FERGUSON, MO—“Indict! Convict! Send that Killer cop to jail! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!” can be heard daily being chanted energetically from organized groups of people stomping through the streets of Ferguson and St. Louis.
Since the execution styled killing of Mike Brown on August 9, 2014, valiant demonstrators have been calling for an indictment and arrest of bloodthirsty cop, Darren Wilson.
Spontaneous and organized demonstrations have been sprouting up like barley in the St. Louis area as a reaction to the colonialist style murder of Michael Brown, a recent high school graduate about to go to college. Coming from a disbanded Jennings, MO police department,
Wilson stopped Brown and Dorian Johnson while the two were walking from a store, and as usual, the cop decided to violate the rights of Africans for whatever reason he could manufacture.
The stop turned deadly when Wilson chased Brown down the narrow road shooting eleven shots at him with 6 hitting Brown.
Witnesses provided similar details of how Brown looked helpless and harmless with his hands up in the air pleading for the cop to stop shooting.The cop showed no mercy.A bullet to the top of Brown’s head was the kill shot.
After years of witnessing and being subjected to police murder and brutality, the assassination of Mike Brown with his hands up was the “straw that broke the camel’s back.”
On May 2, 1973 while traveling with Sundiata Acoli and Zayd Malik Shakur, Assata Shakur also was shot by a cop on the New Jersey Turnpike with her hands up in surrender.
Although she and Acoli survived, Zayd Malik Shakur, like many others, did not survive the police terror many Africans face daily.
Thus, murderous actions towards unarmed Africans are not a new phenomenon. Lest we forget, people traveled by the 1000’s to view a lynching spectacle during the height of lynching in the 1800’s.
Somehow, watching the slow kill, brutal burning, and mutilation of innocent people proved to be entertainment for white people for many years.
St. Louis Segregation
In 1915, white people in St. Louis voted to prevent blacks from moving into any neighborhood that was already 75 percent white (or vice versa). In 1916, St. Louis became the first city in the United States to pass a segregation ordinance by referendum.
In 2012 St. Louis was noted as one of the most segregated cities in the US, according to a 2013 report by professors John Logan and Brian Stults at Brown University and Florida State University, which analyzed the 2010 census data.
Logan and Stult evaluated segregation in major cities using a dissimilarity index. The dissimilarity index reveals the percentage of Africans that would have to be relocated in order to erase vestiges of segregation.
A score above 60% is indicative of extreme segregation. St. Louis is listed as the 9th most segregated city and earns a 70.6 % score on the dissimilarity index.
We site these statistics not to promote integration but to show concretely the objective conditions that are in place for police organizations to roam and occupy the African community as an armed colonial army with boots on the ground.
They do not police white St Louis in the same fashion. There, it is “Mam, can I get your cat out of the tree,” as opposed to “up against the wall “nigger”, you know the position.”
Daring demonstrations
Demonstrations have been organized to disrupt the pleasant peace that so many have been privy to while others suffer and die as if on a voyage through the Middle Passage.
Acts of civil disobedience have been displayed at various locations on every night since Brown was murdered. During the intermission of the St. Louis symphony, a group of singers erupted into a requiem for Mike Brown singing “Justice for Mike Brown means justice for us all, which side are you on friend?”
While some comfy theatre guests looked horrified and disgusted by the righteous interruption, others applauded.
The St. Louis Cardinals (baseball) and St. Louis Rams (football) games have been disrupted by those who continue to shake up the power structure and the peace to which white people are accustomed, at events that the African masses can’t afford to attend.
At a recent demonstration organized at a Rams game, a young sister holding an American flag upside down (signaling distress) was attacked by a white patriot attempting to take the flag from her.
Dare to Struggle! Dare to Win!
The almost daily demonstrations that have occurred in Ferguson and in St Louis have certainly changed the political landscape not only in those areas, but throughout the US as well.
Spontaneous demonstrations against police terror and murder are now occurring with frequency throughout this country.
The people’s righteous indignation and anger must be translated into organization if we are to win. We don’t only need to struggle, we need to win!
That is why the meeting that occurred on Friday, October 17, 2014 was of the utmost importance.
At that meeting, organized by African People’s Socialist Party Chairman Omali Yeshitela, along with local activists from Ferguson and St Louis, a formal branch of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) was born.
InPDUM, first organized in Chicago in 1991, has been on the ground for more than 20 years fighting for justice and black power to the African community in the United States, Africa and other international locations where we are located.
The establishment of InPDUM in the St Louis area means that there is now permanent organized opposition to police violence and murder.
It means that our movement there will develop a coherent message for the masses of our people. It means that our demands will be coherent and achievable. And above all, it means the people have some genuine leadership.
There is also the Leadership Coalition that was born out of the Ferguson Uprisings. There are many groups involved in this coalition. The African People’s Socialist Party is a part of this coalition.
In addition, Zaki Baruti, President of the Universal African People’s Organization is also part of the coalition.
Baruti is running for St Louis County Executive calling for “All Power to the People.” Baruti has also endorsed the “Peace Through Revolution” Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace, and Reparations national march and rally set for November 1, in Washington, DC.
Some of the people who have been on the front line of the demonstrations at the police station and throughout the city must also be acknowledged for their passion for justice and the indictment of Darren Wilson.
Alexis Templeton and Brittany Farrell of Music Over People, Artist TefPoe, Lost Voices and a team of others, have been holding Ferguson to the fire every day shouting “If we don’t get it -shut it down”, “If Mike don’t get it- shut it down!” and Fight Back” – in between saying “I love you” to each of their fellow participating demonstrators and comrades.
Ferguson October Weekend of Resistance
During the Weekend of Resistance (Friday, Oct.11th – Mon., Oct. 13th) demonstrations, Chairman Omali Yeshitela of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) joined over 5,000 people who assembled in St. Louis and Ferguson to speak out and stand up to the system of domestic colonialism, which is the root cause of Mike Brown’s murder and the myriad of other problems confronting Africans in the US and around the world.
Even with the black face (Obama) in a high place (the white house), we continue to suffer and the struggle continues.
We will continue to fight against imperialism and break the continuity of the war on Africans.
Join us in Washington, D.C. as we march on the white house Nov.1
Join the Uhuru Movement today!
