October 22, 2017 – National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation

Protesting Police Murder, Standing with NFL Players, and Organizing for Nov 4—Trump/Pence Must Go!

October 23, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

CHICAGO:  Taking A Knee – On the Flag - at the Bears-Panthers Football Game

On October 22nd, the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation, the waves of fans from all parts of Chicago and beyond came to Soldier Field set on seeing the Bears play the Panthers and were faced with something different.

Taking a knee against white supremacy, police brutality and the fascist onslaught of the Trump/Pence regime. “This Nightmare Must End. Trump/Pence Regime Must GO. Nov. 4—It Begins” was the challenge. If you’re not about Donald Trump, you need to be about driving him out!

We had enlargements of the Nov 4 Refuse Fascism poster, we made “#Nov4ItBegins” hard-back signs for people to remember it and so it could not be missed in pictures. There was a large banner of over 40 pictures of people murdered by the police. We got into the nightmare Trump/Pence represents to humanity and the planet, including the unleashing of white supremacy and police terror, and why it was righteous for Kaepernick and other pro athletes to take a knee against this, and what people need to do to end this whole nightmare and working now to prepare for Nov 4.

When the anthem started up, we took a knee and called on people to join in against forced patriotism. A 12-year-old joined us after we took a knee and stayed with us for some time, and another youth with him joined us too.

Throughout this whole time and especially once we took a knee, there were all kinds of responses. Some sped by to avoid having to make their position known. Many people, even the typical football crowd of white people, gave thumbs up or raised their fists to salute us, and took pictures of the demonstration. For others, this drew out some of the snarling white supremacy and the “America #1 Love it or Leave it” chauvinism.

Another group, Chicago Animal Saves, joined in this action (and had been taking similar #takeaknee actions) and brought their own (all-black) flag to hold upside down. People spoke from the heart from different positions on why they take a knee and support others doing so against injustice. A couple of women came and spoke on their disgust of racism and the double standard applied to those murdered by the police, by trying to downplay the loss of their lives because it was a thug with a badge and a gun that murdered them. Different people spoke about why they support Nov 4 and challenged others to be part of it, including the president of the Two-Spirit Society (a Native American LGBTQ group) who also spoke of the long history of genocide against the Native peoples and the police attacks on LGBTQ people. Many spoke of the danger Trump/Pence pose to many different groups of people, nationalities, women, LGBTQ.

Overall we planted a pole of standing up to the Trump/Pence regime; calling out the murder of so many every year by the police, and supporting athletes that have taken a stand to shine the spotlight on white supremacy and police murder of Black people; and bringing to people the message of Nov 4th to DRIVE THIS REGIME OUT!

LOS ANGELES: Marching Downtown, Remembering Brother Africa, Heading to ICE Detention Center

As we write, 65 people are at the October 22 National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation rally and march in Los Angeles. The event started on Skid Row in downtown LA, home to thousands of everyday people who live on the streets. As the march traveled through downtown, the event meaningfully stopped at the site of the murder of Brother Africa, who was shot down by the LAPD in 2015. We are now marching to the Metropolitan Detention Center, which houses and deports immigrants targeted by ICE, and then we’re marching to East LA. Several family members who have lost their loved ones to murder by police are in attendance. Refuse Fascism is sharing the Call for Nov 4 for people to take to the streets to demand the Trump/Pence regime be driven from power....

SF BAY AREA:  Taking a Knee, Outing Trump as Modern-Day Slavemaster at 49ers-Cowboys Game

On Sunday, October 22, the National Day to Stop Police Brutality, Refuse Fascism went to the entrance to the San Francisco 49ers vs Dallas Cowboys football game to Take A Knee Against White Supremacy & Stand Up to End the Nightmare. November 4: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go! Refuse Fascism did street theater portraying Donald Trump—who is threatening to force players to stand for the national anthem—as a modern day slaveowner, and called on the huge flood of fans entering the game to take up the fight against the Trump/Pence regime and join in Nov. 4—and to take a knee, right on the spot, in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick and all the NFL players protesting police murder of Black and Brown people.

Many people took pictures of the street theater—too many to count, and many will be posted on social media. Dozens of fans stepped up and took the knee right in front of the street theater, both 49er fans and Cowboys fans, of all nationalities. Those who took the knee were taking a public stand on the side of Kaepernick and the players, standing against white supremacy and forced patriotism and in defiance of Trump—and of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones who threatened to fire any Cowboy players who took the knee. And while there were plenty of fans who supported Trump, on this day those who were in opposition to the fascist regime definitely had the initiative. Many, many people took palm cards calling on them to take up Nov. 4 and take to the streets, and to stay in the streets, not stopping until Trump and the fascist regime are out of power.

New York:  Family Members of Police Murder Victims and Others Take a Knee, Speak Out for Nov 4

On October 22 in NYC, family members of police murder victims and mothers of wrongly incarcerated people rallied in downtown Brooklyn. They were joined by New York State Assemblyman Charles Barron, activists from Refuse Fascism, and others. Some family members spoke of how their loved ones had been murdered by those who were sworn to protect and serve. Others spoke about how their children were consigned to the system's dungeons for crimes they didn't commit. All spoke to the need to continue the fight against this injustice, and several of them called on people to join them in taking to the streets on November 4 to drive out the Trump/Pence regime.

Carl Dix of the Revolutionary Communist Party and the co-founder of the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, and a co-initiator of Refuse Fascism, wound up the rally. Carl said the police terror that the Oct. 22nd Coalition was initiated to fight is built into the fabric of this capitalist-imperialist system, so it will take revolution, nothing less, to end it and all the other horrors this system inflicts on humanity once and for all.

Carl spoke to how Trump is intensifying the abuses this system heaps on people, vowing to take the gloves off the police who brutalize and murder Black and Brown people with impunity. He’s telling the NFL players they have no right to protest against police getting away with murder. The Trump/Pence regime is escalating the immigration raids that tear families apart and disappear people and more.

Carl said it was crucial this regime be driven out before it consolidates fascism, and that Refuse Fascism is calling on people to do just that by taking to the streets on November 4. Carl finished the rally by leading people in taking a knee against white supremacy and calling on everybody there to stand up on November 4 to drive the Trump/Pence regime from power.

Newark, New Jersey

This action was organized/pulled together by the New Jersey organization People's Organization for Progress (POP). Approximately 75 people came out, including a number of families who have had loved ones murdered by police in New Jersey, along with a number of Black Lives Matter and other activists against police brutality, a group of Green Party activists, some union activists and others. The family members were extremely moving in their own accounts, while at the same time, organizers read out the names and honored dozens of others, like Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and more.

At the end of the rally, the chairman of POP, Larry Hamm, spoke to how police brutality and murder are a product of the capitalist-imperialist system, but with the particularity that in this imperialist country, the country was founded on slavery, and that here the police are playing the role that the slave catchers played under slavery to enforce the oppression. Then he addressed how all this has taken a leap with the election of Trump, exposing the open white supremacy, and the measures that the Justice Department is taking to eliminate consent degrees, and more, and concluding that Trump must go—by impeachment or mass protests or a combination of both.

There was considerable interest in Refuse Fascism's Call for November 4.

Chicago

Los Angeles

San Francisco

New York City

Newark, NJ

Atlanta, GA

“After they shot my son 76 times, they handcuffed him dragged him down flight of stairs” Mother (Monteria) of Jamarion Robinson #O22ATL

 

 

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