Statement by Carl Dix on October 22, 2014 National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation
October 22, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Oct 22, 2014, the 19th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, is occurring in a crucial time. This is a time of intensifying attacks on the people by the criminal “injustice” system in this country. We all burned with rage when we heard that a cop in Ferguson had gunned down Michael Brown and left his body laying in the street for 4½ hours. And we were sickened by the sight of Eric Garner being choked to death by cops in Staten Island, hearing him say, I can't breathe, again and again. And these were only 2 of the many, many people whose lives were stolen by murdering cops in the past few months. From July 17, the day Eric Garner was murdered, to Aug 17, at least 60 people were killed by law enforcement. That's almost 2 people every day. And none of those killer cops have been punished for their crimes. This must STOP.
This intensified police murder is a concentration of an overall program of suppression that targets Black and Latino people. This program includes warehousing more than 2 million people in prison, subjecting 80,000 people in prison to the torture of long term solitary confinement, stepped up detention and deportation of our immigrant sisters and brothers, and criminalizing young people. All this amounts to a slow genocide that is breaking the bodies and crushing the spirits of tens of millions of Black and Latino people.
These horrors are built into the very fabric of this system, and I'll tell you, it's going to take revolution nothing less to end them once and for all. And everyone who sees these horrors for what they are needs to act now – to join in building powerful resistance to these horrors, resistance that can beat them back and ultimately can stop them.
And this is a time when people are standing up in resistance to these horrors. The defiant youth of Ferguson poured into the streets the day Michael Brown was murdered, and they have been in the streets ever since, withstanding everything the authorities have thrown at them: tear gas, rubber bullets, militarized police, a national guard mobilization and more. Their righteous stand drew people around the country into supporting them and standing up against police murder overall.
All this makes it crucially important that we mount powerful resistance on this October 22, and it creates great potential to do just that. We must come together in cities all across the country and in a loud, powerful voice say: NO MORE to the horrors the criminal “injustice” system of this country enforces on people. On this day, we must give a platform to those whose loved ones have been stolen from them by brutal murdering cops or have been warehoused in the torture chambers this system calls prisons. They must be able to tell of the devastation this has inflicted on their lives and their families. And people from many different backgrounds in society must stand with them and have their backs in the fight to stop police murder and mass incarceration.
And we are doing that today. This 19th annual NDP is being marked in at least 68 cities across the US, more than have ever acted on October 22 before. Saying in loud voices: Police Brutality – We Say No More. Mass Incarceration – We Say No More. Torture in the prisons – we say no more. Targeting of immigrants – we say no more. Criminalizing the youth – we say no more.
And this isn't about acting on this one day and going home, or about acting during the month of October and going back to business as usual. Instead the resistance we mobilize on October 22 and the resistance we manifest during all of the October Month of Resistance to Mass Incarceration has to become a springboard from which we continue to resist. What we are doing today on October 22 and thruout the Month of October has been and must continue to be putting up a huge STOP sign in the face of US society; making it so that everyone who suffers under the slow genocide of mass incarceration and police terror can see there's a movement they can join to fight to STOP these horrors. And that no one can stand aside and say they don't know that these horrors are being perpetrated and everyone has to be challenged to take a stand on them and join the resistance to them.
Let me get practical about this. It means we need to get reports on everything that happens at October 22 actions around the country, so they can be posted on the web site. It means that we have to promote people wearing orange on October 30 in solidarity with the struggle to stop mass incarceration. It means that we have to be prepared to act when the grand juries come back when decisions in the cases of the cops who murdered Eric Garner and Michael Brown.
And it means continuing to build resistance to the horrors the criminal “injustice” system until mass incarceration and police terror are really no more.
Mass Incarceration + Silence = Genocide; and we must act now to STOP this genocide!
Stop Mass Incarceration Network
c/o P.O. Box 941 Knickerbocker Station
New York, NY 10002-0900
Email: stopmassincarceration@gmail.com
Web: www.stopmassincarceration.org
Twitter: @StopMassIncNet
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The "Stop Mass Incarceration: We're Better Than That!" Network is a project of the Alliance for Global Justice, a 501c3 tax-exempt organization. Tax-deductible contributions accepted, and checks should be made payable to the "Alliance for Global Justice", with "Stop Mass Incarceration Network" in the memo line and sent to the address above. Contributions also accepted online at www.stopmassincarceration.org/donate.html
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