Freedom Fighter Constance Malcolm

January 22, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

At a fundraising dinner for the Stop Mass Incarceration Network on December 6, 2012, Ramarley’s mother, Constance Malcolm, was presented with an award recognizing her as a Freedom Fighter in the people’s struggle against police brutality and injustice. The following is a transcript of Constance Malcolm’s acceptance speech.

Thank you for having me here today. It was October 22 where I stood up and called Ray Kelly and Bloomberg out. I said they were full of shit. And I said that because when they murdered my son, Ray Kelly came out and said it was a struggle in my apartment, with the cop. And he came back the next day and retracted that story and said there was no struggle and I asked him where did he get that story from and up to today he still can’t tell me. And so I’m saying if these cops will lie to him and that’s they boss, who are we the public? They would lie to anybody, and that’s exactly what they did because what they did is they showed a video of a man running and tried to say it was my son. I know there are surveillance cameras at my apartment and that’s what brought the indictment down because if it wasn’t for that video camera you would be hearing that my son is a robber, he’s a drug dealer like they say right now. This is what they do, to push things under the rug and try to blame the victim after they pass and this is where we really have to stand up no matter what your child did or what the situation is, there is no need for excess force. The cops are supposed to be serving and protecting us, we’re paying them, this is what they’re there for, they’re not there to abuse us and a lot of times that’s what they do. I’m just asking, people in this room today, we go back to court March 26, and we want all of you out there. This is the only way we’re going to get justice, we stand together and let them know, enough is enough. [applause] Stop-and-frisk did play a part in Ramarley’s death because it was racial profiling and that’s what they do to a lot of kids. A lot of kids don’t understand that they have rights, we all got rights, that’s what this country is built on: rights. And it seems like these cops are taking away little by little the rights that we got. And we have to stand up and let them know, no more. We gotta stand up for our rights and if we have to lay our lives down, that’s what we will do because we need justice and we want to get justice no matter which way, any means necessary.

I just want people to know that I’m not only fighting for Ramarley. I’m fighting for all the Black and Brown kids and other victims who have passed away and didn’t get any justice. And I want to make sure that Ramarley’s case doesn’t end up without us getting the justice we deserve, like too many of the other cases. Justice for one is justice for all. And I know it’s going to be a long road to justice, but with the public’s help we will win this one.

And I want to thank the community for supporting us, all the boroughs and all the organizations that have been with us since this fight started. We appreciate your support, and we hope that it continues.

Thank you.

Keep checking revcom.us for information about events marking the first anniversary of the murder of Ramarley Graham.

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