Thousands Call for Justice for Trayvon in Downtown Detroit
July 22, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
July 20—Today in Detroit, the Justice for Trayvon rally called by National Action Network brought out thousands of people filling the downtown block and a flatbed truck of ministers and other speakers blocking the street in front the Department of Injustice building. I missed the beginning and speeches, but later, one of the main organizers saw me and, shouting "there's the revolutionaries," shook my hand and took my last poster. He said he would post it in his church.
A few of us took a big stack of fliers, got out several hundred fliers of Carl Dix's statement, over a dozen Revolution newspapers and a hundred--all we had!—of the two posters from revcom.us. The posters (here and here) really lit up our presence and drew people to the newspaper with people lining up to grab the posters: we told them to make copies (or digital copies from revcom.us) and post them everywhere.
The crowd was almost all Black—older people, families, and youth. More older people and more mainstream than the rally last Sunday after the Saturday verdict, but more attracted to revolution than just a month ago at the Martin Luther King march. We saw one woman with a homemade t-shirt and the back had a target and silhouette of a Black head with the statement, "Every day is open season on Black people." A man with his sons (about Trayvon's age) had signs: "Lady Justice is definitely blind when it comes to Equal Justice for her young Black males in America"; "We want Equal Freedom, justice and equality for all citizens of america"; "Trayvon Martin—I stood my ground"; and "Justice begins when injustice is recognized and properly corrected." Two women had a sign, "The Whole System Is Guilty."
An older guy approached me, digging out his money for a paper, saying, "Yes, I agree (indicating the title of Revolution newspaper), we need a whole new judicial system and social system." I said, "that means revolution," and he said, "That's what I am talking about!" Another guy who got the paper and talked with me a while about the prisoners' hunger strike said, "This isn't just about Black and white. This is about what they do around the world."
The Detroit News (mainstream daily paper in Detroit) quoted a participant who said she is worried about the world her six year old son will grow up in: "I don't believe there is justice for Trayvon. I hope that Zimmerman is convicted and all the Zimmermans around the world." Another woman said the verdict reflects the policies of the country: "When I stepped back and took count of it, I recognized it is the system. And it is up to us to step up and change the system." The Detroit News went on to quote people reflecting the widespread concern about [Black] youth-on-youth violence. While those concerns are real and serious, I have a concern that the Detroit News is running those quotes to undercut the message of national oppression concentrated in the Zimmerman verdict.
While the Detroit News reported thousands of protesters, I noticed a national AP report understated the crowd as hundreds.
If you like this article, subscribe, donate to and sustain Revolution newspaper.