By Greg Akili
I recently returned from Ferguson MO. as a participant with the Black Life Matters Coalition representing the Black Workers Center and the Black Community Clergy and Labor Alliance.
After the killing of Trayvon Martin, people from all across the country came together and created the Black Life Matters Coalition to stop the killing of Black people under the cover of the law. The Coalition was the sponsoring organization that brought together over 500 people in Ferguson from 16 states to support the people of Ferguson and to discuss, plan ,activate and promote the national and local campaigns to stop the killings. Working with the talented organizers from the Black Life Matters Coalition was one of the highlights of the trip.
We must first understand that Ferguson is connected to Watts, Newark, Detroit and many other cities in the mid-sixties that exploded with outrage and to the south Los Angeles upraising in1992 after the police who beat Rodney King were acquitted. Ferguson is connected to other times of resistance and rebellion in our history when Black people have had enough of the constant pain, degradation, frustration and humiliation of racism and repression that is America for Black people.
After the murder of Mike Brown, the 18-year-old unarmed African American the people of Ferguson had enough and displayed their outrage and rebelled.
The people I talked with said that they felt the police were there to keep them in line like an occupying force and were there to generate revenue for the city. Many of the sisters I talked with had brothers, fathers, uncles and cousins stop and harassed by the police. The police are constantly giving tickets for parking and other so-called violations with fees that nickel and dimed the people. As one resident put it “when you are living pay check to pay check those kinds of fees and fines have an impact”. There was resentment of the police and city officials, who the people feel don’t know or care about them.
There was also a lot of love, appreciation and thanks from the people of Ferguson for us coming to support them as they worked to improve conditions that also was very rewarding and inspiriting.
We must link the most recent killings of Ezell Ford to Mike Brown to Eric Gardner and others LA, Ferguson, NY because these killings are all the result of the criminalization of Black men. We are seen as criminals and not as citizens, residents or even human beings.
There are stereotypes and myths we must attack. First Black men are not all criminals, and second, because the police perform a dangerous and difficult job they get a pass for killing Black people. Very few police have been convicted of killing a Black man; Amadou Dialo is one example, shot nineteen times by NYPD while reaching for his wallet. None of the four police were convicted. In most cases the police are not even brought to court because the prosecutor depends on the PD to provide the information for other cases they are working on and they know getting a conviction is unlikely.
Black Life Matters has developed five demands based on the discussions with members and participants of the coalition:
- Justice for the family of Michael Brown and all other victims of law enforcement and vigilante violence:
- The development of a national policy specifically aimed at redressing the systemic pattern of anti-black law enforcement violence in the US:
- De-militarization of Law Enforcement – we are demanding that the federal government discontinue its supply of military weaponry and equipment to local law enforcement. Furthermore, law enforcement agencies across the country should liquidate their current military resources, immediately.
- Release the names of all officers involved in murdering Black people both on patrol, but also inside custody from the last 5 years onward.
- Decrease law enforcement spending/budget by 1⁄2 by 2016, and invest that money into Black communities most devastated by poverty in order to create jobs, housing, and school.
Additionally there have been discussions about having independent investigations into police shootings, civilian oversight with real authority and proper cultural training for police. We must translate the demands into actions locally and nationally to keep justice as an issue, if there is no justice, there will be no peace.
Greg Akilii is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW).
