Build Off Momentum Established Taking the Pledge of Resistance on October 1
Mobilize a Month of Resistance That Can Be Beginning of the End for Mass Incarceration!
by Carl Dix | October 6, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
The October Month of Resistance to Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation is off to a strong start. In more than a dozen areas across the country people gathered at schools, in neighborhoods and outside police stations, prisons, and other government offices to take the Pledge of Resistance. (stopmassincarceration.net has coverage of these gatherings.)
It is critical that we go all-out to build off the momentum that has been established. October must be a month of tens of thousands of people engaging in mass determined resistance—demonstrations across the country targeting police brutality on October 22 and calling out the attacks on immigrants, panels on campuses, cultural events and more. Our resistance in October must come together in a way that erects a big STOP SIGN right in the face of U.S. society to the slow genocide of mass incarceration, police terror and all their consequences.
Look at what's going down. Almost two months since the police murder of Michael Brown and still no justice. From July 17, the day Eric Garner was choked to death by police on Staten Island, to August 17, police killed 60 people—almost two every day. Two years ago a hunger strike that involved thousands of prisoners held in long-term solitary confinement forced California authorities to agree to improve the conditions people were held in. Yet on September 26, prisoners held in solitary confinement in Corcoran prison in California went on hunger strike to protest inhumane health conditions there.
And look at the resistance to all these horrors, starting with the defiant response of the youth of Ferguson to the murder of Michael Brown. People in cities across the country have stood in solidarity with the call for Justice for Mike Brown. And there have been other outpourings of resistance to police murder. In Ohio, in response to a grand jury decision not to indict the cops who gunned down John Crawford in a Walmart; in Los Angeles after police beat Ezell Ford to death; in NYC in response to the choking death of Eric Garner, and elsewhere. It is important that this resistance be brought together into a national movement taking on the outrages the criminal "injustice" system is bringing down on people. And this movement of resistance must be taken to a much higher level.
As I write this, religious institutions are beginning a weekend of sermons condemning mass incarceration and police terror and calling on their congregations to join the resistance to these horrors. Reports on these sermons need to be gathered and featured on the Stop Mass Incarceration Network website, and sermons should continue throughout the month. There are already a number of campus events planned for October. More should be planned, and as they happen, reports on them need to be sent in to the website.
The October Month of Resistance has endorsed the Call for Ferguson October and is putting together a delegation of people from different parts of the country to be down there from October 10-13. This is crucial—the righteous resistance of the people in Ferguson has made police murder of Black people something U.S. society has had to focus on. It is important that Ferguson October brings out a strong outpouring of support.
Thirteen areas have posted their plans for taking to the streets on October 22, the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. Other areas need to make their plans and send them in to the website.
There is a crying need to raise the funds to make all this happen. An important part of doing this is involving many, many people in the crowdfunding effort that has been launched on Indiegogo.com. We need to spread the link to our page on Indiegogo and drive many more people to it. We need to win people to contribute to this effort, and we need to give the Indiegogo campaign the kind of momentum that can reach our goal. People also need to call on those who have signed the Call for the Month of Resistance to contribute money to this effort and engage in various kinds of fundraising projects.
All this needs to bring together tens of thousands of people to stand up and say: NO MORE to this slow genocide. Our resistance must impact and move millions and thru that serve as the beginning of the end for mass incarceration in this country.
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