Posts from the Struggle

May 29, 2020 | revcom.us

We urge our readers to write or record things that can be used by the revolutionary leadership, on revcom.us, through social media and on The RNL Show, to help build the revolution.

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From a member of the Revolution Club, Chicago:

Hey club, really good job. Even for the people who weren’t there. It was really important we did this… it was really fucking beautiful you all what we did today (May 28). And really important so I just wanted to let everybody know.

Ok, my thoughts. the Revolution Club called a protest today and it was really a beautiful thing you know. A lot of youth came out to it, white youth, Latino youth and a lot of women. It was really striking to see that. So the club got there and we were getting ready to do our press conference and what-not and some guys from the life, they came up and they were telling us did we check-in to be here and what-not and we told them we did. So there was some contention among that and they wanted us to leave but so we told them that we were representing something much bigger than Englewood. This is about the people of the world you know. And also the fact is it is not just a particularity to Englewood where Black and Brown people were being murdered. This is all across America.

So that was being contended and actually bringing out the actual revolution to put an end to this. You know people were really resonating with that. We were chanting, “How do we get out of this mess? Revolution, Nothing Less.” We did “1, 2, 3, 4 slavery, genocide and war, 5, 6, 7, 8 America was never great.” And they weren’t dead chants. And we did “Black Lives Matter” and “No More Racist Police,” and they were filled with a lot of emotion and conviction. People showed a lot of spirit and determination.

At one point as we were marching a brother joined us and there was a confrontation with the police. And at one point, we tried to help protect the brother and they ended up grabbing him and putting him in a hot ass paddy wagon. And he was telling people he couldn’t breathe, and people started chanting “Let him go.” And then somebody said “Fuck 12” and that’s when the pigs they started bum-rushing us and one club member got choked and pushed to the ground but luckily people intervened and helped them out.

There was a lot of determination amongst the masses who were out and they could see the lines of who was actually the real enemy and people did have each other’s back and they had the club’s back and that’s really important when you step out into these situations and people actually showing support. It was a beautiful thing.

Some of the other things. A couple people in the community saying “why can’t you leave” and “we work with the police over here.” People weren’t having that. It’s not about this particular community it’s about they keep killing Black and Brown people over and over again. So people really picked that up. Cuz usually you tell “okay white people go home.” If a Black person says that, people start going home. But that was like, “No.” But people didn’t fold, they didn’t bend. And it was really important that happened.

Also it was really important that different club members were speaking to this--the two choices and we kept constantly going back to that. Either we are going to live with this or make revolution. I also thought that really resonated with people.

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From a reader, Chicago:

On Thursday, May 28, the Revolution Club in Chicago led a protest for Justice for George Floyd in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago. Englewood is known for police violence and violence among the people. It is one of the South Side neighborhoods where savage inequalities have let the coronavirus ravage the people. Over Memorial Day weekend, unmasked pigs marauded through the Englewood neighborhood, harassing people for not social distancing. (This is in a city where “Reopen” fascists have held multiple rallies without masks and with weapons and confederate flags.) Chance the Rapper called out the blatant racism in a tweet:

“Yo I seen HUNDREDS of ppl at millennium park and pics of even more at the parks on the north side. Outside, no masks, no social distancing, enjoying themselves. Please stop sending large groups of militarized police into our neighborhoods exclusively.”

The protest, called “We Deserve to Live, We Need Revolution,” drew about 50 people, mostly youth, very, very angry, from across the city. They brought their own signs, like one that said, “I can’t stay silent when Black people don’t have the right to breathe.” It struck me these were the youth, when we went out around police brutality, who would be the ones shouting, “Fuck the police.” But this time they came out. There were people there too from Refuse Fascism, with their “Trump and Pence Out Now” signs. I asked people why they came, and could they imagine a world without white supremacy and police murder, a world we’d need revolution to achieve.

A group of young Latinas came to express their outrage and support for Black people. One woman said: “We’re tired of this. I saw the video but I didn't share it. I don’t want to put people through the pain of seeing it. Yes, we need to abolish the police and everything needs to change.”

A white youth said, “This is about white supremacy and capitalism. The police go back to slavery, they come out of slavery. They lie and cover this up. We need to dismantle white supremacy in this country.” He agreed it would take revolution to do that.

Two white youth said, “Black lives matter.” One said, “For too long, when Black people protest, no white people are there. No more. We’re out to change that, we want to mobilize everyone we can.” About imagining a better world, he said, “I can imagine it and we better be working on it.”

A Black youth with a friend said he came because “This is a great injustice, on top of all the other injustices, what happened to Ahmaud [Arbery], and what happens to Black people every day. We need to stand up.” He said he had a hard time imagining the world I described, but wanted to go to revcom.us to find out more about it.

I talked to a young guy from the neighborhood who joined the protest. He said he heard a “commotion” and had to check it out. “I'm really glad to see this. I’m so tired of seeing Black people killed over and over again.” In response to imagining a world without white supremacy and police murder, he said, “I’m not sure what it will take, but revolution sounds good to me.”

At the rally members of the Revolution Club and others spoke. Club members referenced the powerful video statement by Noche Diaz where he says police will never stop murdering Black and Brown people until we get rid of the fucking system, and we can, with the scientific revolutionary leadership of Bob Avakian. And they quoted Bob Avakian: “The role of the police is not to serve and protect the people. It is to serve and protect the system that rules over the people.”

Then the march took off through the neighborhood. Chants rang out: “No Justice, No Peace, No Racist Ass Police,” “How Do We Get Out of this Mess? Revolution, Nothing Less!” “George Floyd, Say His Name,” and “I Can’t Breathe.” Marchers carried a beautiful “Stolen Lives” banner with pictures of a few dozen of the thousands murdered by police.

At one point the march stopped. A Revolution Club member spoke to the neighborhood people:

“We have to come together, no matter what your club or organization. They’re killing us one by one. This is about humanity. Like Bob Avakian said, we have two choices: either, live with all this and condemn future generations to the same or worse, or make revolution!”

Some people joined the protest from sidewalks and porches. On an open mic, a mother spoke: “I was arrested and put in the crazy house for driving on a suspended license. They were trying to get rid of me but I’m still here. Fuck the police, every last one of them.”

A man spoke who had come all the way from the West Side of Chicago: “The people of Englewood, these are hardworking people. We’re taking back the streets of Englewood. I’m not the only crazy motherfucker out here.”

Another revolutionary spoke: “The white supremacists are hunting us down like wild game. If we don’t stand up, they’re going to keep doing it.”

On the way back the march took the street. Some neighborhood people confronted the marchers, saying there shouldn’t be protesters from “outside” of Englewood “going home to sleep in their comfortable beds.” A man from the neighborhood stepped up to say he lived here and was with this. A revolutionary answered back, “I live in America, and I go to sleep every night agonizing over what this fucking system does to people. I represent all the people who say ‘No More!’” Someone from the crowd started a chant, “The people united will never be divided,” and the march took off back into the streets, with a chorus of cars honking raucously in support.

News flash: One protester was arrested. The Revolution Club is calling for his immediate release.

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