Vol. 79/No. 38 October 26, 2015
Many of those participating saw the action as a way to advance the fight against police brutality. Signs and T-shirts with photos of people killed by the cops dotted the crowd.
Others came to reaffirm the theme of the Oct. 16, 1995, rally when hundreds of thousands of African-American workers, youth and middle-class men turned out to demonstrate Black pride and reject an image of Black men as violent criminals and an irresponsible “underclass.”
The Justice or Else website opened with the demand, “We want Justice for Blacks in America who have given America 460 years of sweat and blood to make her rich and powerful.” The second demand was for “an immediate end to police brutality and mob attacks” followed by calls for “justice” for Native American Indians, Mexicans and Latinos, women, the poor, the incarcerated and veterans. The overwhelming majority of participants were Black men and women.
On stage were family members of many of those killed by the cops or vigilantes, including Michael Brown, Sr., father of Michael Brown; Sabryna Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin; and Sharon Cooper, sister of Sandra Bland, who died in police custody in Texas. “The world has shown us that we have to control our own narrative. I want to thank you and if I could ask you to do one thing, say her name,” said Cooper. “Sandra Bland,” responded the crowd.
Farrakhan spoke for two hours, denouncing racist discrimination, but also raising demands and politics that undermine the interests of the working class. Among his reactionary themes was opposition to women’s right to choose abortion, the notion that the road forward for Blacks in the U.S. is “for America to let us go, not integrate us,” and conspiracy theories that take the eyes of fighters off the real enemy, the capitalist class and their politicians.
At one point Farrakhan criticized those in Charleston, South Carolina, who took the moral high ground when they refused to call for vengeance against Dylann Storm Roof, the white supremacist who killed nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Farrakhan said that those who forgave Roof showed “cowardice.”
Near the end of the speech the Nation of Islam leader also slandered Malcolm X.
The month before the rally, the U.S. Capitol Police sent out a provocative email to its 1,800 officers claiming that there was potential for violence from participants in the rally. But that attempt to bait the event backfired and the cops were forced to disavow the slander.
“I came to find others who want to fight against police injustice as well as other injustices and to let people know what happened to my son,” said Delphine Matthews, mother of Frank McQueen, who was killed by the cops in Chester, Pennsylvania, on June 2, 2014. She distributed leaflets about his death and an organization she formed to fight against police injustice called “Direction, Voice and Light.”
Kwame Rose, 21, came with a group from Baltimore. Rose said he was recently arrested at the second pretrial hearing for the police who killed Freddie Gray in Baltimore. “It was what I call a ‘targeted arrest’ because I was protesting,” he said. “Marching in the streets is the kind of action that’s needed.”
“Probably the best thing that happened in 2015 was taking down the rebel flag,” said Todd Barber, who drove up with 11 friends from Forest, Mississippi. “You have to remember the violence it stood for. I’m here to show unity, with my people.”
“For me, it’s necessary that we try to show young folks the legacy of the struggle,” said Warren Price from Laborers Local 332 in Philadelphia, who helped organize two union buses to the rally. “They are the ones who hold the future.”
Janet Post and Arlene Rubinstein contributed to this article.
Related articles:
‘Jail Chicago cops who killed my son and lied!’
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