it’s all these millions who have been murdered and displaced, the whole refugee crisis in Europe because of these imperialists, overwhelmingly the U.S. empire upending the whole entire Middle East, the whole arc of countries from Pakistan to Tunisia and everywhere in between, for oil, power, and empire. All this blood-thirstiness between the U.S. and Russia over Syria; or the whole global degradation of women, destroying the global environment. All of this is why the system needs to be swept away. So people are engaging with it.

Someone was saying to me you can tell by the way Carl carries himself, he’s been through it, the way he carries himself and the way he talks to people, he’s been through it, he’s been tested as a leader for decades now. And coming from his experiences in the military and refusing to fight and going to prison for that, refusing to fight in Vietnam and going to prison for that and he’s still at it today. So I have a lot of admiration for him. But you know he’s also out on that panel working with people coming from a different framework, different beliefs and he’s worked hard at learning how to do that for a long time now. He’s very adept at how to do that. That’s part of leading as well. So I think people are impressed by that. They know this movement’s got legs, it’s got a real foundation and real substance.

But I honestly think we need to find the ways for these young and older new fighters who are coming forward to find out more about the movement for revolution and the strategic leadership that we have in BA. I’m sorry people, but this system that has lied to you about so many other things of importance has lied to you about something of the greatest importance, the path to the emancipation of humanity. That is the project BA has been working on. So I think we need to do better at that.

In the brief street encounters we have, will thousands of people make that extra effort to get the newspaper in their hands, text people those links to key articles [on revcom.us] or even just the memes, get people into BAsics and the films of BA? People should think about this in these days of vacuous and worse imperialist presidential “debates.” the competing packages of deadly poison being sold and the need to get BA and the movement for revolution way out there. That is the leading edge of what we need to be doing as we are fighting the power, and transforming the people, for revolution. That scientifically how something as important as Rise Up October can really contribute to the Three Prepares of preparing the ground, preparing the people, and preparing the vanguard for revolution.

Revolution: My last question: Why did you volunteer to come to New York?

JJ: Are you crazy? I’d come in a heartbeat. I love New York. I love the masses, and how everything is compressed here in one place. I would come here at every opportunity, at every chance. But this is a particular movement around police terror and the need to stop it. I think it is really a wise call, to call for this national march in New York because people have been fighting in every other area of the country—people have a sentiment we need to do more here, be it San Jose, California, or Dallas or St. Louis or Columbus, Georgia.

But I think the call to concentrate in New York City means we can put this in front of the world. It’s a big challenge because you got to do a lot in a place like New York in order to break through on that level. It’s an international city, international media is here, it’s the financial capital of the empire. It’s a big concentration of oppressed people in this city, as well as people from other strata who empathize and don’t like that oppression. That’s all concentrated here. But to break through on the level that we need to break through on is going to require a lot, so that’s what we’re racing to come from behind on.

 

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/409/bringing-it-home-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

"Bringing It Home"

Thoughts on Work Among the People in the Home Stretch of #RiseUpOctober

October 14, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Letter from a reader to other regular readers of revcom.us about building for Rise Up October:

As we move into the home stretch for #RiseUpOctober, we need an approach and corresponding plans to “bring it home”—to mobilize all positive factors with the perspective and goal of actually manifesting thousands on October 22 and 23, and especially tens of thousands on the 24th. Over the last couple of weeks, we have been out in the neighborhoods, at transit hubs, projects and commercial strips, in churches, schools and community organizations—and met a lot of people who have been moved by the agitation, and in different ways and at different levels see #RiseUpOctober as the means and vehicle to take a leap in the political battle to stop police terror, posing to society at large the moral and political challenge, Which Side Are You On? In the next week, all this has to be brought home through a multifaceted approach so that tens of thousands actually do manifest for #RiseUpOctober.

This will require (a) even sharper agitation, comprehending the outrage of the recently released prosecution reports stating the murder of Tamir Rice in Cleveland was “reasonable,” (b) even sharper challenges for people to throw in, organize, and manifest for #RiseUpOctober, based on the stakes of this moment and the political battle over whether it is legitimate for police to keep killing our youth, and (c) work involving masses in ever growing numbers to fundraise and meet the goals of the Indiegogo campaign and to give people a sense of momentum and social movement, to secure commitments of organized cores and facilitate actual organization. This should include ways and means of transportation, so that people demonstrate—overcoming hesitation and doubts, and the obstacles posed by conditions of life—and make this the powerful manifestation it needs to be.

Along with the three points on “Why There Must Be a Truly MASSIVE Outpouring Against Police Murder on October 24 and Why You Are Needed,” here are some brief thoughts on the discrete, but interrelated, aspects of work that I think will be required during this home stretch, all of which should include fundraising as part of it, through donations on the street and online contributions in the hundreds and thousands.

* Saturation and Visual Presence, a factor in the compulsion to “get on the bus” for #RiseUpOctober. In addition to the palm cards, there should be a concerted focus on the Stolen Lives posters and stickers for #RiseUpOctober (available from the materials tab in the Rise Up October page at revcom.us). Along with a vibrant social media campaign, this gives a sense of social movement, that “it’s happening,” and people are reminded of and feel compelled to politically act in relation to the genocidal proportions of what’s on the Stolen Lives poster. We have contact information for hundreds in certain neighborhoods, and with a systematic plan covering blocks and quadrants, masses can be marshaled to saturate the barber shops and storefronts, and the project and church lobbies with the Stolen Lives poster—making for an unmistakable presence through the week. We should get out hundreds of thousands of stickers and encourage people, especially youth and high school students, to wear them through the week, strengthening their commitments to be there on October 22-24.

* Institutions, Community Groups, and an Approach of Two Maximizings.* In the last week, there should be a priority to get with, activate, and organize institutions, community groups, and social networks, all of which are disproportionate in their influence and numbers. These are also cohered groups of people, and are more likely to manifest in groups and as contingents if organized. Along with churches and schools, these should include the numerous social work and service groups in the neighborhoods of the oppressed, such as those focused on addiction and substance abuse, on youth empowerment, on health and employment assistance. There has proven to be great receptivity among certain sections of social workers, given their genuine sympathies and desires to help those less fortunate and their familiarity with the conditions of life among the oppressed. As far as possible, we should have a “two maximizings” approach of unleashing and leading the positive dynamic between those taking up #RiseUpOctober among those at the bottom of society who catch the hardest hell, and those in the middle strata, such as students, social workers, teachers, and artists—strengthening the resolve among all sections of society in the process. This includes concrete plans for this Sunday (October 18) at the churches, meeting with the pastors beforehand so that they announce it in their sermons, even preach on these themes, and organize their congregations; for Columbia students to “cross the tracks” and build for this in the projects and neighborhood of Harlem; and for masses in the Bronx to attend the teach-in at the local community college this week—and maximizing off all this.

* The Entirety of #RiseUpOctober, the Three Days is an enormously positive factor and provides many channels for masses of people to be part of #RiseUpOctober, including being at the reading of the Stolen Lives names on October 22, which will feature the families of those killed by the police joined by voices of conscience, and either participating in or bearing witness to the nonviolent direct action to shut down Rikers on October 23. The entirety of the three days (see yellow box at “550 Pack Columbia University Auditorium for Rise Up October - A Challenge to Columbia University Students and the World”) should be presented in a compelling way to masses of people, and participation on the 22nd or 23rd provides a lot of positive compulsion towards the culmination with the mass demonstration on the 24th. As a concrete example, parents and family members of those imprisoned in the hellhole called Rikers should be encouraged to provide testimony on what goes on inside Rikers, and why it needs to be shut down.

* Actual Organization includes many forms, including transportation for people to get to Washington Square Park on the 24th, convergence spots for people to gather and travel together, and team captains with responsibility for different groups from project buildings, social networks, schools, and churches. This has proven to be a critical factor, even if most of the masses come on their own as individuals. This need for organization, for finding and determining the appropriate forms, and the actual responsibility for it, should be put to masses of people, especially key individuals, because #RiseUpOctober “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 this fight.”

* Ideological Work with Organizational Cores. In the course of this, masses have and will have lots of questions; many will come from those they are working with, ranging from “what good will a protest do, they keep killing our youth” and “what about violence among the people” to “what will it take to ultimately stop this,” “is a revolution really possible,” and other big questions on the role of the U.S., the history and legacy of Black people in this country, nationalism and communism, human nature and the nature of this system. We should use every opportunity to drive people to revcom.us and Revolution newspaper, where there are not only answers to these and other big questions, but also where the vision for a radically different world, the strategy to bring that world into being through communist revolution, and the leadership for this in Bob Avakian and the Party that he leads, the Revolutionary Communist Party, are made easily accessible. People need to know about and get to know BA, the most scientific and radical of thinkers and leaders. REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion; A Dialogue Between CORNEL WEST & BOB AVAKIAN is available online at revcom.us and is a good introduction, as is the film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! and BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian.

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* “Two maximizings” refers to doing revolutionary work among the basic masses, and revolutionary work among the middle strata, and their dialectical interrelation. For more see “The Strategic Approach to Revolution and Its Relation to Basic Questions of Epistemology and Method.” [back]

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/409/monday-october-12-from-student-task-force-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Report on Monday, October 12, 2015

From the Student Task Force for #RiseUpOctober

October 14, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Early that morning everybody on the team read three articles on revcom.us (along with other articles): Carl Dix’s statement “Authorities Greasing Skids to Exonerate Tamir’s Murderers!,” along with the accompanying article, “Tens of Thousands Come to DC for Justice or Else Rally - What Is Really Needed for the Movement to STOP Police Terror?,” and “Some Lessons in Building the Rise Up October Event at Columbia University.”  Going into Monday we knew that the first two articles were societal questions that were ruminating in people’s minds.  So we made sure to get ourselves oriented for the big day ahead of us.

A team traveled to Sarah Lawrence University, which had a contingent at the Justice Or Else Rally.  They went without knowing anybody but were very bold and agitated on the above points (in the articles referenced) and quickly drew forward very serious students who wanted to organize for #RiseUpOctober.  They spoke to a young woman from Turkey who introduced herself as an anti-capitalist and the team briefly walked through BAsics 1:3 with the side by side pictures of the police beating down a Black man protesting police murder and U.S. troops in Iraq ganging up on residents in Fallujah rebelling against U.S. occupation.  There was an immediate attraction even as there were all sorts of beginning questions to get into, like “internationalism—­the whole world comes first.”  They then attracted an organizer who organized a caravan to D.C.  The team really got into the “Justice Or Else...” article and drew from BAsics 3:22.  The heading in the second part of the article of “What Is Really Needed for the Movement to STOP Police Terror” was a point of departure—particularly in the need to not settle for anything less than STOPPING this genocide.  This organizer quickly got into motion to get transportation for NYC and potentially book the #RiseUpOctober Speaking Tour on campus.   The team also interacted with several groups on campus who were very excited to take #RiseUpOctober to their organizations and work with the person there taking responsibility to organize (whom we met that day) to make it happen and travel to NYC for #RiseUpOctober.  This team was summing up the great potential that exists broadly throughout society where they can go on to a campus and not know anybody but quickly draw forward and organize people who are serious about STOPPING POLICE TERROR and MURDER!

Another person in our team went alone to a private university in NYC.  She met up with a student who attended the “Night for Justice” at NYU where Carl Dix had been a keynote speaker.  While this newly-met student was very passionate, she’d never done anything as bold as talk to other students about the burning question of police murder.  The person in our team was summing up that they had to be quick on their feet.  They tried a variety of different tactics to interact with the student body: agitating, one-on-ones, passing out palm cards, etc..  A big part of proceeding on this approach was the reality that we’re quickly approaching #RiseUpOctober and if these students don’t step into the fight to stop murder and terror by police this genocide will continue (and accelerate).  In addition, this is the first time this person on our team went off by themselves with another student and they really had to rely on what they understood to be true and what they’ve been learning in how to lead others.  Along with the student at this school they made beginning plans to get the Stolen Lives Poster around campus and work on making a meet up point on the campus for students to travel together to Washington Square Park.

I spent the day interacting with students in different parts of the country.  Off of some of the above but even leading into the day itself I knew the articles I had the team read were important because of their social impact and because of the importance in us intervening and leading others to fight all the way through to STOP Police Terror and Murder.  I talked to some students who have “checked out” and I will say an important point of orientation was clearly setting the terms of the discussion.  While these students had been following and paying attention to all of the above there was a reality check moment: they could not avoid the character assassination of Tamir Rice and how wrong the “expert reports” were.  At the same time, the 10-10 rally had had an effect on them.  In the main, for different reasons, this seems to have sparked people’s hunger to fight back, concretely, against police murder.  At the same time, I did think it important to get into how this rally divided into two—including the content of the criticism in the article we had.  In different discussions we got into the question of patriarchy, of boycotts, and kept coming back to the need to actually FIGHT this. 

In reflecting on these particular experiences there were several things I learned: (1) we can’t be afraid to challenge others to act on their convictions (even those who say they are “with it”) and even with their differences on how to ultimately stop police terror and murder—that is, we should struggle over people around what it’s going to take to end this, but we should even more right now struggle with those who think that programs of reform may be the answer that whatever they think they need to be out there October 24, since without tens of thousands and ultimately millions struggling nothing will change; and (2) the objective situation (the larger reality that we’re all part of) is constantly transforming in unpredictable ways and we have to be ready to get into the middle of all that and struggle thru what is truly needed at this moment and at this time and how NEW, different, and ATTRACTIVE what we’re bringing forward and represent truly is.

The above was further concentrated on our conference call.  We drew from the above referenced articles and the biggest question on the call was the need to struggle sharply with everybody.  A young activist raised that she doesn’t know how to bring people forward when she’s being so sharp.  A high school student on the call (who has organized walk-outs on her campus) said with a lot of certitude and clarity “we just have to be real with people if they don’t want to confront that reality then they’re on the wrong side and that on the basis of compelling people to face reality, we need to keep challenging them to act.” And this was very helpful for everybody on the call to hear.  There’s more to sum up; but an important element of the call was peers struggling with each other to understand the importance of #RiseUpOctober and struggling with each other to throw all in these next several days. 

A student from Columbia University was going to join the conference call but we came to a collective decision that it’d be more important to attend an indigenous day open mic on campus as this would be an important opportunity to interact with students and organized them into Columbia’s #RiseUpOctober plans.  In addition, part of what we’re learning from students off of the October 7th program is the deep effect of the overall process in booking a room and in hearing these speakers.   People have been going through different kinds of changes coming off this.  Its been very important to not lose sight of what’s been opened up and work with people through sorting out the larger questions of “what’s my life going to be about” even as they’re figuring out the ways to act in ways that are commensurate to today’s reality.

By the end of the day our team stepped back and filled each other in on our day’s activity.  We posed questions to each other in striving to build off of our experience and max out in the days leading into #RiseUpOctober.  In addition, we took the time to get into BA’s quote “There is the potential for something of unprecedented beauty to arise out of unspeakable ugliness...”  This was very important as it helped re-ground our team of why we’re doing all this.  People walked through their day in trying to lead people to a more scientific understanding of the oppression of Black people even as they’re wrestling to more deeply understand and proceed from the materialism of why nothing short of a revolution can resolve this contradiction and open up a pathway towards emancipation.  Somebody else reflected on why nothing short of a communist revolution will even have a fighting chance in people getting free and got into some of their understanding of why that argument is true.  Our discussion wasn’t long but it was important for everybody to step back and further contextualize what we’re doing.  It emphasized the importance that if we’re serious about making revolution we have to (continuously) get into BA. 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/409/shepard-fairey-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Renowned artist Shepard Fairey donates prints and books to #RiseUpOctober's indiegogo fundraising campaign

October 14, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

FLASH:  Renowned artist Shepard Fairey donates prints and books to #RiseUpOctober's indiegogo fundraising campaign.  Available as perks now.  http://igg.me/at/RiseUpOctober/x

Shepard posted the following on his website obeygiant.com.

 

STOP POLICE TERROR NOW!

Catching the police killings of many unarmed people on camera over the last couple of years has raised awareness about the pattern of excessive force by the police that needs to be stopped. A large percentage of the deaths occur in communities of color. I saw a recent Vice documentary program called Fixing the System in which a Baltimore policeman stated that the department targeted communities of color because higher conviction stats were easier to achieve there than in more affluent neighborhoods where the citizens can afford better legal representation. The system is biased and the problem needs to be addressed for the sake of equality and justice. Please support the movement to STOP POLICE TERROR!  -Shepard

Police are STILL killing. Its on us to stop it.
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Find out more about the direct actions taking place for #RiseUpOctober HERE

posted October 6th, 2015

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/409/17-year-old-michigan-youth-murdered-by-sheriff-for-signaling-cop-to-dim-brights-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

“This is What American...”

17-year-old Michigan Youth Murdered by Sheriff for Signaling Cop to Dim Brights

October 16, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

 

On February 28, 17-year-old Deven Guilford, a white youth on his way home from playing basketball at his church, flashed his lights at an oncoming Eaton County Michigan sheriff’s car because the bright lights on the squad car blinded him. Sheriff Jonathon Frost pulled Deven over and threatened to arrest him. Deven verbally objected to being retaliated against for trying to point out how dangerous the cop’s lights were and asked to see Frost’s badge number. Frost refused to show or provide his badge number and forced Deven—who declared he was unarmed—to get out of his car and lie facedown in a ditch along the highway.

With Deven face down on the pavement, unarmed, Frost shot him with a stun gun, handcuffed him, and shot him seven times, killing him instantly. All captured on video! And yet, months later, the country prosecutor announced no charges would be brought against the murderer.

And Deven Guilford was the second motorist murdered by police in a span of 11 days in Eaton County. Deven’s family filed a civil suit this week.

Deven Guilford recorded all this on his own cell phone. Seconds before he was murdered, Deven said into the phone: “This is how American...” 

Deven never got to finish the message. But the murdering pig demonstrated for the world what American police are all about by murdering him on the highway for trying to caution a sheriff that his bright lights were unsafe. Local news reports demonstrated how American ruling class media works by starting their coverage talking about “significant injuries" Frost supposedly incurred while murdering an unarmed youth lying face-down on the ground. Top sheriff’s officials put the murderer on paid leave. And the prosecutor demonstrated how the American IN-justice system works by refusing to bring any charges against Frost. This is America—land of unchecked police brutality and murder.

How long will this go on?

Which side are you on?

NOW is the time to be in the streets—without struggle there can be no change for the better.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/409/baltimore-protestors-disrupt-police-chief-vote-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Baltimore Protesters Disrupt Police Chief Vote:
“No justice, no peace!” Stop the vote!”

October 15, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

 

Dozens of determined, defiant protesters—many of them high school and college students—chanting “All night, all day, we will fight for Freddie Gray! No justice, no peace!” and “Stop the vote!” disrupted a meeting of the Baltimore City Council meeting yesterday. Freddie Gray was 25 years old, a Black man minding his own business, not bothering anyone, when on the morning of April 12, he was viciously assaulted by Baltimore police for making eye contact with a pig(!). He died a week later from the severe injuries inflicted by police.

In spite of the protests, the council voted to confirm Kevin Davis as the new Baltimore police chief.

Before the meeting, a coalition of activist groups issued a statement denouncing and demanding an end to violent repression of protests including “the deployment of the National Guard replete with tanks and rifles” and “officers without badges and name tags, undercover cops acting as protesters carrying firearms, and [making] wrongful arrests.” They demanded that authorities stop treating ordinary people and protesters as “enemy combatants.” And called out the “heightened aggression from law enforcement towards protesters” since Davis became acting chief.

The fact that people have to go to jail to demand the authorities not deploy the military with tanks and rifles against protesters against police brutality, stop sending armed undercover cops posing as protesters, and stop treating protesters and people doing nothing at all as "enemy combatants" tells you a hell of a lot about the nature of this system. AND it demands people be in the streets refusing to accept this situation!

After the City Council voted to confirm the appointment of Davis, dozens or protesters refused to leave the hearing room and at 4:45 AM, sixteen were arrested for trespassing.

 

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/409/match-their-courage-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

MATCH THEIR COURAGE

October 15, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

MATCH THEIR COURAGE.

WANTED: 100 donors to give $100.  100 donors to give $10 in HONOR of 100 families of loved ones whose lives were stolen by police.

These families have shown tremendous courage in the face of the rampant epidemic of police murder, to stand up and fight for justice and Rise Up October.

It takes real courage to speak out when the authorities spin the story in order to justify the police killing.  When the media broadcasts police lies over and over.  When the media works overtime to put your loved one in the worst possible light.

It takes real courage to not give up when the police manufacture evidence and all they have to do is say "I feared for my life," because of the color of their skin and the system backs them to the hilt.

It takes real courage to speak out when the police literally come to funerals and memorials to intimidate and threaten you as you bury your loved one.  When the police department harasses witnesses, arrest your family members, and intimidate you in a thousand “legal” ways.

It takes real courage to speak out when that means reliving over and over the awful reality that your loved one's life was stolen by the police.  When you have no time to grieve privately ... when you can't sleep at night ... when you have to go through all the evidence because they are trying to dismiss and discredit you.

It takes real courage to keep speaking out when you are met with threatening hate mail. It takes real courage to stand up and demand justice, like these determined families are now.  Some like Nicholas Heyward, Sr. have been fighting for more than 20 years after the police killed his 13-year-old son for playing with a brightly colored plastic toy gun as the boy told them, “we're only playing.”  

It takes real courage to stand up to a system that retaliates against the families who dare to speak out.

READ THEIR STORIES HERE

OVER A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS IS NEEDED TO BRING A GROWING NUMBER OF FAMILY MEMBERS TO NY FOR RISE UP OCTOBER 22nd - 24th.

MATCH THEIR COURAGE:  NEEDED: 100 DONORS TO MAKE A SACRIFICE AND DONATE $100... AND 100 DONORS TO GIVE $10 EACH. Who can you ask?

Let's make this goal by October 17, one week before this historic march—let's get those most affected by police terror to New York City where their voices WILL be heard! STOP POLICE TERROR!

http://igg.me/at/RiseUpOctober/x/1218364

 

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/409/press-release-october-15-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Revolution received the following Press Release from Rise Up October:

#RiseUpOctober: 3 Days of Mass Resistance, Oct 22-24 NYC: STOP Police Terror—Which Side Are You On?

Press Conference 11 am Monday October 19

October 16, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—OCTOBER 15 
Interviews Available 
Contact Kimberli Diaz, Larry Everest 
646.709.1961, press@riseupoctober.org

#RiseUpOctober: 3 Days of Mass Resistance, Oct 22-24 NYC: STOP Police Terror—Which Side Are You On?

PRESS CONFERENCE with initiators Carl Dix, Cornel West & others TBA 
WHEN: 11am, Monday, October 19 
WHERE: City Hall Steps, Manhattan

"RiseUpOctober—three powerful days of action Oct 22, 23, and a massive march in NYC on the 24th – aims to change history," says Carl Dix, co-initiator with Cornel West. "Thousands will flood New York from across the country to march, to resist, to put their bodies on the line. Their message: POLICE TERROR MUST STOP, AND IT'S UP TO US TO STOP IT!"

"We're at a crossroads: since Ferguson, thousands have risen up, but this resistance is being crushed and derailed, with repression and the promise of paltry reforms. Meanwhile, every day brings another outrage—reports justifying the murder of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, a college freshman in DC beaten for the "crime" of being Black, hundreds more murdered by police over the last months, with their killers almost always walking free. #RiseUpOctober will draw a sharp line throughout society: police terror must stop, which side are you on?" says Dix.

What's coming together for #RiseUpOctober:

▪ Joining Dix and West on the #RiseUpOctober Advisory Board: Gina Belafonte, Eve Ensler, Jamal Joseph, Arturo O'Farrill, Rev. Stephen Phelps

▪ 100 families of those murdered by police from all across the country will come together October 24 to courageously tell their stories and to stand up and say No More Stolen Lives!

▪ Many prominent voices of conscience have endorsed the Call for #RiseUpOctober including: Ed Asner; educator Bill Ayers; Harry Belafonte; actor Ty Burrell; Noam Chomsky; theologian James Cone; actor Peter Coyote; lawyer Martin Garbus; Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. Bernard Lown; activist Cindy Sheehan; Green Party candidate Jill Stein; David Strathairn; Quentin Tarantino; artist Hank Willis Thomas; singer Dan Zanes, and many others.

▪ Artists and writers: Ken Burns, Shepard Fairey, Alice Walker, Cornel West, and Gilbert Young have donated their work to the $100,000 crowdfunding campaign to bring 100 families from across the country to NYC.

▪ Many dozens of faith leaders from across the country are organizing with hundreds of students, grassroots activists and organizations.

The 3 Days:

▪ October 22, 10:00 am, Times Square: No More Stolen Lives, Say Their Names A Public Reading and Remembrance: A Demand for Justice. Over 40 families of people killed by police will gather to tell their stories, accompanied by prominent voices of conscience who will be reading the names of just some of the 1000s of lives stolen.

▪ 2:00 pm, Borough Hall, Brooklyn: National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Murder, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation.

▪ October 23 9:00 am "Shut Down Rikers!" A mass, nonviolent direct action. People of conscience are putting their bodies on the line to call for this torture chamber to be shut down. Details TBA.

▪ October 24: National March to STOP Police Terror: Which Side are You On? Washington Square Park, NYC 11 am. March at 1:00 PM; Closing Rally at Bryant Park at 4:00 PM. Students, religious congregations, contingents from housing projects, and people from all across the country—we will gather in the thousands and tens of thousands with the demand: Terror and Murder By Police Must STOP.

5 minute video introduction to #RiseUpOctober, hearing some of the families who are organizing and initiators Cornel West and Carl Dix.

 

RiseUpOctober.org 
646.709.1961 
press@riseupoctober.org 
Twitter - #RiseUpOctober 
Facebook

About 
Call to Action 
Who We Are 
Initial Endorsers 
100 Families Project

 

 

 

 

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Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

New statement by Rev. Cecil L. "Chip" Murray, Co-Founder, The Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement, University of Southern CA:

"No one of conscience will turn a blind eye nor a deaf ear to this pivotal point in our history." 

October 16, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

The National March in New York City, Saturday, October 24, will be a turning point in police/community relations nationwide.  Both the nation and the world will be watching the world's largest democracy live out its pledge of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.  Voices from across the nation will take to the streets of our largest city to shout out the determination to end police terror.  The cry simply must be heard.  The pain simply must be erased.  The chemistry simply must be restored or even installed to bond those charged with protecting and those whom they are charged to protect.

No one of conscience will turn a blind eye nor a deaf ear to this pivotal point in our history.  

Rev. Cecil L. "Chip" Murray
Co-Founder, The Cecil Murray Center for
  Community Engagement, University of Southern CA   

 

 

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Revolution #408 October 12, 2015

Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Tolman HS students demand firing of school cop in brutal assault on brothers

October 16, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Wednesday, Oct. 14, Tolman High School in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. A school where over half of the students are Latino or Black and only about half of incoming freshman make it to their senior year. The halls were filled with students and teachers moving between classes when suddenly a school guard assaulted a 14-year-old student, brutally throwing him to the floor inside the school.

14-year-old Tyler was brought into the school office because he was upset and yelling that his backpack had been stolen. His older brother, 17-year-old Ivander, was with him. Because Ivander knew the school guard and thought he could reason with him, he stepped in the middle to try to calm the situation down and prevent Tyler from being arrested. Suddenly Ivander was under arrest, in handcuffs on the floor. The guard pepper-sprayed the two of them. As Tyler was standing there trying to get the pepper-spray out of his eyes, the guard put a chokehold around Tyler's neck and brutally threw him to the floor. The two brothers are now charged with resisting arrest—for being the victims of an unprovoked attack!

Thursday morning, Oct. 15: After the video of the assault went viral on social media, several hundred students and adults poured into the streets to demand the firing of the security guard and an end to police brutality. They challenged the police, yelled at them, and continued to protest even as people started to get arrested. Protesters were pepper-sprayed. Eight students and two adults were arrested. The students were right to protest, and the violent attack on them was outrageous.

Students have pledged they will not stop until the school guard is fired.

NOW is the time to be in the streets—without struggle there can be no change for the better.

 

Students at Tolman High in Pawtucket took to the streets to protest the brutality and arrests of Ivander and Tyler

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/408/raise-funds-for-rise-up-october-en.html

Revolution #408 October 12, 2015