From the Revolution Club Los Angeles:

Future People Open Mic: “There Are Fascists in the White House”

June 12, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Let’s imagine if we had a whole different art and culture. Come on, enough of this “bitches and ho’s” and SWAT teams kicking down doors. Enough of this “get low” bullshit. And how come it’s always the women that have to get low? We already have a situation where the masses of women and the masses of people are pushed down and held down low enough already. It’s time for us to get up and get on up.

Imagine if we had a society where there was culture—yes it was lively and full of creativity and energy and yes rhythm and excitement, but at the same time, instead of degrading people, lifted us up. Imagine if it gave us a vision and a reality of what it means to make a whole different society and a whole different kind of world. Imagine if it laid out the problems for people in making this kind of world and challenged them to take up these problems. Imagine if art and culture too—movies, songs, television, everything—challenged people to think critically, to look at things differently, to see things in a different light, but all pointing toward how can we make a better world.

Imagine if the people who created art and culture were not just a handful of people but all of the masses of people, with all their creative energy unleashed, and the time were made for them to do that, and for them to join with people who are more full-time workers and creators in the realm of art and culture to bring forward something new that would challenge people, that would make them think in different ways, that would make them be able to see things critically and from a different angle, and would help them to be uplifted and help them to see their unity with each other and with people throughout the world in putting an end to all the horrors that we’re taught are just the natural order of things. Imagine all that.

Bob Avakian, BAsics 2:8

On June 1, the Revolution Club, Los Angeles, hosted our second “Future People Open Mic,” this time with the theme “There Are Fascists in the White House.” About 15 to 20 people came that night. We had a beautiful stage with lights and a lit up “NO!” in the back; along with the sunset right behind, it set the mood perfectly for a night of poetry, discussion, and kicking back.

The MC began the night by welcoming people; she introduced herself as a member of the Revolution Club and an organizer with Refuse Fascism. She started off by reading the Points of Attention for the Revolution and challenged people to themselves take up the Points of Attention. Then she talked about the need for a Radical REVOLT against this REVOLTING culture and kicked it off by reading from BAsics 2:8.

The night was full of poetry and art, all uplifting and going against this putrid culture. A Latino artist went up and shared a sketch he made while he listened to others perform their poetry. He passed around his sketch book and explained that it was art against Nazis and their bigotry. A Muslim woman performed a couple of poems she had written, including a powerful poem about the three heroes in Portland who stood up to defend the two young women on the train while they were being attacked by a white supremacist who took the life of two of the heroes. She also performed a poem of what it’s like to be a woman in the Muslim community and what you are told you are supposed to be like and act like.

Two teenage Latina girls said they came to just hang out and listen to poetry but saw that almost everyone had gone up and performed; they felt they should perform too, so they wrote a short poem on the spot and performed it together. It was about being kids from immigrants and living under a president who is attacking immigrants. A Revolution Club member read the poem “Children of Children” by Oscar Brown Jr. and afterwards talked about the importance of supporting the Revolution Summer in Chicago and called on people to donate.

The night was lively, and full of joy and creativity. After the poetry ended people hung out and ended up having discussions on a wide range of topics including on what is the real history of the communist revolution and the experience of previous socialist societies.

Three Heroes Stood Up

by Crystal Keshawarz

Three heroes stood up
And two were slain
Three heroes stood up
And my words are in vain
For no ode or poem
Could ever explain
The magnitude of the love
That conquered fear and pain
On a busy night in Portland
On a commuter train
Two Muslim girls sat
Chatting about their day
The car was full of people
Trying to get on their way
When a man spied suspiciously
In aggravation and dismay
His agitation building
His anger on display
He approached these two girls
Boldly and began his tirade
The girls were distraught
Unsure of what to do
A day before Ramadan
A test they must pass through
The vitriol was rampant
The venom was pure vile
And upon that man’s face
Appeared an evil smile
That’s when three brave men
Began walking down the aisle
To confront this villainous foe
And consign him to exile
This was a hero’s mission
Dangerous and hostile
But three brave souls stood up
That night to put evil on trial
And when the madman was confronted
His cowardice compounded
The odds stacked against him
And he was now surrounded
The men were bold and brilliant
Witnesses recounted
In a time of need for a great deed
Love was what kept them grounded
But evil is a coward
That steel empowers
So he took out a blade
To cut down their hours
Three brave souls stood up
And in their place we lay flowers
Two brave souls dearly departed
At the hands of one great coward
But fret not for one still lives
And the three were of one mind
To reignite the torch of hope
For all of humankind
To remind us of our courage
To have hope for one another
To resist hate with radical love
For all our sisters and brothers
Three heroes stood up
As a guidance from above
So we could all stand up
And fill this world with love!
In honor of survivor Micah Fletcher, 21
In honor of the fallen Ricky Best, 53 and Taliesin Namkai-Meche, 23

Volunteers Needed... for revcom.us and Revolution

Send us your comments.

If you like this article, subscribe, donate to and sustain Revolution newspaper.