July-August AARM Newsletter OUT NOW!

DOWNLOAD the newsletter here!
-Reader-friendly: http://rochester.indymedia.org/usermedia/application/7/aarm2.5reader.pdf
-Printer-friendly: http://rochester.indymedia.org/usermedia/application/2/aarmnewsletter2.5...

FROM THE EDITORS:

Greetings! Thank you for checking out the latest issue of the Activists Against Racism Movement (AARM) Newsletter. We are committed to keeping the Rochester community in-formed of anti-racist activity in the city and surrounding areas on a regular basis. Look for this newsletter each month.

THIS ISSUE of the AARM Newsletter is a product of the rich discussions our members have had every Monday evening for the past month or so. These “critical thinking sessions,” as we’ve dubbed them, attempt to combine the theoretical with the practical in anti-racist struggle, and move us to appropriate and much-needed action. The discussions take place every Monday from 6-8 pm at the Flying Squirrel Community Space (285 Clarissa St) and are open to the public. Please join us in educating ourselves and those around us while we work toward a multi-racial, multi-generational movement against racial oppression. All are welcome!

In speaking to various issues facing the black community, such as gun violence and our power-obsessed “superman” mayor (and various other self-interested local politicians and professionals), Howard Eagle asks a crucial question that black leaders have been asking for decades: When are we going to stop begging people to do for us that which we can, should, and must do for our-selves (p. 3)? Next up, Meeka Mason examines some of the ways in which the U.S. economic system perpetuates and exacerbates many of the identity issues facing the black community, specifically black women, all in the name of profit. Meeka reminds us that we don’t need to buy what they’re selling to be the beautiful people we already are (p. 5).

If you haven’t heard of the unconscionable verdict in the Oscar Grant murder trial—found by an all-white jury—you should know that yet another unarmed black man has been brutally mur-dered, and his killer—a white police officer—has been let off easy (as is always the case in this so-called “criminal justice” system). Tim Adams points to some of the clear racial implications of this case and the maddening effect unchallenged police terror has on all of us (p. 6).

Next, while liberal theories of “color-blindness” (and various other white fantasies) only stand to confuse the issue of racism, it is imperative that white people (especially those who fancy them-selves activists) get real about the various social, economic, and political advantages received as a direct result of our country’s racist past and current reality. In examining the white identity, Casey Asprooth-Jackson describes the ways in which white denial and unchecked privilege can (and often do) impede our efforts to build a coherent movement against white supremacy and racial oppression (p. 8).

We are also including an excerpt from an interview with political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, in which he describes how the perception of so-called “democracy” when combined with the corporate media and prison industrial complex plague urban communities nationwide (p. 10). This excerpt was taken from the book “Still Black, Still Strong: Survivors of the War Against Black Revolutionaries” (Semiotext[e], 1993), which we highly recommend. And finally, with the passing of this year’s Fourth of July celebrations, we felt it necessary to include part of a famous speech given by Frederick Douglass right herein Rochester, in which he answers a question still relevant to the conditions facing urban communities of color today: What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July (p. 12)?

As an action-oriented anti-racist organization, we are consistently spreading ourselves thin; how-ever, we believe that one of the most important aspects of our work is keeping the Rochester community informed, for history has demonstrated time and again the “power of the pen” in liberation struggle. So please look for new editions of this newsletter in the same place you found this one—we will have them available and distributed every month. If you can't find a copy, just let us know, and we will get one to you. And of course, if you experience racism and want support, or if you want to get involved in any way, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

The struggle continues…

Leadership Team
Activists Against Racism Movement