“There is a genocide of Blacks and Latinos and we are fighting to put a stop to that! What the fuck are you doing?”

September 30, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From readers:

Two revolutionaries went to a photographers’ meet at a neighborhood park. A gathering of approximately 50 people, mostly young, all nationalities gathered to take pictures of scenes. We took a big “Stolen Lives” banner and we put it in front of people with the challenge of “which side are you on?” and what people are going to do to make October 24 what it needs to be.

A couple photographers came up and took pictures of the banner, but it took a lot of struggling and a lot of arguments with people because a lot of the responses from these photographers were “well that’s not my problem,” or “I don’t care.” And we would respond with, “You are OK with 850+ people killed by the police, and you don’t care that there is a genocide in front of us? Fine—then you are standing with the police and allowing for this to continue?” Some people were justifying these deaths by saying that maybe some of these people did something wrong, that’s why they were killed and we took all that shit on, sharply challenging that messed up thinking by talking about Aiyana Stanley-Jones and how do you explain her death? How do you justify a seven-year-old baby girl shot dead? Was it her fault?! Tell Mertilla Jones (her grandmother) why you are not going to act to stop this? And we would quote some of the family members so people can get a sense how real and serious this is and how the families are speaking up and calling for October 24.

At one point, a revolutionary was having a conversation with a guy about why he needs to take up Rise Up October. And she overheard two other people having a conversation, and the woman was telling the guy, “They are so LOUD. They are so ANGRY. Their huge poster is so irrelevant to this, they are just bringing it here and getting in our way of taking pictures. And arguing with people!” And the revolutionary stepped into that conversation and said, “Excuse me. Are you talking about us?” And she responded, “Yes, I’m glad you confronted me because I am talking about you. And your friend. You guys are bringing this that is so irrelevant to our meeting, and fighting with people and being loud!” The revolutionary said, What the fuck are you talking about?! We are angry! because there’s been 850+ people killed by police just this year. Why aren’t YOU angry?! So what if we are loud, why shouldn’t we be? I’m sorry we are in your fucking way! BUT THERE IS A GENOCIDE OF BLACKS AND LATINOS AND WE ARE FIGHTING TO PUT A STOP TO THAT! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? Besides talk shit?!” Right away a person next to her took a card with the information.

But we did meet some good people. We organized a young woman. She took materials right away and had a lot of ideas of where she wants to take this. To student organizations that she works with, professors, her school. She said she didn’t know it was on that scale, the murders by police, after hearing the numbers of people killed just this year. She felt Rise Up October is a good thing because people are not silent and aren’t allowing for this to continue. She was very excited about being a part of this and later got in touch with us to tell us she will be in New York City on October 24. She had re-arranged her schedule to be in NYC on the 24th. Another woman said she couldn’t personally be in NYC because she has kids and it’s very hard to get down there, but she did want to sponsor a family member to be in New York to tell their story in front of everyone. Because we always hear in the news the story by the police but not the side of the family member and what kind of people they were. Nothing like these pigs make them seem, like thugs and criminals. So she said she would go online and donate to send a family to New York.

Editors’ note—a question: Does a Black or Latino person have the right to go to a park and take photos, or rap, or listen to music without the threat of being killed by the police on the pretext that their camera looked like a deadly weapon or that their presence caused some racist policeman to “fear for his life.” If you don’t think so, how do you sleep? If you can NOT put up with a society like that—do the right thing and throw in, all out, for #RiseUpOctober. You’ll find everything you need to get involved at revcom.us, stopmassincarceration.net or riseupoctober.org.

 

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