Revolution Club, Los Angeles, at Florence & Normandie: Up in the Face of the Pigs and Organizing for Revolution
July 11, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Revolution Club, Los Angeles, July 7:
Listen to audio of the Message, recorded by members of the Revolution Club
Right now, the American status quo—the unrelenting and unapologetic murder after murder of Black people by this system’s armed enforcers—is being roiled by people righteously and defiantly resisting this outrage in the streets. The raw relations that this system continues, and MUST continue, to perpetuate against Black people, are being unearthed by the actions and questions of those refusing to go along with this madness. In the midst of this, the question is violently posed in people’s psyches—why do they do this? Why do they KEEP doing this to Black people? To Brown people?
That same question also poses great necessity to those who understand that the only way out of this nightmare is revolution, communist revolution. That we have the leadership in Bob Avakian (BA) and the science to propel forward masses to resist this outrage, but not just resistance in and of itself but to do it all FOR REVOLUTION and NOTHING LESS. Times like these are filled with great potential to accelerate a revolutionary situation through ripening the political terrain and accumulating forces that are willing to live and fight and even die to change the world.
Revolution Club, Los Angeles, July 7
For the past two days, the LA Revolution Club has been out at the historic corner of Florence and Normandie, calling on and struggling with people to stand up and not let the system and its pig enforcers get away with these crimes, bringing the RCP Central Committee’s Message: “Time To Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution.” The first day we were out, the pigs had two Black youths up against the wall. We went up in the face of the pigs, defended these youths, and compellingly projected that this outrage in front of us happens every goddamn day and connected it to murder by police, and that all the illegitimate force they use and all the oppression and exploitation these rulers and their pigs enforce is all they’ve got, and how we fight now and build our strength and capacity to fight is the basis through which we can become a revolutionary people numbering in our millions to overthrow this system once and for all. We called on people to go to revcom.us and get into Bob Avakian, who has developed the scientific theory of why reality is the way it is and how people can change it in a liberatory direction. As we challenged people to get out of their cars, several pulled over across the street and got out and stood filming from the sidewalk, together with those hanging over their fences or who had come out of shops to listen and film. People were inspired and some came up afterwards to thank us. We got the Central Committee Message out to them, and one woman stayed to watch a clip of BA. We called on people to get organized for revolution, but also summed up there was more of an opening to draw forward people to act right then and to get organized for revolution than what we led. This is connected to something we have identified and are changing, which is the need to let people in on the strategy for revolution and their own role in contributing in concrete ways to organizing to overthrow this system at the soonest possible time.
The second day we agitated sharply about America and everything it stands for, from slavery until now, and about the U.S. rag filled with the blood of Black people, Native Americans, immigrants and people all over the world. Then we burned that bloody rag right on the street corner (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3SYJL0sO2s). When we called out America, people screamed in agreement and shook their fists in the air. This seemed to us a different mood and response compared with the similar agitation we did leading into the anti-4th of July picnic, when there was not nearly the kind of visceral agreement from so many people.
Trisha Michael joined the protest with a picture of her twin sister, Kisha, who was killed by Inglewood police this year with her friend Marquintin as they were sleeping in a car. Trisha spoke powerfully about what happened to her sister and her sister’s friend, and how this has to stop happening to anybody and we need revolution. Then a Latina woman who joined on the spot was moved to get on the bullhorn. She said she had always been afraid to speak out against the system, but now, no more. She spoke out about how her parents were deported when she was 14 and she didn’t see them again until she was 19, and spoke about children being abused in foster care.
A Black woman pulled over her car to get out and join us. She had seen us there the day before and told herself if we were back the next day she would get out of her car. Enraged, she kept asking, “Why is this happening? Why does this keep happening?” and went on to question elections: “Obama, I’m done with him. I was for him, but no, it’s like what is wrong with YOU? I can’t think of one thing you’ve done that has done anything for anyone.” She watched the “what if” clip from BA and said it moved her to tears because he was talking about humanity. She said she and people close to her talk about race and why it matters and why can’t we just be humanity. And this is the first time she has ever heard anyone outside her close circle say the things that she is feeling. She later said, “I want to be a part of this. I do graphic design and normally charge a lot, but for this I’ll work for free. I can make stuff for the newspaper and make flyers for this. Even if what we change is small, we have to do something. Well, at least we are part of making things better for the future. How can people sit back and not do anything when this [police murder] is happening? I don’t care if you have a comfortable position, there’s no excuse. You cannot ignore this anymore.” She said she wants to buy a Revolution—Nothing Less T-shirt and will be coming to our next meeting to learn more about the Revolution Club.
Last night we went to Summer Night Lights, a city anti-gang program that keeps the parks open late during the summer. We brought the statement, “Protesting Murder and Terror by the Police Is Absolutely Righteous and Necessary! STOP MURDER AND TERROR BY POLICE NOW!! We Need Revolution!” and the Central Committee Message. We strived to convey that what we are doing now is part of how we, and how they, can affect the whole world.
Most people thanked us and expressed a deep desire to do something and come out to a demo the following day put on by the Revolution Club. We struggled with a group of young Black youths. When we brought the message and the understanding that this is part of building our strength to make a revolution, and what this country has meant for Black people, a Black youth said, “It isn’t right, but look, the police are gonna come in here and line us up like they always do. This is what they have been doing to us.” We said, “That’s a slave mentality, but you’re right, they will keep doing that to you, and people like you so long as this system is intact and it will never change if people like you keep their heads down and accept their oppressed status.” We conveyed that fighting against this now has to be part of fighting to get rid of this shit once and for all. If all slaves ever did was keep their heads down and try to be “good slaves” we would still have slavery.
Even in the face of the media portraying a so-called “war on cops” and the demonizing of those murdered by the pigs, people are expressing a deep desire to act and ask why this continues to happen. With our leadership, people were partial to the statement “Fuck America” and more open to confronting “the actual history of this country and its role in the world up to today, and the terrible consequences of this.”
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