System Prepares for Grand Jury Decision:
Justifies Murder of Mike Brown, Re-Arms Cops

November 3, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Ferguson: Enforcing the Police State

The Guardian newspaper obtained a breakdown of what the St Louis County police have purchased since the murder of Mike Brown. They report:

“Since the height of the protests the department has spent almost $25,000 buying 650 teargas grenades, smoke-and-gas grenades, smoke canisters and ‘hornets nest’ CS sting grenades, which shoot out dozens of rubber bullets and a powdered chemical agent upon detonation.

“It has spent a further $18,000 on 1,500 ‘beanbag rounds’ and 6,000 pepper balls, paintball-style projectiles that explode with a chemical irritant when they strike a protester. The department uses LiveX branded pepper balls, which are billed as ten times hotter than standard pepper rounds.

“Another $77,500 has been spent on 235 riot gear helmets, 135 shields, 25 batons and 60 sets of shin guards, and other ‘uniform items’. A further $2,300 was used to buy another 2,000 sets of the plastic handcuffs that have been used to detain dozens of demonstrators plucked from crowds on West Florissant Avenue.” (theguardian.com, 10/29/14)

The stakes of the battle for justice for Michael Brown are high. The oppressors, whose rule depends on the systematic, violent oppression of Black people, has been pumping out disinformation, distortions, gossip, rumors and lies to confuse people, and the “bottom line” is that this system relies on their police to enforce that oppression.

But the stakes too high—for those who refuse to accept a world where every Black person leaves their house with a target painted on their backs—to buy into the system’s lies, or back down in the face of their threats.

A million eyes and ears are tuned in to reports that a grand jury in Ferguson, MO, is about to announce whether to indict (or more likely whether to not indict) Darren Wilson—the pig who murdered Michael Brown in cold blood.

These facts are undisputed: Michael Brown was unarmed, his hands up, when he was executed by a Ferguson cop, Darren Wilson on August 9. And here’s another fact that might be less acknowledged but is none-the-less just as true: The lives and rights of Black people mean no more to those who rule this country than they did when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Black man has no rights a white man is bound to respect. Including the right to walk down a public street without fear of death at the hands of some pig—like what happened to Mike Brown, to Eric Garner in New York, and to so many more.

Immediately after the murder of Michael Brown, people in Ferguson, later joined by thousands around the country, waged the most sustained, defiant, fearless struggle seen in this country in a long time.

If they had not, Michael Brown’s murder would have been just one of hundreds every year, swept under the rug, sending a message to the oppressed that they are living under the threat of a death sentence that can be executed—literally—anytime, for anything, or for nothing. In fact, the terror and death unleashed on Black people by police in AmeriKKKa today takes more lives than KKK lynch mobs did in the depths of the Jim Crow era. A 2001 U.S. Department of Justice report calculated that in 22 years between 1976 and 1998, 3,696 Black people were killed by police. In the 30 years between 1890 and 1920, 2,254 Black people were lynched in the USA.

Ferguson sent shockwaves around the world—tearing the covers off the reality of life for millions and millions in the USA, and inspiring people everywhere. As we wrote at revcom.us a week after the uprising:

“Everything has changed: people stood up and fought back and refused to back down in the face of bullets and tanks, scolding and phony sympathy, and everything else. Fighting back and simply demanding justice for Michael Brown and that these pigs stop murdering young Black men. Simply demanding that the humanity of millions of youth be recognized. And when they did—when they went right up against the dogs and the gas and the bullets—they got sympathy from all over the world, they inspired others to stand up, and they put this question squarely on the agenda and changed the terms in which everybody thought and talked about it. People stood up and showed that the people who run this are NOT all-powerful, and that the force they use against the people is NOT legitimate. This is real progress, and it is solely due to determined struggle.”

But there is STILL no justice for Michael Brown.

There was MORE than enough evidence on Day One to indict Darren Wilson immediately after the murder. But instead, the system convened a grand jury that has all along been about COVERING up what happened. What if the roles had been reversed? Do you think Michael Brown would be a free man? More likely he’d be dead, or heading for death row.

A constant flood of bullshit and utterly not-credible “leaks” from the grand jury has been pumped out by the ruling class media and its spokespeople. They’re coming right out and saying it: The point is “to kind of let people down slowly” (as stated by Tim Fitch, former police chief in St. Louis County). These leaks are a blatant violation of the whole way the grand jury system is supposed to work. But that didn’t stop the ruling class’s supposed voice of reason and rule of law, the New York Times, from claiming—with no basis—that these illegal and unverifiable leaks “seem more exculpatory [making a case for innocence] than supportive of calls for murder charges against Officer Wilson.” (New York Times, 10/31/14)

They’re playing the same game with rumors that Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson will resign. The people have demanded this pig be fired. On October 28 there were news reports he was stepping down before the grand jury decision. One CNN commentator basically let the cat out of the bag on that one: "To me this is all calibrated and intended to take the temperature down of the community... I'm absolutely convinced we're headed for no indictment in this case.” The rumors were intended to get people to swallow injustice. And they weren’t even true. One day later, Jackson declared he was decidedly NOT resigning.

Meanwhile, Ferguson is spending tens of thousands of dollars to re-arm their cops with teargas, smoke-and-gas grenades, rubber bullets, pepper balls, and riot gear. (see sidebar, "Ferguson: Enforcing the Police State")

The struggle for justice for Michael Brown is continuing and must be built as part of resistance to the whole wave of mass incarceration and police murder and terror. And any moves to let the pig who murdered Michael Brown walk free must be met with escalated, determined protest.

Right now: Indict, Convict, Send the Killer Cop to Jail! The Whole System Is Guilty as Hell!

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