A Proposal for Action to the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and All Others Who Want to Fight the New Jim Crow

Friends,

We face an emergency situation.

• More than 2.3 million people, over half of whom are African-American or Latino, continue to be warehoused in prisons across the country. 

• Many, many of these incarcerated people face conditions that fit the international definition of torture.  This includes, by last count, over 80,000 in solitary confinement.
• More than 5 million formerly incarcerated people face are stigmatized and treated as pariahs: discriminated against when they look for work, barred from living in public housing or receiving government loans and denied the right to vote. 
• Racial profiling – including in the form of stop-and-frisk and gang injunctions – as well as racially discriminatory use of police to arrest literally hundreds of thousands of youth a year in school, giving them records for minor disciplinary infractions of school rules – continues to feed youth of color into the meat grinder.
• Every night the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency detains about 33,400 immigrants.  A new report details how 100’s of these immigrants are being held in conditions of solitary confinement that amount to torture.

All this amounts to a slow genocide that is breaking the bodies and crushing the spirits of countless millions of oppressed people. A slow genocide which could easily become a fast one.  This is unacceptable and must be stopped!  And it is up to our grassroots efforts to stop it.

Nearly two years ago some of us met to pull together a movement not just to protest this, but to END IT.  Some things have been done – we have supported the 2011 prisoners’ hunger strikes in California; participated in actions across the country in protest of the murder of Trayvon Martin; and participated in many protests in communities across the country against police murder.  And, in particular, we launched a major campaign of mass nonviolent direct action against the notorious stop-and-frisk policies in New York City.

This has been important.  But it is not nearly enough.

Our movement of resistance to mass incarceration must make a big leap ahead in the coming months, becoming a major force in US society capable of beating back this slow genocide and building up the strength and organization needed to actually STOP IT.  I want to suggest a combination of initiatives for this summer that I think could, together, amount to a major step in this direction and, right now, make a huge leap in putting this in the forefront of people’s minds.

• A central focus of doing this must be working to support the hunger strike called for by people in prison in California. In 2011 prisoners in the Special Housing Units (SHU’s) of the California prisons engaged in a hunger strike demanding an end to the tortuous conditions. (For info on this strike go to www.revcom.us/a/247/247prisoners-resume-hunger-strike-en.html.)  They plan to initiate another hunger strike on July 8, 2013, if the authorities continue to refuse to respond satisfactorily to their demands for change, and they have called on prisoners across the country to join them.  They have also issued an inspiring call for unity between people of different races and nationalities inside and outside the prisons. People who have been locked down in the dungeons of this country and have been condemned as the worst of the worst have stood up and said NO MORE!   They have asserted their humanity, and if we wish to assert our own humanity, we can do no less than build powerful support for these prisoners – beginning now.  We should act in solidarity with these prisoners, with their loved ones and all those who have supported their struggle.

THIS HAS TO START NOW!  We need to spread the word on the planned hunger strike and the Call for unity inside and outside the prisons.  We need to gather statements of support for the actions of the prisoners.  We need to plan tribunals and other forms to involve broad sections of people in standing with the hunger strikers.  If at all possible, we must through this protest force the state of California to meet these demands and make it unnecessary for these prisoners to take such a desperate action; but we must also be prepared to support them through what might indeed be a necessary and very difficult struggle. 

Even as we focus on this, we need to continue working to build a powerful movement on resistance to mass incarceration overall.  This means:

• Taking on police brutality, police murder and violation of people’s fundamental rights. Supporting people whenever they take a righteous stand against this.
• URGENT: We face an immediate necessity to build support for Noche Diaz, a young revolutionary who goes on trial in New York City on April 23rd facing several years in prison for observing the police brutalizing people and refusing to leave those people alone to deal with that brutality.  Please right now sign the statement in support.  (You can sign this statement by going to www.stopmassincarceration.org/hands-off-noche-diaz.html.)  And contact me about other ways we can support this courageous young fighter.
• The trial of the vigilante murderer of Trayvon Martin begins in June.  It took massive outpourings across the country to force the authorities to put Zimmerman on trial, and without continued mass involvement there will be no chance for justice in this case. 
• Spreading the blow-the-whistle actions we took last Fall, in which communities were mobilized to blow whistles to highlight police harassment and abuse on the spot. These were taken up in several communities and showed real potential as a way for people in the grassroots to resist the denial of their rights as it happens, and to protest this.  This summer should witness a real spread of this method of resistance.
• The statement: “A Generation of Suspects” should be further circulated and should actually become a dividing line in society.  This is a vehicle for all people, whether they directly face this slow genocide or not, to stand up and protest against it. 
• This movement needs to take on a cultural expression.  There are many who would want to participate in creating a culture that highlights what is truly positive – resistance against this.  Can we ask visual artists to create a logo or emblem that could become something like the pink-and-black triangle of ACTUP?  And we should also look at the possibility of a major hip hop concert in the fall.  (How is “Words and Beats Against Mass Incarceration” as a title for this?) 
• Finally, there should be literally thousands in the streets, and tens of thousands protesting in other ways, on October 22, 2013, the 18th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation.

As part of doing this, we need to get further organized.  This means encouraging the formation of chapters of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network all over the country.

These are my ideas on what we need to take up in the months ahead.  There is an urgent need to map out an approach to the continuing slow genocide of mass incarceration that grinds away engulfing the lives of tens of millions of oppressed people.  In doing this, we need to base ourselves on what we have accomplished so far while facing squarely the need to go much further.

Get back to me with your thoughts on this proposal.  Write me at carldix@hotmail.com or call Steve Yip at (917) 868-6007.

By: Carl Dix, Revolutionary Communist Party, Co-founder of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network
April 14, 2013

Our Movement of Resistance Needs a Lot of Room for Dialogue and Discussion But NO ROOM FOR ATTACKS AND THREATS OF PHYSICAL VIOLENCE
 The fight for Justice for Kimani Gray is part of the fight against a highly repressive state that enforces mass incarceration, the criminalization of a whole generation and discrimination against formerly incarcerated people. All this amounts to a slow genocide targeting Black and Latino people, which must be met with mass determined resistance.

Kimani’s murder and people’s response to his murder mark an important juncture in this fight. This time people stood up and said NO! They did this in the face of riot cops brutalizing and arresting people, including Kimani’s sister, who gathered at vigils and protests. The authorities denied a permit to protest to Kimani’s parents. Politicians and the media directed slander at so-called “outsiders” who dared to stand together with those who had borne the brunt of the repression. It is crucial that this be resisted in a UNIFIED WAY! That is why the Stop Mass Incarceration Network called for the rally and march on March 24 and raised the slogans JUSTICE FOR KIMANI GRAY, JAIL THE KILLER COPS and DROP THE CHARGES AGAINST ALL THE ARRESTED PROTESTERS!

Carrying this fight forward will require forging broad unity among people from many different viewpoints. It is very important that everyone involved be able to put forward their honest views on the problem facing people and the solution to that problem. There needs to be honest and principled airing of differences within the unity that has been forged. Getting to the source of the problem and posing the solution to it from different viewpoints is VERY positive and is not, as some have tried to characterize this, bringing in outside issues.

But some forces issued physical threats against people associated with the Revolutionary Communist Party and the Revolution Club and shouted down speakers associated with these groups. This is unacceptable. It is important that this kind of divisive and dangerous conduct not be tolerated. Not only is this type of conduct wrong on principle, it has historically been used against movements of resistance to split, confuse, and demoralize people. It has also provided a free hand for the state to suppress, repress, and frame people and even set people up to be murdered. We must learn from and apply the lessons of this bitter experience.

There can be no unity with groups and/or individuals who carry out such actions unless and until they disavow such actions and repudiate them. Actions like these weaken the resistance movement and serve the interests of the powers-that-be, whatever the intentions of those who did them.

With this approach, we can build the firmest unity among the broadest forces and we can create an atmosphere where people have each other’s backs, where we are learning from each other as we stand shoulder to shoulder in this life-and-death struggle.

Initial List of Signatories

Dahoud Andre, Haitian community activist, NYC;

Calvin Barnwell, Arrested protesting NYPD stop-and-frisk;

Elaine Brower, World Can’t Wait; Arrested protesting NYPD stop-and-frisk;

Stephanie R. Colon, member of Stop Mass Incarceration Network Steering Committee, NYC;

Randy Credico, Impressionist and social comedian; Arrested protesting NYPD stop-and-frisk;

Noche Diaz, Revolution Club NYC; Arrested protesting NYPD stop-and-frisk;

Carl Dix, Revolutionary Communist Party; Arrested protesting NYPD stop-and-frisk;

Nicholas Heyward Sr., father of Nicholas Heyward Jr, killed 1994 by NYPD;

B.M. Marcus, Community Director, Community Advocate and Development Organization, Brooklyn;

Richie Marini, World Can’t Wait; Arrested protesting NYPD stop-and-frisk;

Jamel Mims, Revolution Club NYC; Arrested protesting NYPD stop-and-frisk;

Travis Morales, member of Stop Mass Incarceration Network Steering Committee, NYC;

John Penley, Tent City Tompkins Square Park*, NYC;

Allene Person, mother of Timur Person, killed 2006 by NYPD;

Rev. Stephen Phelps, The Riverside Church*; Arrested protesting NYPD stop-and-frisk;

Revolution Club NYC

Morgan Rhodewalt, Arrested protesting NYPD stop-and-frisk;

Debra Sweet, World Can’t Wait; Arrested protesting NYPD stop-and-frisk;

Jim Vrettos, professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice*; Arrested protesting NYPD stop-and-frisk

Juanita Young, mother of Malcolm Ferguson, killed 2000 by NYPD;

Additional Signatories:

Alan Barysh, performance poet and Revolution Newspaper Seller, Baltimore;

Jay Becker, Chicago, IL

Arthur Blakey II, musician and activist, Ohio

Reginald T. Brown, M. Ed., Unity Fellowship of Christ Church NYC*, LGBT Faith Leaders of African Descent*, AIDS Leadership Coalition*, Stop Mass Incarceration Network;

Darcy Delaproser, Founder Member of Triple A (Advocates for Abandoned Adolescents*), UK;

Larry Everest, Revolution correspondent, author Oil, Power & Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda;

Johanna Fernandez, Professor, Baruch College*, New York;

Idriss Stelley Foundation, San Francisco CA;

Mesha Irizarry, mother of Idriss Stelley, killed 2001 by SFPD; director, SF Education Not Incarceration, and of Idriss Stelley Foundation; co-chair, City and County of San Francisco Marijuana Offenses Oversight Committee (MOOC)*;

Dr. Neal N Jackson, Pastor - Activist, Richmond, Virginia;

Sandra J. Jones, Ph.D., LCSW, Associate Professor, Sociology Department, Rowan University*; Board Member, Campaign to End the Death Penalty*;

Noel "Don" Juan, Music Director, San Francisco;

Jill McLaughlin, World Can't Wait;
Alessandro Morosin,Graduate Student, Sociology, UC Riverside, M.A., Global Studies, UC Santa Barbara;

Maurice Muhammad, Southern Regional Director, Hour Time Now 4 Black Unity;

Joyce Robbins, Touro College*, New York;

Seattle Affiliate, October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Seattle;

SF Education Not Incarceration, San Francisco CA;

Garret Schenck, Occupy Hartford CT*; arrested on #S17 with #OWS;

Andree Penix Smith, mother of Justin Smith, killed 1998 by Tulsa OK Police; co-editor Stolen Lives: Killed by Law Enforcement; 
Scott Trent, October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation, Guilford (AKA "GUILTY") County, NC;



*For identification purposes only.

To add your name to this list of signatories send an e-mail to: standardsinmovementsofresistance@yahoo.com

4 Points in Response to Slander in the Media and Other Places About the March 24thProtest for Justice for Kimani Gray

March 27, 2013
 
#1 - It was important and righteous that a diverse group of people responded to the Stop Mass Incarceration Network's Call to come out on 3/24 for Justice For Kimani Gray.  We were uniting to take on a real genocide and standing with those who have been arrested and criminalized for standing up against the police murder of Kimani.  There are no “outsiders” in the struggle for justice.
 
#2 – It is vital that everyone in this movement be able to put forward their understanding of where this problem comes from and what the solution is. Open airing of these perspectives is very positive, not a distraction or “outside issues.”
 
#3 – Attacks and threats against people for putting forward their views are divisive and destructive. This serves the highly repressive state and its mouthpieces in the media in trying to demoralize, confuse, divide, and even frame or set people up for murder.
 
#4 – Everyone who is serious about ending the epidemic of police murder needs to get into the real revolution. I’ve gone to funerals and marched for victims of the police for 40 years.  I’ve seen Black mayors and police chiefs.  I’ve seen officials promise more accountability, better police training and CCRB’s and still the killings continue.  The murder of our youth by this system continues because the problem is deeper than that. That’s why I say it’ll take Revolution-Nothing Less! to stop police murder, and all the horrors this system inflicts on humanity.  Go to www.revcom.us/movement-for-revolution/BAE/film.html to get into what this revolution is all about through the new film, “BA Speaks: REVOLUTION – NOTHING LESS!”
 

Carl Dix is a representative of the Revolutionary Communist Party and a leader in the movement to stop mass incarceration.

New Statement from Carl Dix on the Fight for Justice for Kimani Gray

Everybody who has an ounce of justice needs to come out and stand with the people in East Flatbush who get harassed, disrespected and worse by cops day in and day out.  If people hadn’t stood up, took to the streets and said NO MORE to the murder of Kimani; the authorities would have gotten away with sweeping this murder under the rug.  If we don’t stand with them, we’ll be leaving them to face all that the system brings down on them by themselves.

This is a fight for justice, and there are no outsiders in this fight.  Everybody needs to come out and support it.  The outsiders who have caused trouble in this neighborhood are the undercover cops who murdered Kimani Gray and the riot cops who attacked people who gathered at vigils and who tried to march in protest on the sidewalks.

You need to come out Saturday morning showing love for Kimani at the funeral service.  You need to come back on Sunday at 3 PM for the rally and march.

JUSTICE FOR KIMANI GRAY!

JAIL THE KILLER COPS!

DROP THE CHARGES AGAINST ALL THOSE ARRESTED IN THE PROTESTS!

JUSTICE FOR KIMANI (KIKI) GRAY!  REVOLUTION--NOTHING LESS!  

By Carl Dix

16 year old Kimani Gray, gunned down by cops who shot him 7 times, 3 times in his back!  Immediately, the authorities spread stories that Kiki pointed a gun at the cops.  The mayor said “all indications” are that his death was justifiable homicide.  WE SAY BULLSHIT!  THIS WAS MURDER; committed by the same police department that murdered Shantel Davis, Tamar Robinson, Ramarley Graham, Reynaldo Cuevas and many more.

How long must we bury our children who were murdered by the cops?  This has to stop!  It’ll take Revolution-Nothing Less to end this, and all the other horrors this system brings down on people here and around the world, once and for all.  And people need to stand up now and say NO MORE to police murder.

The days when this system and its enforcers can do whatever they want to people, when people are not inspired and organized to stand up and resist their attacks and build up the strength to end them once and for all; those days must be ended, and they can be!

People were right to take to the streets following Kimani’s murder!  The “outsiders” who should be condemned are the pigs who murdered Kiki, not the people who stood up and fought back.  The charges against all those arrested in the protests MUST be dropped!

We need more resistance to the attacks the system brings down on us.  Join in building that resistance.  And get with the movement for revolution.  Join it in Fighting The Power, and Transforming The People, for Revolution; and help bring closer the day when police murder, and all the other attacks the system brings down on the people, are  NO MORE!

Contact Carl Dix:

Office of Carl Dix, Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

P.O. Box 941 Knickerbocker Station, New York NY 10002-0900

866-841-9139 x2670 * blog:  comradecarl.blogspot.com *  facebook: carl.dix * youtube: CarlDix1 * twitter: @Carl_Dix

Statement on the Anniversary of the Vigilante Murder of Trayvon Martin

By Carl Dix, co-founder of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and representative of the Revolutionary Communist Party

Almost 60 years ago a Black teenager named Emmitt Till was lynched by white men in Money, Mississippi.  Last year, Trayvon Martin, another Black teenager, was murdered by George Zimmerman, a vigilante and a wannabe cop, who saw Trayvon’s Black skin and decided that he must be a criminal.  How long are we gonna have to put up with these kinds of racist outrages? Murders like this concentrate the way this country has criminalized Black and Latino youth, treating them as guilty until proven innocent, if they can survive to prove their innocence.  This is unacceptable.  It must stop, and it is up to us to stop it!

No one should want to live in a world where there’s a death sentence hanging over every Black and Latino youth.  This death sentence might, or might not, get carried out, but it’s always there. We must say NO MORE to living in a society and a world like this anymore.  We have to mean it when we say that, and we have to act to make our determination to end this kind of world.

That’s why the Stop Mass Incarceration Network issued a Call for people to wear hoodies and take to the streets on this day.  It’s why the slogan, “We Are All Still Trayvon!” is being raised today.  And it’s why we have to not only act today, but continue to express our rage at the vigilante murder of Trayvon and at the way the whole criminal “injustice” system of this country targets Blacks and Latinos.

Remember that the system has already “worked” once in this case.  It “worked” when the cops discovered Zimmerman standing over Trayvon’s dead body and let him walk away free.  The only reason Zimmerman faces a trial today is because Trayvon’s parents refused to silently accept their son’s murderer being set free, and people all across the country responded to their call for justice by taking their outrage to the streets.  This forced the system to re-arrest Zimmerman and put him on trial.  If we had failed to take to the streets today, and if we fail to continue expressing our determination to fight for justice in this case, that system will “work” again, in the way it always has, by letting the racist murderer walk away free again.  And they will continue to give green lights to killer cops and racist vigilantes who prey on our youth.

It is a basic truth that this kind of racist violence has happened since the very 1^st African was dragged to these shores in slave chains.  It’s built into the very fabric of this country, and it will take Revolution - Nothing Less to uproot it and all the other horrors—the brutality inflicted on women, the wars for empire, the long distance death rained down on people thru drone strikes and more—that this system enforces on humanity.  As a revolutionary communist, this is what I’m working to do—I’m spreading the need for, and possibility of, revolution everywhere and mobilizing people to fight the power and transform themselves and others, for revolution.  The key way I’m spreading revolution right now is thru promoting the premier of “BA Speaks: Revolution-Nothing Less!” which is a film of a recent talk by Bob Avakian, the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party. Everybody who hates the hell on earth this system enforces on humanity needs to check out this film because it breaks down why revolution is possible, the kind of world we could bring into being thru revolution, what those who see the need for revolution need to be doing today and more.

This is a critical time for people to act, from whatever perspective they feel compelled to resist this outrage.  Horrors like the vigilante murder of Trayvon jolt people into standing up and resisting the system’s attacks.  It is in times like these that people are more open to hearing about and acting on what is the source of all these horrors and what needs to be and can be done about them.  This part of why we needed to take to the streets and wear our hoodies today and why we need to continue standing up and saying NO MORE to the murder of Trayvon and to the way they criminalize our youth overall.

One year ago today, George Zimmerman stalked and murdered Trayvon Martin.  Today we are declaring, all across the country, that we refuse to accept this outrage in silence.  And that we will no longer accept all the outrages the criminal “injustice” system of this country enforces on people.  In this way, we are working toward the day when all these outrages—the police murder, the racial profiling, the horrific numbers of people warehoused in prisons and all the rest—are NO MORE.  Everyone who is disturbed by these outrages needs to join us.

WE ARE ALL STILL TRAYVON!