Michael Brown lives on in the movement
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12 SOCIALIST ACTION AUGUST 2014 -By CLAY WADENA The United States is moving closer and closer to a period of reckoning in regard to centuries of racist exploi tation, oppression, and murder. The young Michael Brown, whose life was taken on Aug. 9 by Ferguson police, haunts the dreams of those who wish to beautify, hide, and deny the brutal treatment of African Americans in the United States.
Aug. 30 marked yet another set of solidarity demonstrations in Fergu son, with people joining from across the country, three weeks after Brown’s death. The exemplary conduct of the local community of Ferguson, the lead ers of the present movement, must be noted again and again.
Despite police showing up in military gear and physically cracking down on protesters (the “hard touch”) and pow erful leaders attempting to cool out the people’s rage (the “soft touch”), com munity residents have defied them all and continually mobilized in the streets, forcing this issue into the na tional scene and beyond.
There are many factors involved in Tony Savino / Socialist Action the creation of this movement, but none of them would matter were it not for the local community’s valiant commitment to hitting the streets. As a result, protesters across the country have mobilized in solidarity demon strations, often making connections between Brown’s death and similar lo cal incidents.
With each death the contradiction is further exposed: this country can elect a Black president but can’t seem to face or stop the New Jim Crow.
As much as the events in Ferguson have become an inspiration to fight oppression for so many, they have also become a rallying point for the racists on the other side of the battle lines. The public has been subjected to the horrif ic and disgusting spectacle of fundrais ing websites for Officer Darren Wilson (the triggerman who murdered Mi chael Brown). These sites have raised over $400,000 and counting, leading some to conclude (rightfully so) that there are apparently hundreds of thou sands of dollars in bounty money for any police officer who kills an African American.
The apologists for the police and vigi lantes will always tell those who wish to protest to wait. They say, “we need more details” and “we must wait for the official inves tigation to be completed.” These are their rallying cries. But for those who have lived under the brutal heel of the New Jim Crow, waiting for the “official investi gation” to be completed is out weighed by the understanding (backed by life’s experience) that law enforcement can mur der and brutalize Black and Brown lives with impunity and does so regularly. This is reflected in a Pew Research Poll in which 76% of African Americans said that they had little or no confidence in investigations (only 33% of whites said the same).
To see the community fight back and to see the solidarity actions across the country warmed the heart of activists and victims who have worked for the day of a mass movement to confront police brutality, racism, and mass in carceration. Are we turning the corner to a new era of nationwide activism to fight police brutality and the New Jim Crow? Only time will tell, and we have to do all we can to ensure that this is so.
One positive development is that con nections are being made between ac tivists, and networking is happening across the country on a level unseen in a long time. When the mothers of Sean Bell, Trayvon Martin, and Michael Brown recently got together on CNN, it was a powerful sight—demonstrat ing in front of our eyes the widespread and national character of the U.S. rac ism and police brutality problem. From New York to Florida, Missouri, and be yond, this nationwide problem needs a nationwide, mobilized response.
In Staten Island on Aug. 23, thou sands marched in solidarity with Eric Garner (an unarmed Black man choked to death on camera by the NYPD earlier in the summer), and the national con nection was visible; many held signs saying, “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!” which was made popular by protests for Mi chael Brown.
Kadiatou Diallo, mother of Amadou, an unarmed immigrant from Guinea shot 41 times by police in the Bronx in 1999, said at the Garner rally that “police cannot judge our sons and ex ecute them for no reason.” Ramarley Graham’s mother also spoke at the rally; she has been waiting over two years for justice after the NYPD killed her unarmed 18-year-old son. It’s been a year since the Department of Justice said they had opened an investigation into it—without any results.
Justice is a righteous demand, and re mains the primary demand. Even after the murder of Oscar Grant was caught on film, it only resulted in a “slap on the wrist” for his killer (he received a sentence of two years with time served and is now free). But due to the wide spread nature of this issue, justice can not be our one and only demand.
On top of justice, the movement needs to raise demands that are focused on exposing a society that prioritizes criminalization and death over the wellbeing of the community. To that end, one of the demands brought up by the #BlackLivesMatter group (which helped organized Aug. 30 demonstra tions in Ferguson), was particularly interesting: “Decrease law enforce (continued on page 11, in “N. California Climate Rally”)