From an ex-prisoner and Revolution Club member

From the Streets of NYC on April 14

April 20, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

A14 Shutdown was so powerful! People came together in a big way. I was so excited the night before April 14 because we had been all over the city building for April 14, telling people that April 14 was about ending police murder and making a whole different world. A world that people would actually want to live in. We carried an actual canvas that was about 20 feet in the air. This canvas was the centerpiece of our movement. People would see this and just stare at all the faces murdered by the police. It was so many faces. Beautiful faces. Aiyana Stanley-Jones, a 7-year-old murdered by police. She has a cute smile on her face, or Tamir Rice. This canvas of the Stolen Lives reminds me of my high school or middle school yearbook, but instead of thinking what are these people doing with their lives, you hear that all the faces are murdered people.

The people took the streets with this huge canvas with the police pushing us and hitting us. I think the number of people had to be close to 1,000 but I’m not sure. People shut down the Brooklyn Bridge. People shut down traffic all around the country. The cops were steadily trying to arrest people. People that were peacefully protesting police murder were continually arrested and brutalized by police. The police viciously attacked people. This vicious attack reminded me of the viciousness of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama, and I thought nothing has changed and it is worse! This is why we need a revolution! The police kept attacking us, especially the Rev Clubs. They were trying to stop us from rallying the people and letting them see the reality.

When they would arrest us, we would regroup and come back at them. It kind of felt like military maneuvers—they would hit us and we would “hit” them back (metaphorically). It was just so inspiring to be a part of something so much bigger than you.

The Rev Club stayed pretty much together even though we could not stop our comrades from getting arrested. People were on break or just going about their day or having lunch or coffee. They would see us and just join in right on the spot.

I met so many people that did not know anything about A14 until we came through with our canvas of Stolen Lives. We would stop through the city and do die-ins and chant and sing together. It was so many young people that the police could not catch it. It was so funny watching these fat pigs struggling to catch us. We got word that the Freedom Fighters were at the 78th Precinct, so we marched on it and had a confrontation with the pigs. We demanded the release of our people.

Then we went to the 75th Precinct and agitated the neighborhood. People came out to see what was going on. We signed up people and got lots of contacts. We told people that it’s an emergency, the police are still murdering unarmed people. I would tell people I’m with the Rev Club and you need to be with it as well. I’m part of the force that is going to end police murder and you should be on the right side of history.

I saw people that I didn’t expect to see. This one lady I met on the train, she was a young girl that was on the train I came on and told her about A14 and all the horrible things this system does. She was obviously very thoughtful. She listened to me then said, “I go to school for criminal justice.” I asked her why would you want to be an officer and you probably know what they do. She was sincere and said she wants to change the criminal justice system and do good. So I told her about Anthony Baez, how the cops all stuck together on the murder of this unarmed man except one officer. And soon after that, the officer that did not go along with business as usual was fired. I told her because a system is in place. So you conform to the rules or you won’t be part of the team for too long. She just stared at me, but she did give me her contact. I saw her on the Brooklyn Bridge. She said, “Hey, remember me?” This time she had a big smile on her face. That was inspiring because mentally I had cast her off as hopeless, but I was incorrect.

I met a high school couple and it was interesting because I talked to the guy after Cornel West and Carl Dix had an emergency Call to Action for A14, “Emergency: The Police Are Still Killing Unarmed People, and This Must STOP!” I asked the guy what he thought about the A14 ShutDown and he asked me what was A14? I marked him off as hopeless in my head even though I got his contact and his partner’s. I saw them on the bridge as well. They said, “Hey man, what’s up!” I was so happy to see them because these are all young people that the Revolutionary Communist Party is trying to attract. Seeing the Party mobilize this around the country makes me want to help deepen the strength and reach of this Party.

I was thinking, no major verdict had come down. Like in the fall with Eric Garner and Mike Brown. But the Party called and people mobilized pretty broadly. Revolution is in the air right now and on a lot of people’s lips.

 

 

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