Ferguson Revolutionary Community Organizers Speak!
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I was able to head to Ferguson, MO on behalf of Rochester Indymedia to document actions (Black Lives Matter: Die-in at Delmar Loop in St. Louis; The Injustice Freak Show), conduct interviews, and make some personal connections. I'm thankful I had the oppurtunity to do all three. After the actions above, I was editing video for a day or so then sitting around for another couple of days as we waited to hear if the announcement would come down indicating that Darren Wilson would either be indicted for the murder of Michael Brown or that he would be allowed to walk. In that agonizing space of waiting, time was alloted to do some interviews. Specifically, I was able to interview two revolutionary community organizers who were organizing and strategizing around both short term actions and long term solutions to the troubles faced by the black community in Ferguson and else where. I want to thank Reign and Huey Jakhi for being interviewed and sharing their truth, their experiences, and their passion publicly.
Reign and Jakhi spoke on subjects like white supremacy and policing in Ferguson, media fabrication and misinformation, black liberation, poverty, religion, the flag, and women in the movement. Things in Ferguson were eerily quiet when we got there--unlike the media reality where Ferguson was a war zone. It became such after the announcement when police attacked demonstrators and escalated the rage of the residents of Ferguson and St. Louis, the country, and the world.
On the way down to Ferguson, I was reflecting on what drew me there and what I was anticipating. These reflections were written on November 15, 2014:
It's like I'm going to war. Last night as [my partner] and I took an hour nap together, before I was to leave at 2:00AM, I was pensive and it was really like I might not come back. And then that thought was gone.
Ferguson is not a formal war zone. Although one side is heavily armed with lethal and so-called non-lethal weapons, vehicles, troop transports, the National Guard, uniforms, guns, and ammo, Ferguson is not a formal war. Congress has not formally declared war against the brown, black, and impoverished people of Ferguson or any other community that experiences a similar existence. Governor Nixon has warned that violent protest will not be tolerated—the hashtag #violencewillnotbetolerated was born and people began slapping multiple images and videos on the internet of police in Ferguson and St. Louis acting violently--as if they were an occupying army suppressing and oppressing the people of these communities through harassment, humiliation, brutality, and murder. Governor Nixon never told us how the police will react to the righteous need for justice. The governor never told us how the police will use violence to silence the cry of justice. But Ferguson is not a formal war.
And that's just the State—in the formal sense. In the last couple of days I've seen reports of gun and ammo sales skyrocketing by presumably white consumers wanting to protect themselves and their property against the so-called violent, black hoards. I've also seen more and more reports of the Ku Klux Klan arming themselves and offering protection to white neighborhoods. And while zealous gun owners and the KKK may not be direct agents of the State, they act as a kind of paramilitary force—propping up this sick system's history of white supremacy, genocide, capitalism, patriarchy, and imperialism in order to maintain order—to maintain the status quo. Nothing changes, hate spreads, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.
On top of that, the State's propaganda machine spits out the lie that the violence comes from the protestors seeking justice, not the mass mobilization of law enforcement officers, the military, and virulent racists all working to uphold a system that would rather protect one officer from the crime he committed instead of granting justice to these hurting communities. The propaganda machine also spits the lie that there are good protestors—people following the rules laid down by self-proclaimed leaders like the clergy from the black community with the tacit and overt acknowledgement from those in power—and the bad protestors, the ones who are sick of being told to get the vote out, to just wait for change, to not swear, to not use righteous anger for the purpose of causing property damage, to not demand real justice. Spectators, as in football, are told to select their sides and wait for the onslaught of violence. A good show will be presented, while those screaming and fighting for justice will be crushed. And thank god you chose the right side!
It seems to be all connected to a domestic war against black people to keep them in their place.
So, then, this is a war zone. But let's be clear. This is not a mass mobilization of politically conscious, privileged, (mostly) white people fighting against the electoral system.
However, it seems funny to me—but it isn't, because this is exactly what it is: a mass mobilization of politically conscious people of color fighting against the very fabric of this courty--its political, economic, and social arenas that forcefully hold them back as well as the agents of injustice and oppression who protect those (white) arenas.
A difference must be pointed out, though. Ferguson has been going on for over 90 days—since August 9, 2014 when Michael Brown was murdered by officer Darren Wilson. Those angry, privileged, politically conscious, (mostly) white people who show up at the political conventions every four years mostly hang out for less than seven days. Basically, it ends. Until the next one. In Ferguson, there is no end. People don't pack up their tents, fold up their tables, put away their signs, and move onto the next issue to protest. That, in itself, is a privilege people of color do not know. There is no end in sight because the end is a radical transition—a revolution—from a completely unequal, unjust, and oppressive system to infinite possibility.
But Ferguson is not a formal war.
Black lives matter. No justice, no peace.
Related: The Results Are In: An Open Letter from Protestors on the Grand Jury Decision (11.24.14) | Huey Jakhi on the role of women in the movement | Huey Jakhi speaking on "a real dirty devil" in St Louis | Huey Jakhi on life, liberation, and oppressive systems | Reign on white supremacy and police in St. Louis | Revolutionary community organizer Reign speaks! | The Injustice Freak Show | Black Lives Matter: Die-in at Delmar Loop in St. Louis | Ferguson organizers interviewed | "They think it's a game, they think it's a joke!" Ferguson organizers speak!
