I’m Noche Diaz, I’m a national spokesperson for the Revolution Clubs. I’m going to start off by expressing appreciation for those who have come, those have been part of signing this statement demanding a reversal of this denial of the permit—Reverend Wulf, Reverend Nathaniel, Emanuel, and all the other people who have signed this letter that has been sent. And I want to say a couple of things about June 12th.

What is the message that has gotten these LA Sheriffs all shaken?

June 12th, we’re going to be starting at LA Southwest College, LA on Western and Imperial. We’re going to be marching through this neighborhood, and ending at this sheriff’s station. This march is open to everyone who wants to see a different world. Everyone who cannot stand the way things are and have the heart to fight for something worth fighting for.

What we have already heard about these sheriffs—the murder of Dijon Kizzee and Andŕes Guadardo, and the other 300 people they have killed over the last 21 years, the day in, day out terror that they inflict on the people in this neighborhood who describe feeling as if they’re going through their lives hunted like animals—this would be reason enough for us to be marching on June 12th to demand “Revolution, Nothing Less,” to show the world that we are getting organized for revolution, nothing less. Unfortunately, though, it is not the only reason we are marching.

The fact is that today, very literally we can say, there may be no future at all, and certainly there is certainly no future worth living for, if we continue to live under this system. But on June 12th, we’ll be marching these streets to show everyone that there is a purpose and a future worth living and fighting for—revolution, nothing less. On June 12th, we will not be marching here to beg these oppressors to murder us a little bit less or to be a little bit nicer as they carry out their oppression and terror. We won’t be doing that because we understand, and people more broadly need to understand, that these sheriffs and the police just like them, not only in this city but across this country, and the military of the United States around the world, enforce a system of capitalism-imperialism, of oppression and madness, here and throughout the world. People need to understand that, and people need to be and people need to see a force that is fighting for a whole different world. A future without white supremacy, male supremacy, the demonization of immigrants, the wars for empire, and the destruction of the environment and the planet we live on.

People need to become, and people need to see, a force that is preparing, that is building strength and organizing forces, for a time when millions can go up against this system, bring it down through a revolution, and dismantle and defeat the violent instruments and tools that enforce this system. We’ll be marching on June 12th through these streets to show people we don’t have to look to and follow the leaders that are trotted out in front of us, that keep us playing around for centuries, with changes that help only a few while keeping this whole thing going.

We’ll be letting people know there is leadership to look to and follow if you want to get free, and that’s Bob Avakian, who’s got a way to end all this madness. Recently, Bob Avakian commented on the 100-year anniversary of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the white racist riot and massacre of Black people in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And looking at that incident and the whole history of this country, Bob Avakian said, the question is not if this whole system needs to go, it’s how soon can we get rid of it. And June 12th, we’re bringing those days closer.

June 12th, we’ll be marching these streets because people need to be, and people need to see, a force that is getting ready to actually get rid of this system. And this is totally legal. What we are doing June 12th is not only very legal, it’s very needed. We are training people now to be a disciplined and determined force, to not get provoked into foolishness that these sheriffs will try to start. We are training people to be disciplined and determined to not back down or back off from this goal of emancipating all of humanity.

As our Points of Attention in the Revolution Club say, Number 6, we are serious about an actual overthrow of this system and a whole better way beyond the destructive and vicious conflicts of today. And because we are serious, at this stage, we do not initiate violence, and we oppose all violence against the people and among the people. And I say this because the reasons that these sheriffs have given to deny us a permit for June 12th are ridiculous. The idea that they don’t have enough resources and police to police people to allow them to be able to speak out, is ridiculous on its face. It’s embarrassing to even talk about here. And two, the idea that over this last year, they talk about “unruly” protests—let me tell you about unruly, how people and property were destroyed.

Dijon Kizzee was murdered, first of all. And people who came out to protest the violence of these sheriffs were met with more brutality and more terror. A comrade in the Revolution Club was urinating blood for days after marching in these streets and being hit by rubber bullets and being attacked by these police. And for them, to be able to declare any protest against their violence as “unlawful assembly,” to attack it the way they did, and then to use their violence to declare that people don’t have the right to march in the streets any more, is not just hypocrisy, it is deadly fascist logic that we all need to oppose.

Nobody should accept this bunch of unruly, out-of-control white supremacist, gang-infested LA Sheriffs determining who gets the right to march around. Nobody should accept a future that people like that are trying to bring into being where people’s rights are shredded or essentially made meaningless by this kind of circular logic of an open dictator and oppressor. And we, all of us, should refuse to accept slavery in any form, and be organizing to put an end to all oppression. And June 12th, that is why we are going to be marching in the streets. That is why this permit should be granted… because we’re not just going to be in a corner somewhere, or giving them excuses to attack people who march, when they see people who they brutalize every day marching in the streets together with people from all over the city, demanding a whole different world. We can’t allow them to use any excuse or pretense to attack that, when people are already beaten down so much already. When they lift their heads, everyone should be at their side and at their back and say, we are standing together. And this march should go through these streets. And we should be loud, and we should have a truck. And we should take the streets.

So June 12th, this is the message, this is what we are doing. And this is why we demand a reversal of the decision to deny the permit for the Revolution Club marching on June 12th. In fact when we seize power, people who oppose our rule will have every right to march, to protest against us—and the opposition against us will even be funded—look at the Constitution of the New Socialist Republic of North America, authored by Bob Avakian. There has never been a founding document like this on history. 

But coming back to this June 12th—under this system: This is why we express our appreciation and thanks to everyone who have stood together with us in demanding a reversal of this decision—not just for our right to speak, but for what kind of future and what kind of society, and what kind of means we’re going to have to even fight for a different world. Thank you, sisters and brothers.