From a Revolution Club member

Baltimore 5/2/15

A Day I Will Never Forget

May 18, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

I could hardly contain myself in the van ride to Baltimore. I was bursting with excitement just thinking about standing with the defiant ones of the Baltimore uprising. What a historical moment to be in. What a privilege to be a young revolutionary in this moment, with the willingness, the energy, and the tools to get us the FUCK out of this nightmare of oppression!

There’s a lot I could get into about the whole day being in Baltimore but there is one particular part I wanted to talk about. After the rally and the march through the neighborhoods, we ended at the intersection that has now been seen worldwide, where the youth rebelled. Looking around at the boarded up CVS, across the street from dozens of condemned apartments, I felt incredible anger. A fucking wrecked CVS was cause to send troops in to occupy a whole city, which itself has been wrecked for decades, with its residents terrorized and brutalized for decades. It was painfully clear, even just being there for a day, that this system really does not have any future for these youth, and really does not give a shit about this whole section of people.

As the march wrapped up, the Revolution Club contingent continued to chant, “Everywhere we go, people wanna know, who we are, so we tell them, we are the REVCOMS, the mighty mighty REVCOMS!” and this drew a lot of people to us. It was a beautiful scene, with lots of people, mostly residents of Baltimore, taking photos with our banner which read, “We Refuse to Accept Slavery in Any Form & Fight the Power and Transform the People For REVOLUTION” as well as the enlargement of the Stolen Lives centerfold, talking to people about this revolution, and signing people up with the Revolution Club.

We quickly noticed a large group of members of rival street organizations sitting on stoops on the same block we were on. A few revolutionaries approached them to come and look at our Rev Club banner. Within minutes, there were about a dozen members of the street orgs posting up in front of our banner to take photos with it. It was one of the most powerful things I have ever seen. I could hardly hold back the tears. Was I really witnessing this? The very youth we are told are the ‘worst of the worst’, but that could be and need to be the backbone of a movement for revolution, actually getting connected up with this revolution...!? Yay. That’s huge!

Why? Because these youth grow up in the hell holes of this country. They are told from day one, that their lives mean nothing, and will count for nothing. They are taught the only way to get any respect or to have any worth in their lives, is by getting ‘theirs’, regulating ‘their’ corner. They are forced into a position where it becomes a ‘rational’ choice to enter into a gang, to survive. And it’s not like they haven’t tried to change their conditions. But there is no room for them to do this, under this system. The only room for them is in the prisons, or in the ground. They are the ones, with nothing to lose, but their chains. And right now, they are beginning to lift their heads, raise their sights, and if we are going to have any chance of taking this moment as far as it could go, and by that I mean in the direction of a real revolutionary situation, we need them to get organized with this movement for revolution. And ultimately, if we are going to have a real chance of winning, actually seizing power when the time is right, we need these youth! And they need this. Like BA says, “This system has no future for the youth, the Revolution does!”

 

 

Volunteers Needed... for revcom.us and Revolution

Send us your comments.

If you like this article, subscribe, donate to and sustain Revolution newspaper.