From a Reader:

Philadelphia: People Take to the Streets after the Police Murder of Walter Wallace

October 30, 2020 | revcom.us

 

Editors’ Note: As the white-supremacist Trump is stealing the elections and threatens violence, as he drums up support for murderous cops in his rallies, people took to the streets in Philadelphia against the police murder of Walter Wallace Jr. We received the following from a reader. The situation is still developing—follow revcom.us

We wake up to another day and look at the news feed on our phone. Damn! ANOTHER video has gone viral of cops shooting and killing a Black man. We push the play button, dreading the sight of yet another cold-blooded murder by the cops. The image is jumpy, but we see two cops in the streets with their guns drawn. A Black man walks out between two cars into the street, and in less than two seconds we hear the pop, pop, pop of gunfire. At least a dozen shots. The man, Walter Wallace Jr., crumples to the ground. His mother and others rush to him as he is dying. You hear people screaming, and a man says, “Bro, they just killed him in front of me… Y'all ain't have to give him that many fucking shots.”

Monday, October 26, late afternoon. The family of 27-year-old Walter Wallace Jr. calls for an ambulance because Walter is having a mental health crisis. But instead of medical assistance, the pigs show up. Wallace’s mother tells them her son had mental health issues. The pigs pull their guns out when Wallace comes out of the house. Wallace’s mother tries to restrain her son, to calm him down and de-escalate the situation. She yells at the cops begging them not to shoot. 

Did the cops try to de-escalate? Let his mother try to calm him down? Talk to him like a human being? NO. Instead, Walter goes down in a hail of bullets. The pigs say they had to shoot because Walter had a knife and wouldn’t put it down. A neighbor said Wallace was about 20 feet away from the pigs when they shot him. Wallace's father, Walter Wallace Sr., said, "Why didn't they use a Taser? Why you have to gun him down?" In fact, the cops didn’t even have any Tasers.

Walter Wallace Jr. was an aspiring rapper. Some of the themes of his videos were social causes and police injustice, cops shooting people. He was recently married and had nine children, his wife is expecting to deliver another child very soon. He had a family that loved him. But to the pigs he was just another target.

Hours after the murder of Walter Wallace, hundreds of angry people took to the streets—and as the night went on, people’s outrage spilled out. There were many clashes between the cops and the people, and at least 76 people were arrested, some for burglary. One video shows the cops using batons to forcefully move on the crowd, beating anyone who wouldn’t back up. Another shows a Black woman pinned to the ground by cops, one pig repeatedly punching her face as other cops form a blockade around the assault. The pigs were vicious, but the people were determined to stay in the street, and their anger AT THE PIGS was clear. In one video you see dozens of people chasing a large group of cops down the street. Another shows a line of pigs behind their shields as they’re pelted with rocks, bottles, and garbage cans.

Protests continued Tuesday night with even more people—there were reports of at least a thousand in the streets of Philly. And there were also protests against the murder of Walter Wallace Tuesday night in New York and Portland. In New York City, hundreds took to the streets of downtown Brooklyn and then made their way to Manhattan. In downtown Portland, more than 100 protesters gathered for a vigil in memory of Walter Wallace, and then some of the crowd took to the streets for a march.

This is a developing situation. Once again, the pigs have killed a Black man. And once again, the people are manifesting their outrage in the streets. The Democratic governor of Pennsylvania has called in the National Guard. The city has declared a citywide curfew. And the fascist-in-chief and top defender of pig-murderers, Donald Trump, has said he is “prepared to deploy” federal forces to Philadelphia. 

Yet another indictment of this murderous system. A system whose armed enforcers kill, time after time after time. A system where all the pigs have to say is that “their lives were in danger” to get a pass, so they can keep murdering the people with impunity. This HAS TO STOP! At a press conference, Walter Wallace Jr.’s 8-year-old son, Zamir said, “These white racist cops got my own dad… Black lives still matter.” Zamir then raised his fist.

Walter Wallace Jr. and his mother, Cathy Wallace.

Protesters confront police during a march, Tuesday Oct. 27, 2020, in Philadelphia over the police shooting of Walter Wallace. Photo: AP

Tuesday Oct. 27, 2020, protest in Philadelphia over the police shooting of Walter Wallace. Photo: AP