Chicago, November 17

Press Conference declares: "We oppose white supremacy. We will stand against racist mobs in Mt. Greenwood."

November 17, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Today, November 17, a press conference was held in front of Trump Tower in downtown Chicago to declare: "We oppose white supremacy. We will stand against racist mobs in Mt. Greenwood."

Speakers from a range of various views and organizations expressed profound determination to stand up to white supremacy and Trump-America by protesting this Sunday, November 20, at 2 pm in Mt. Greenwood, Chicago.

Mt. Greenwood, an almost all-white enclave in South Chicago, is home to many Chicago cops. On Saturday, November 5, an off-duty cop there shot and killed Joshua Beal, a 25-year-old Black man who was driving in a funeral procession for his cousin.

Within hours, a white mob amassed against Joshua Beal's family, members of the Chicago Revolution Club, and others who came to protest the police murder. The next night, and again on election night, hundreds of white residents filled street corners screaming racist insults and threats at protesters. They brandished "Blue Lives Matter" flags, shouted "Go home, you are animals," screamed the n-word, and chanted "Trump, Trump, Trump!" and "CPD, CPD, CPD!" (CPD stands for Chicago Police Department). They were no different than the white mobs that used to gather to celebrate the lynchings of Black people.

And today, these white mobs are the poster children for Trump's Amerikkka.

Rev. Gregg Greer of the Chicago SCLC and Freedom First Ministries said, in part, "We won't tolerate the ongoing incidents of hate in Mt. Greenwood. We will not tolerate violence against anybody, especially, more specifically, racial violence, in November of 2016! This is not November of 1950! It has to end. It has to end today. We won't accept it, we won't tolerate it. We will be there 2 o'clock Sunday and we will represent the community who wants change. Change has to happen in Mt. Greenwood. We'll be there with a group of people. People who are willing to commit to change. And we will continue an ongoing program for that change to happen—no ifs, ands, or buts. Thank you."

Dee Williams of the Chicago Revolution Club spoke next. She made it clear: that "There is a way out of this. Through revolution. We have the line, the leadership in Bob Avakian, and the strategy to make a revolution and we are out recruiting right now for people to get organized for an actual revolution. And we call on you to get this pamphlet "HOW WE CAN WIN—How We Can Really Make Revolution." We need a revolution at the soonest possible time to end this system founded on slavery, genocide, and war. A system that has legitimized Donald Trump, a racist, misogynist fascist.

"In the name of humanity," Williams continued, "we refuse to accept a fascist America. We stand for getting rid of this system where police murder Black and Latino people with impunity. And get away with it all the time. And now things have gone to a whole new level. I have never seen anything so ugly as this. It reminded me of footage I saw of the Freedom Riders being attacked by racist mobs in the South. And they were shouting 'Trump, Trump, Trump' and 'CPD, CPD, CPD'.

"The Revolution Club intends to be there on Sunday with our full message of revolution, and we challenge each and every one of you hearing this today to join with us, to stand against this vile racism no matter what you think the solution is."

Next, Ted Jennings, theologian and professor at Chicago Theological Seminary, gave an eloquent and impassioned call to action that targeted the full spectrum of hateful oppression embodied in Trump's rise to power. He said, in part:

"Open racism had seemed to retreat behind a façade of law and order, behind the mask of polite indifference, and some even deluded themselves that the days of a post-racial society had dawned. But in the last months, that façade has crumbled, the masks have come off and the delusion has been dispelled. Vile and vicious racism now openly stalks our streets ... its howling voice sanctioned and indeed emboldened by a vulgar politics of contempt and cruelty now dares to make itself heard in our neighborhoods...

"...The poet Holderlin told us that it is in times of gravest peril that the light of hope begins to dawn. We the people of Chicago pledge ourselves to be that hope. Armed only with love of one another and for all and with an indomitable hope, we shall overcome."

Finally, Minister John Smith of Beverly Unitarian Universalist Church talked about the Biblical admonition to "love thy neighbor as thyself." He said, in part:

"We are to resist the inner enemies of pride, both personal and national, which tempts some to believe we are not equal. Sadly, far too many still believe there is a better breed of human beings and some deserve special privilege and exemptions. If we continue to harbor such hatred and intolerance toward our neighbors, we fall short of our creator and of our forefathers' desire for humanity. We are to care for the poor and the oppressed, just as Jesus did. His story is told through the lens of a refugee fleeing political oppression. In the end, there is nothing Christ-like in turning your cheek to the predicament of those less fortunate. As a minister of the Beverly Unitarian Church, I want to remind each and every one of our American fellows that we are a part of one human family, in the image and likeness of all that is holy. May we go, loving thy neighbor as thyself."

 

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