FergusonOctober—Weekend of Resistance
October 10-13, 2014
October 20, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Ferguson/St. Louis, October 10-13, called by Hands Up United, Organization for Black Struggle, and a coalition of local and national organizations. All photographs by Li Onesto/Revolution/revcom.us
October 10, Friday afternoon. More than 200 people at the Buzz Westfall Justice Center in Clayton, Missouri—where prosecuting attorney Bob McCulloch's office is—to demand Justice for Mike Brown and that McCulloch be removed from any investigation and legal proceedings in this case. In the afternoon Code Pink held a panel addressing the intersection of wars being waged by the U.S. in the world and police murder and brutality in the U.S.
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October 10, Friday night. A candlelight vigil at the site where Michael Brown was killed. 400 people gathered at the Ferguson police station, took to the streets and then occupied the whole front of the police building, up against a line of cops. Diverse and multinational crowd, people of all ages—many hundreds had already come into St. Louis by car, bus, and plane from all over the country.
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October 11, Saturday. At least 2,000 people marched through the streets of downtown St. Louis and then rallied to demand JUSTICE for Michael Brown and an END to police murder, brutality and racial profiling.
The crowd was very multi-national and multi-generational, with the youth taking the initiative and providing the whole thing with a sharp and defiant edge. There were banners representing many groups who had organized to come and march in contingents. To list just a few: the Union Theological Seminary from New York City; the Ethical Society of St. Louis, students from a number of historically Black colleges, including Fisk University, Philander Smith College, and Harris-Stowe State University; the Metro Trans Umbrella Group (who talked about how transgender people also face police brutality); the National Nurses Organizing Committee; and Amnesty International. At least 75 people marched under the banner: "From Palestine to Ferguson—End Racism Now." Unions were also represented, including the Chicago Teachers' Union and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU). The Stop Mass Incarceration Network had a contingent and its STOP SIGN poster saying, "Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation Must be STOPPED" was taken up by many in the crowd.
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October 11, Saturday night. In the Shaw district of South St. Louis, where the police murdered Vonderritt Myers on October 8, 300 marched on Friday night; 150 on Saturday day up against cops in riot gear.
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October 12, Sunday afternoon. A packed house for an afternoon of hip hop music—not about getting rich or objectifying women's bodies but the theme is: "We want justice for Mike Brown" and FUCK THE POLICE!! Artists who took the stage included Talib Kweli and the group Rebel Diaz.
Cornel West showed up and gave big props to the youth for being such a crucial part of this struggle and announced that he had come to Ferguson to get arrested.
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October 12, Sunday night. A couple of thousand people packed the St. Louis University arena for a program with Cornel West as the keynote speaker. Speakers were largely representatives of different religious forces; there were also social justice activists, including a speaker from the struggle around Palestine. The program reflected how many, many different class and social forces have sincerely joined on the right side of this struggle—A VERY GOOD THING.
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October 12-13, late Sunday night/early Monday morning. About 800 people gathered in Shaw and took to the streets for over two hours—a mix of people from the St. Louis area and many people who had come from out of town for the Weekend of Resistance. Around 2 am, the march—about 1,000 at this point, went to St. Louis University, pushed through the security guards at the gate and went onto campus—calling on students to "come out of your dorms, join us!" The crowd took over the clock tower square and held a rally until 3 am.
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October 13, Monday morning. Last day of FergusonOctober—determined group of clergy and others laid siege to the Ferguson Police Station, putting their bodies on the line to say NO MORE to police murders of Black youth. About 600 people marched to the station, then, in the pouring rain people went up against repeated attempts by police to drive them back. At least 42 people were arrested, including Cornel West and Carl Dix—co-founders of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and initiators of the October 2014 national Month of Resistance to Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation.
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October 13, Monday evening. 6 pm, after people are released from jail, the tweet went out: "It is our duty 2fight it is our duty 2win we must love & respect each other we have nothing to lose but our chains"
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Carl Dix wrote on October 13 after getting out of jail:
"Ferguson October has already represented a leap in resistance to police terror, mass incarceration and all its consequences, and today's events will take things farther. Our responsibility coming off that is to make it a springboard for going farther in putting up a huge STOP SIGN to the horrors the criminal "injustice" system in this country enforces on people."
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