After the Verdict in the Trayvon Martin Case
Harlem, New York: Declaring a Verdict Against the Verdict
July 13, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Harlem, July 14, 2013. Photo: Special to Revolution
July 13, evening: Phones rang across Harlem as word swept through the housing projects, the night spots, the work places, and street. It had happened again. The racist vigilante, wannabe cop who stalked and murdered Trayvon Martin was guilty of no crime according to the logic of this system. "This country is becoming more racist than ever. My head and my heart are aching. He wasn't the one with the weapon but they kill him all over again," a young woman said. Another said, "Racist world. It's OK to kill us Blacks, that's the messages that's being sent out."
Harlem July 14, 2013. Photo: Special to Revolution
At 11 o'clock Saturday night the people began to gather at the State Office Building in Harlem to express their outrage at the system's verdict. The first people who arrived were almost in shock. "I can't believe they did this," one young Black man repeated over and over again. "My life means nothing to these people." The individual shock and anger was soon transformed into a collective outrage and determination to deliver a message on the spot that night. Twenty-five people joined to take up posters that say "We Are All Trayvon! The Whole Damn System Is Guilty!" and to carry a banner demanding "Justice for Trayvon!" with Bob Avakian's statement declaring "No more generations of our youth, here and all around the world..." need be subjected to the misery and brutality of this system. People chanted from the sidewalk as some people went into the street with placards calling on motorists to honk their horn. At times dozens of car horns were honking at the same time. Hundreds of people raised their fists and shouted support from their car windows. Combined with whistles and chants from the sidewalk, all of this knocked the lid off the pain and deep hurt so many are feeling, and became a verdict against the verdict and a call for others to join in.
One young man who had come to the State Office Building to see if something was happening to join in protest said at first there was only the police and some people sitting quietly, and he felt alone and depressed. Then the two Revolution supporters came with signs and posters and whistles—and the young man said that "it's so important to send a message from Harlem" and how instead of feeling downhearted people could feel strength and unity.
Knots of young men gathered, cheering and taking up the posters. A white family of five, tourists, stopped and joined for a while. A crew on bikes, youth about 15 years old, all held up their fists. Young women put up their hoodies and passed out Trayvon posters. They were especially interested in talking to white passersby, "Excuse me, what do you think of the verdict?" A Cuban man with homemade signs came marching up to join us yelling "No Justice, No Peace!" The chant went up from the traffic island, "Revolution—Nothing Less!" The police stationed themselves at one point in front of young men with sagging pants, under eaves trying to get out of the rain. These youth eagerly took up posters and whistles and posed for pictures chanting "no justice, no peace" and "fuck the police!" People left a little after 1 a.m., vowing to come back on Sunday with many more people.
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