Brooklyn, NY—On Saturday, May 18 from 12-5pm, the Brooklyn, NY branch of the International Peoples Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) will hold the Court for Black Justice and Reparations (CBJR), where we will put the New York Police Department (NYPD) on trial for crimes of colonial oppression against the African community.
InPDUM is calling on every African man, woman or child who has been brutalized, framed up, harassed or violated by the NYPD to testify at the upcoming Court for Black Justice and Reparations.
The CBJR will be held at Red Hills Road, located 5422 Church Ave (between E. 54th St. and 55th St.) in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY.
InPDUM is charging the NYPD with the following crimes:
1. The murder of Kimani Grey, Shantel Davis and many others
2. The brutal oppression imposed from five million incidents of “Stop and Frisk” on Africans and Latinos since 2001.
3. The assaults on the East Flatbush protesters.
4. The ongoing colonial military occupation of the African community.
The significance of the Court for Black Justice and Reparations
The CBJR is NOT a mock trial.
The CBJR is a serious judicial process designed to bring power and justice to the African community.
The process of building the CBJR in Brooklyn, NY is designed to organize the masses of African people into a structure to build the power we need to overcome our oppression.
The only difference between the CBJR and the courts controlled by white power is that we do not have power.
The U.S. and European colonial courts, even the courts throughout Africa and the Caribbean that are controlled by neocolonial puppet governments, are only effective because their rulings are enforced by men and women with guns.
Their rulings are enforced by police, armies, navies, prison systems etc.
The court system is tied to the state apparatus as a whole, whose primary task is to maintain the status quo; to protect the political and economic interests of the ruling class of society through violence and coercion.
We do not yet have power over police and armies and prisons and all of the other components of the state power necessary to enforce the ruling of the courts.
The CBJR, and all of the activities leading up to and following it, is designed to build for that power.
Security was never in the police! It is in the masses!
Already, as we have begun to build the CBJR, people have begun to raise concerns about the implications that holding such a ground breaking process would have on the security of the people who participate.
The fact is that harm is unavoidable for Africans, as long as we are powerless.
Young Kimani Grey, Shantel Davis and countless other Africans who have been murdered by the police were never affiliated with any movement, but were gunned down nonetheless.
The fact is that the deaths of these Africans were a consequence of the fact that they, and the African community as a whole, are not organized to protect and defend our own.
History has shown that when the masses are organized to resist, the state backs down.
That is why, in the height of the resistance following Kimani’s murder, the police found it necessary to retreat. They produced barriers and roadblocks to prevent the people from accessing the precinct that murdered Kimani.
That is why they had to drop the charges against Kimani's sister—for fear of the political consequences from the people themselves.
These acts were not signs of strength on the part of the NYPD. Rather, they were signs of retreat and weakness on the part of the State.
We must exploit the weaknesses of our oppressor until it has no more strength to draw from!
Let the Court for Black Justice advance the struggle to challenge and destroy the colonial state apparatus that stands between African people and our freedom and resources.
Justice for Kimani, Shantel and the entire African community!
Put the NYPD on Trial!
Build the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement!
Forward to the Court for Black Justice and Reparations!
To testify at the upcoming Court for Black and Reparations call 267-388-1086
For more information about the work of InPDUM go to inpdum.org
