A message from Carl Dix, co-founder with Dr. Cornel West of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, and representative of the Revolutionary Communist Par
Carl Dix speaking October 22, 2015 at No More Stolen Lives: #SayTheirNames in Times Square as part of #RiseUpOctober
A message from Carl Dix, co-founder with Dr. Cornel West of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, and representative of the Revolutionary Communist Party:
You’ve been with us working to stop the genocide of mass incarceration and police terror, and we are counting on you to continue as an active participant and to become a donor. This movement has a huge responsibility to escalate the struggle in 2016 to prevent the police from continuing to get away with murder, and that takes people and money.
I say “murder” when the police kill unarmed people, who are disproportionately Black and brown. This happens on an almost daily basis, and normally, the system works to exonerate killer cops. The missing element in preventing that had been resistance in the streets.
On April 14, together, we broke through months of quiet after the mass protests of 2014 to #ShutDownA14 in cities across the country, just after Walter Scott was executed on video in South Carolina. In May, when Freddie Gray was killed in Baltimore, youth erupted in days of outrage, forcing the indictment of police who are on trial now.
Chicago November 2015: Justice for Laquan McDonald, Shot 16 Times by Chicago PD
Last month in Chicago, the normal workings of the system to let the cops off were disrupted when covered-up video showed the execution of Laquan McDonald, bringing another indictment, and a crisis of legitimacy for Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Mothers of people killed by police bring the reality of murder by police to Times Square, October 22 2015 as part of #RiseUpOctober
We needed to focus resistance to the epidemic of murder by police, in a big way, building up a national movement to STOP these horrors. So Cornel and I called for #RiseUpOctober – three days of protest in New York City to STOP police terror. October 22: No More Stolen Lives: #SayTheirNames put the lived reality of police murder in the center of Times Square. A determined action on October 23 #ShutDownRikers closed the hellhole where dozens have died in custody, for more than an hour.
October 24, 2015 NYC #RiseUpOctober
The October 24 march drew thousands – short of our goal – but dynamic, defiant, and challenging people to answer “Which Side Are You On?” Students from high school and college campuses, religious groups, delegations from Ferguson, LA, Seattle, North Carolina, Atlanta, Cleveland, Chicago, followed family members of 100 people killed by police.
Kimberly Griffin, mother of Kimoni Davis, killed in a high speed police chase in Ohio, June, 2015, speaks with film maker Quentin Tarantino at No More Stolen Lives event October 22, 2015 as part of #RiseUpOctober
When filmmaker Quentin Tarantino joined in two days of the actions, and was threatened by the Police “Brutality” Association with a boycott, weeks of coverage brought the protest and the issue to millions. Other voices of conscience joined in what the Revolutionary Communist Party called, “a powerful political and moral response in opposition to and as part of the political battle over the legitimacy and the right of the police to blow away lives without any consequences or justice.”
We are just getting started in stopping this horror. The Stop Mass Incarceration Network is organizing very important next steps:
▪ Stolen Lives Tours of campuses and communities, featuring family members telling the stories of their members killed by police during February 2015, Black History Month. Students, especially, need to hear these stories and be organized into this movement. ▪ Any day now, a Cleveland grand jury will decide whether the police who murdered 13 year old Tamir Rice in 2014 will be indicted, after delays and efforts to grease the skids for no indictment, a development that will require fierce opposition from us and everyone who hates injustice.
I’m asking you to give generously, now, so that this movement is ready in 2016 to greatly expand the numbers of people taking action. #RiseUpOctober was funded completely by participants; there are no corporations or foundations paying the bills.
The Stop Mass Incarceration Network is setting up a permanent office, recruiting volunteer staff, and working with supporters across the country to spread this movement. Will you join us by donating $10, $25 or $100 now?
In resistance,
Carl Dix
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P.S. Your donations are tax deductible through our fiscal sponsor, The Alliance for Global Justice, whether you donate online, or through the mail. Please act now to make a difference.
Carl Dix put out a challenge to marchers at #RiseUpOctober
“Let’s do all that we can to stop the horror of police murdering our people.
And then let’s do even more because we gotta stop this.
We gotta do it for ourselves.
We gotta do it for our children.
We gotta do it for future generations.
Stop Police Terror! Which side are you on?
We know what side we’re on.
We’re challenging the world and the whole country: Which side are you on?”
