Power to the People.

People who use the issue of Black crime to deflect from the issue of police brutality are (if not simply dishonest) quite ignorant of the fact that both are manifestations of the reality of oppression. Crime is mainly the destructive and self-destructive response to oppression, to poverty, exploitation and racism. An essential function of police is to protect---by FORCE OF ARMS---the system of oppression. And to protect the privileged. That is the reason why the poor and people of color are LESS protected from crime than are the rich and the white. What interesting thing that I've learned both from observation and from study is that when movement for social justice emerges, communities deeply involved in those movements experience a marked decline in crime. And as the Movement is directed against the Establishment the police, armed protectors of the Establishment, often make common cause with criminal elements themselves. The Establishment prefers CRIME to liberatory social movements or Revolution. Crime dropped by 60% during the Montgomery Bus Boycottt. Baltimore, Maryland saw one of its greatest drops in crime during the riots precipitated by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. (It seems that rebellion, violent or nonviolent, diminishes crime and intensifies solidarity). Interestingly enough, when the 1968 rebellion broke out in Baltimore two days after Dr. King's assassination (bring a DROP in fratricidal violence in Black Baltimore), there was an ACTIVE ALLIANCE between POLICE and Black gangsters! One of the newspapers dishonestly reported "Black Activists Join Police to Quell Riots." Those "black activists" were scumbag pimps and dope dealers "Little Melvin" and his gang. (The riots disrupted the flow of drugs and Melvin couldn't circulate his prostitutes, and hence had nearly as much motive as the police to quell the uprising). On the other hand, the Black Panther Party made its presence felt in our community by 1968 and 69. When I was a kid they were organizing right around the corner from where we lived: breakfast programs for children, education in English, math and political history, clinics. They absorbed so much of the energy of youth that drugs and crime decline substantially in my neighborhood. Such was the solidarity. But also, the Panther patrols which put the cops under surveillance also (whether intentionally or not) put thugs and gangsters under surveillance. They felt the pressure. STRUGGLE as the alternative to crime and fratricidal conflict. Build community while resisting oppression.

All Power to the People!


-Savant

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 A New York policeman who "mistook " a 10 year old Black child for a 40 year old alleged bank robber admitted under cross examination that he only noticed the child's "color"- --the same color as the alleged bank robber. Apparently, at 17 I looked like a 35 year old robber who stuck up a bar. Only I was more fortunate than the 10 year old in New York, or that 12 year old in Cleveland. I'm wondering how long it will be before we hear that some cop mistook a Black infant for a thirty year old drug dealer, and that they mistook his milk bottle for a gun.

 -Savant

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 I also said that Black people are angry because of oppression, because of racism and because of this fascistic police violence--all controlled by the white capitalistic power structure, but defended by all too many ordinary white people. You claim that Black neighborhoods are not safe for white people? Well AMERICA has long been and still is unsafe for Black people. But I doubt if the police will stop and harass you in a Black neighborhood as I have been in white neighborhood, or even in my own neighborhood. Sorry, Miss Sally. MOST violence in America that is not strictly CLASS BASED is white on Black violence. And yes, the Black community is furious. This police terror is being talked about on buses and subways, and in schools, churches, barbershops and even bars where Blacks gather. Hell, even my very Christian mother--who thinks Dr. King was next to God--angrily replied upon learning about the police killing of the 12 year old "Where are our men? At least protect our children from these c____s! The cop should be hunted down like a dog." Everyone was surprised to hear those words from mother. I can tell you that younger people less committed to religion and the Kingian philosophy will not be restrained for long if this continues. You're ranting and raving about some burning buildings, not not destroyed lives! You're ranting about riots, but not marveling at how PEACEFUL most of the protest has been and still is---despite the cauldron of Black anger. You've no idea of how bad things could be. And I've no doubt that if police dealt with you, or with white Americans as they do Black Americans, you'd be singing a completely different tune. 

-Savant

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 There's no widespread "left wing violence" in America. In fact, that kind of violence is nearly non-existent. But racist and right wing violence is rampant in America. Indeed, that is the only kind of violence that has predominated in the USA. I suspect that may have even been true for most of Europe's history, but I know that right wing violence has predominated in ALL of American history. 

-Savant

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