Post by duko on Oct 21, 2004 11:12:11 GMT -5
Valuing the Lives of the People vs. Wanton Police Murder
When the Proletariat Rules
by Bob Avakian
Revolutionary Worker #1255, October 17, 2004, posted at rwor.org
Let's take the question of police brutality and murder. It seems like every time you open the RW there is at least one and often more than one article about another one of these outrages--basically the same story of how the police go in and wantonly murder someone, especially basic Black and Latino youth. And in this [one] particular article I believe it was a Latino youth who was involved, it was one of these things where he, you know, lost it a bit and had a gun or something, and was out in a public place, and there was sort of a standoff and I guess the police shot him and wounded him, if I have all the facts right, and his girlfriend was there with him, and she at one point told the police that she would get his gun away from him and then the police said if you touch the gun, you'll be shot! And his mother came up and begged the police to let her go get the gun away from him, and they told her the same thing.
This article was really very compelling, and by the time you were through reading it, both the anger at what had gone on and also the fact that with these police, this is not some accidental thing, they want to shoot down these masses, and this is an integral part of what they do--what their social role is, what their political role is--this was brought out very powerfully in this article. You know, I finished reading it and I just had this restless anger where you can't sit still, plus this really strong feeling that, as the article brought out, not once but twice there was a solution there, but the police specifically rejected it and threatened the people with being shot themselves. I mean this shows, once again, that they're not out there "doing a difficult job and faced with difficult choices" and they couldn't find any way out of this other than shooting this person.
Or you can take the [police murder] of Tyisha Miller..one of the things that really needs to be driven home is-- here's the scene where she is passed out in the car and they come up to the car, the police, they surround the car, and there's a whole bunch of them, they're all armed, they're surrounding the car, and they just shoot her--execute her basically. And it seems to me that one basic point to be made is this: if you can't handle this situation differently than this, then get the fuck out of the way. Not only out of the way of this situation but get off the earth--get out of the way of the masses of people. Because, you know, we could have handled that situation any number of ways that would have resulted in a much better outcome, and frankly if we had state power and we were faced with a similar situation, we would sooner have one of our own people's police killed than go wantonly murder one of the masses. That's what you're supposed to do if you're actually trying to be a servant of the people. You go there and put your own life on the line, rather than just wantonly murder one of the people.
It seems to me that this kind of point can be brought out very powerfully to people. What were they there to do? You know, fuck all this "serve and protect" bullshit. If they were there to serve and protect, they would have found any way but the way they did it to handle this scene, they could have and would have found a solution that was much better than this. This is the way the proletariat, when it's been in power, has handled and would again handle this kind of thing--valuing the lives of the masses of people- -as opposed to the bourgeoisie in power, where the role of their police is to terrorize the masses, including wantonly murdering them, murdering them without provocation, without necessity, because exactly the more arbitrary the terror is, the more broadly it affects the masses. And that's one of the reasons why they like to engage in--and have as one of their main functions to engage in--wanton and arbitrary terror against the masses of people.
From "Putting Forward Our Line-In a Bold, Moving, Compelling Way"
The Call for October 22, 2004: National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation
Revolutionary Worker #1255, October 17, 2004, posted at rwor.org
This call is from the October 22 Coalition.
An occupying army sweeps into a neighborhood, searches all vehicles, harasses and brutalizes children, and arrests residents in massive sweeps. In another neighborhood, squads armed with automatic rifles, backed up by helicopters, march in military formation into the streets and force people onto the ground at gunpoint. A horrified nation watches a videotape of an unarmed civilian being beaten to death. A 19-year-old boy is shot for opening a rooftop door; he's in the "wrong place."
These are NOT scenes and photographs from Iraq, Afghanistan, or Palestine. These are scenes from Hunters Point (Bay Area), California, where a community is being terrorized by police; from Chicago's Cabrini Green housing project during a police raid on the residents; from Cincinnati, Ohio, where Nathaniel Jones was beaten to death while handcuffed; from New York City, where 19-year-old Timothy Stansbury was shot and killed just for opening a door onto the rooftop where he lived.
A law school dean inadvertently revealed the truth when he tried to defend the photographs of people tortured in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison by saying, "This is not much different from what happens in any [U.S.] police precinct house." We know this is true, and we say, "ENOUGH!" Law enforcement agencies have long had a green light to brutalize and murder people. The Stolen Lives Project's research for the 2nd volume of the book Stolen Lives: Killed by Law Enforcement documents an alarming escalation of police violence and murder. This is developing hand-in-hand with an increase in repressive laws, expansion of targeted populations, and the criminalization of dissent, all done under the name of "the war on terrorism."
The current attacks on Muslim, Arab, and South Asian immigrants--mandatory registration, "preemptive" arrests, indefinite detentions, secret trials--should be seen for what they are: the latest addition to racial profiling. As the mother of a young black man killed by a North Carolina deputy said, "Just because law enforcement has put some new people on their list doesn't mean that they have taken anyone off the list."
In Ashcroft's America, the very right to protest is under assault. The denial of permits and assembly rights, brutalization of demonstrators, use of wooden bullets, tear gas and taser guns, and mass arrests without probable cause, took place in many cities last year against anti-war demonstrators and people protesting the FTAA in Miami. Major police drills held in NYC in the days leading up to the Republican National Convention (RNC) tried to send the message that protests would not be tolerated. The PATRIOT Act creates a climate of fear and encourages people to snitch on their neighbors. Attorney Lynne Stewart faces criminal charges for her defense of her client, as the government tries to make an example of her to intimidate other progressive lawyers.
Why Should You Act on October 22nd?
"Silence is the voice of complicity." The nationwide epidemic of police brutality and repression is hidden from many people who would be outraged if they knew what was happening. Many people have become apprehensive about reprisals for protesting in today's political climate. We must resist in many different ways to drag this truth out into the light of day. October 22, 2004, the 9th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation is the day for thousands across the country to speak out and act. Our resistance will give others courage. Check the website www.october22.org for information on events near you. Organize an event in your neighborhood, school or church. Wear black that day in memory of those whose lives have been stolen from them. We must say loudly and clearly, "We don't want your kind of safety--there ain't no safety in a police state!" No More Stolen Lives! Fight Back! On October 22nd, Wear Black!
October 22,
P.O. Box 2627,
New York, NY 10009
National Email: office@october22.org
National Phone: 1-888-No-Brutality (toll-free)
===================================
Revolution Books Outlet
406 W. Willis, Detroit MI 48201
between Cass & 2nd, S. of Forest
PO Box 0083, Detroit MI 48231
313-833-7310
rbodetroit@yahoo.com
check out rwor.org
When the Proletariat Rules
by Bob Avakian
Revolutionary Worker #1255, October 17, 2004, posted at rwor.org
Let's take the question of police brutality and murder. It seems like every time you open the RW there is at least one and often more than one article about another one of these outrages--basically the same story of how the police go in and wantonly murder someone, especially basic Black and Latino youth. And in this [one] particular article I believe it was a Latino youth who was involved, it was one of these things where he, you know, lost it a bit and had a gun or something, and was out in a public place, and there was sort of a standoff and I guess the police shot him and wounded him, if I have all the facts right, and his girlfriend was there with him, and she at one point told the police that she would get his gun away from him and then the police said if you touch the gun, you'll be shot! And his mother came up and begged the police to let her go get the gun away from him, and they told her the same thing.
This article was really very compelling, and by the time you were through reading it, both the anger at what had gone on and also the fact that with these police, this is not some accidental thing, they want to shoot down these masses, and this is an integral part of what they do--what their social role is, what their political role is--this was brought out very powerfully in this article. You know, I finished reading it and I just had this restless anger where you can't sit still, plus this really strong feeling that, as the article brought out, not once but twice there was a solution there, but the police specifically rejected it and threatened the people with being shot themselves. I mean this shows, once again, that they're not out there "doing a difficult job and faced with difficult choices" and they couldn't find any way out of this other than shooting this person.
Or you can take the [police murder] of Tyisha Miller..one of the things that really needs to be driven home is-- here's the scene where she is passed out in the car and they come up to the car, the police, they surround the car, and there's a whole bunch of them, they're all armed, they're surrounding the car, and they just shoot her--execute her basically. And it seems to me that one basic point to be made is this: if you can't handle this situation differently than this, then get the fuck out of the way. Not only out of the way of this situation but get off the earth--get out of the way of the masses of people. Because, you know, we could have handled that situation any number of ways that would have resulted in a much better outcome, and frankly if we had state power and we were faced with a similar situation, we would sooner have one of our own people's police killed than go wantonly murder one of the masses. That's what you're supposed to do if you're actually trying to be a servant of the people. You go there and put your own life on the line, rather than just wantonly murder one of the people.
It seems to me that this kind of point can be brought out very powerfully to people. What were they there to do? You know, fuck all this "serve and protect" bullshit. If they were there to serve and protect, they would have found any way but the way they did it to handle this scene, they could have and would have found a solution that was much better than this. This is the way the proletariat, when it's been in power, has handled and would again handle this kind of thing--valuing the lives of the masses of people- -as opposed to the bourgeoisie in power, where the role of their police is to terrorize the masses, including wantonly murdering them, murdering them without provocation, without necessity, because exactly the more arbitrary the terror is, the more broadly it affects the masses. And that's one of the reasons why they like to engage in--and have as one of their main functions to engage in--wanton and arbitrary terror against the masses of people.
From "Putting Forward Our Line-In a Bold, Moving, Compelling Way"
The Call for October 22, 2004: National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation
Revolutionary Worker #1255, October 17, 2004, posted at rwor.org
This call is from the October 22 Coalition.
An occupying army sweeps into a neighborhood, searches all vehicles, harasses and brutalizes children, and arrests residents in massive sweeps. In another neighborhood, squads armed with automatic rifles, backed up by helicopters, march in military formation into the streets and force people onto the ground at gunpoint. A horrified nation watches a videotape of an unarmed civilian being beaten to death. A 19-year-old boy is shot for opening a rooftop door; he's in the "wrong place."
These are NOT scenes and photographs from Iraq, Afghanistan, or Palestine. These are scenes from Hunters Point (Bay Area), California, where a community is being terrorized by police; from Chicago's Cabrini Green housing project during a police raid on the residents; from Cincinnati, Ohio, where Nathaniel Jones was beaten to death while handcuffed; from New York City, where 19-year-old Timothy Stansbury was shot and killed just for opening a door onto the rooftop where he lived.
A law school dean inadvertently revealed the truth when he tried to defend the photographs of people tortured in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison by saying, "This is not much different from what happens in any [U.S.] police precinct house." We know this is true, and we say, "ENOUGH!" Law enforcement agencies have long had a green light to brutalize and murder people. The Stolen Lives Project's research for the 2nd volume of the book Stolen Lives: Killed by Law Enforcement documents an alarming escalation of police violence and murder. This is developing hand-in-hand with an increase in repressive laws, expansion of targeted populations, and the criminalization of dissent, all done under the name of "the war on terrorism."
The current attacks on Muslim, Arab, and South Asian immigrants--mandatory registration, "preemptive" arrests, indefinite detentions, secret trials--should be seen for what they are: the latest addition to racial profiling. As the mother of a young black man killed by a North Carolina deputy said, "Just because law enforcement has put some new people on their list doesn't mean that they have taken anyone off the list."
In Ashcroft's America, the very right to protest is under assault. The denial of permits and assembly rights, brutalization of demonstrators, use of wooden bullets, tear gas and taser guns, and mass arrests without probable cause, took place in many cities last year against anti-war demonstrators and people protesting the FTAA in Miami. Major police drills held in NYC in the days leading up to the Republican National Convention (RNC) tried to send the message that protests would not be tolerated. The PATRIOT Act creates a climate of fear and encourages people to snitch on their neighbors. Attorney Lynne Stewart faces criminal charges for her defense of her client, as the government tries to make an example of her to intimidate other progressive lawyers.
Why Should You Act on October 22nd?
"Silence is the voice of complicity." The nationwide epidemic of police brutality and repression is hidden from many people who would be outraged if they knew what was happening. Many people have become apprehensive about reprisals for protesting in today's political climate. We must resist in many different ways to drag this truth out into the light of day. October 22, 2004, the 9th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation is the day for thousands across the country to speak out and act. Our resistance will give others courage. Check the website www.october22.org for information on events near you. Organize an event in your neighborhood, school or church. Wear black that day in memory of those whose lives have been stolen from them. We must say loudly and clearly, "We don't want your kind of safety--there ain't no safety in a police state!" No More Stolen Lives! Fight Back! On October 22nd, Wear Black!
October 22,
P.O. Box 2627,
New York, NY 10009
National Email: office@october22.org
National Phone: 1-888-No-Brutality (toll-free)
===================================
Revolution Books Outlet
406 W. Willis, Detroit MI 48201
between Cass & 2nd, S. of Forest
PO Box 0083, Detroit MI 48231
313-833-7310
rbodetroit@yahoo.com
check out rwor.org