The Two Big Lessons of the Police Murder of Dijon Kizzee and the Continuing Resistance Against It

by Noche Diaz, National Revolution Tour

Updated September 19, 2020 | revcom.us

 

Dijon Kizzee was a 29-year-old Black man who was born and raised in Los Angeles. On August 31, 2020 Dijon was murdered in cold blood by members of the LA Sheriff’s Department (LASD). Dijon was chased down and shot in the back 15 times while yelling “They’re going to kill me” and while onlookers called out to the sheriffs not to shoot. Dijon Kizzee was a human being whose life mattered. He leaves behind family members and friends who loved him.

Immediately after the murder, people gathered to demand answers, and word of this gathering began quickly spreading around social media. Within hours, in the range of 100 people who had been part of various protests in the beautiful uprising of the last months since the murder of George Floyd came into the neighborhood in waves to stand with people from the area who had gathered at the site of Dijon’s murder.

In the weeks that followed, two lessons have come into focus:

First is how much worse is the murderous ways of “law enforcement” and the violent repression against anyone fighting for justice or fundamental change under the rule and direction of the fascist Trump/Pence regime, and how much worse it will become if they are able to stay in power. In the weeks following Dijon’s murder by LASD, the struggle to demand justice has been met with dozens of arrests... declaring protests “unlawful gatherings”… protesters, including children, tear-gassed and hospitalized... lawyers being assaulted by sheriffs while holding a press conference to expose the sheriffs’ assault on protesters... and a string of four journalists being attacked and arrested.

This is happening as part of the fascist Trump’s “answer” to months of the beautiful struggle demanding an end to racism and murder by police. Trump ramps up calls for “law and order”… condemns protesters as “rioters” and “arsonists”… repeatedly calls for “retribution” against protests, while whipping up racist fear of “violent mobs” burning down cities and coming for (white) suburbs and housewives. He calls for “Second Amendment” people to help put down protests and then defends a racist thug who did just that, murdering two protesters in Kenosha. This is escalating now, and if he “wins”/steals or disregards the election, without massive and sustained protests demanding Trump/Pence Out NOW, this will take far more devastating leaps.

The second lesson is the example set by people uniting to come back even stronger in the face of repression, and joining together the demands in the struggle against police murder with the demand Trump/Pence #OutNow. People from various parts of the city came to stand with people in a neighborhood under constant siege, and people in the neighborhood have begun to get a sense that they won’t just be alone if they stand up to this. Through struggle to overcome divisions, last Saturday represented an important coming back stronger in the face of repeated and relentless repression.

In the course of things, the Revolution Club in Los Angeles has played an important role in fighting for people to come back stronger in the face of repression, and has been able to involve people, including youth, in representing and working for revolution. Bob Avakian’s series Donald Trump—GENOCIDAL RACIST and the calls from Refuse Fascism to mobilize to drive out this regime have also been getting out in the area, to lift people’s sights to confront what we are up against and what must been done to prevent to the further tightening of the grip of fascism as part of building the revolution to get to a whole better world.

All this has been hard-fought, and already the LASD is escalating attempts to attack and delegitimize protest or even speaking out against police murder. After a recent incident (that very little is actually known about) where two deputies were shot, the LASD chief seized on this to further attack protesters and “outside agitators” by implying that the struggle against murder by police contributed to this shooting, all with the loud backing of Trump calling again for “law and order.” This chief defended the violent arrest of a local public radio reporter at KPCC, Josie Huang. He also lashed out at Lebron James, demanding he match the $200,000 in reward money for information on the suspect, targeting Lebron to intimidate those in the NBA who speak out against the murder of Black people by police.

 

This is far from over. The Revolution Club in LA, along with the National Revolution Tour, will be calling people into the streets again this weekend. Stay tuned.

To learn from all this, we are sharing more extensive coverage of how these last weeks of struggle in South Central, and repression by the LASD, unfolded. 

The aunt of Dijon Kizzee speaking at a gathering for Dijon.