“We are All Trayvon” in Atlanta
July 14, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
We received the following from a correspondent in Atlanta:
Week two of George Zimmerman's trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin is in full swing and the eyes of the world are focused on Sanford, Florida. Millions are looking to the trial with the hope of justice for Trayvon—a push back against the legacy of white supremacy, which this case exposes as alive and well. Simultaneously, the system has been working overtime to crush people's hopes and turn their raised heads back down. So far the system has been very successful in setting the terms in which people view the larger societal-implications of this trial and narrowing their focus to the legality of self-defense. All of this had served to dampen people's very correct and righteous outrage at this clearly racist murder—undermining people's indignation with calls to “just let the system work.” This is bullshit! People knew better when they demonstrated for justice a year ago and people should know better now as they watch the criminal INjustice system at work in the courtroom. As Carl Dix said in his recent article in Revolution newspaper, “Anyone who says we can expect justice for Trayvon Martin by letting the system work, either doesn't know how this system has historically inflicted injustice on Black people or hopes those who hear them don't know this history.”
Carl Dix ended his article with an urgent call for people to step-up and step-out NOW—to raise people's consciousness to the stakes that are involved in this trial and open their eyes to what it means when the system works—and why ultimately this system needs to be done away with through revolution—nothing less.
Saturday preceding the second week of the trial, a team in Atlanta, which included two youth from a neighboring project—inspired after watching clips from BA Speaks: Revolution—Nothing Less!—decided to take Revolution to comedian Dave Chappelle's comedy tour, which was part of 5 nights of shows in Atlanta. The crew took out Revolution newspaper, BAsics palm cards with quote 1:13 (No more generations of our youth, here and around the world...) and Revolution Nothing Less! promo cards with buckets to raise money for the Sanford reporters fund. The group held a large banner with the image of Trayvon Martin and Emmett Till with Bob Avakian's “No More Generations of Our Youth” quotation. People were elated to see a group of multinational faces boldly injecting some truth into the world—We Are All Trayvon. The Whole Damn System is Guilty!
Taking up Carl Dix's call and inspired by Saturday's experience, a team headed downtown to Five Points MARTA station (a metro-hub in Atlanta in the middle of a multinational shopping, college, and business area with many proletarians, business people, and students). We were excited to see how people were viewing the trial after the first week, but we also wanted to bring them into the mix—giving them an outlet for their outrage—and a first step into the movement for revolution.
The tide is rapidly changing. People's sentiments have shifted. Leading up to the trial and during jury selection, there was a noticeable lack of urgency, people felt as if a guilty verdict was unavoidable—this is no longer the case. People, lined up (literally) to sign the banner (which has been and will soon return to the courthouse in Sanford). Some people would distance themselves momentarily, listening to what we were saying, and reading the banner. An older Black man, stood to the side watching and listening for several minutes before approaching the group. A smile erupted across his face as he reached for a sticker as he exclaimed, “you all made an old man happy today.”
People bought dozens of newspapers and took dozens of cards. Some took pictures on their phones and posted them to Facebook and Twitter. One guy who photographed the banner came back fifteen minutes later to share with us that 50 people had already “liked” his photo. We learned quickly that people felt as if the system is moving to let Zimmerman off and we also learned, from the dozens of “thank yous” that people were excited to see people in the streets.
Next, we headed over to the line in front of the Dave Chappelle show where the climate was a bit more sedate. We struggled to polarize the crowd in our agitation—it is not acceptable to passively walk by if you are against what this system does to the youth, murdering them and getting away with it time and time again—the days where we accept this can and have to end—get with the revolution. Although this crowd lacked some of the enthusiasm we encountered earlier in the day, many people did step out to donate and sign the banner.
We should not underestimate what it means when people step out in these ways. Often we dismiss people's actions and fail to realize the significance of an action like donating a dollar (or reaching even deeper) or signing a banner, but we shouldn't. In this society where people are purposely blinded to the significant role they can play in transforming the world, it means a lot when people step up and step out. It is an act of defiance and resistance to the worldly-wise cynicism and apathy which is promoted and widely accepted in society. When we return to Sanford, it will mean something to the people there—to know that they are not alone in this fight—we are all Trayvon.
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