A Salute to the Brave Resisters on October 22

We revolutionaries in the RCP want to shout out to all the brave resisters on October 22.

We are proud to be standing shoulder to shoulder with people all across the country who are taking a stand on this National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation.

Our hearts are together with all the people whose loved ones and comrades have been murdered by the brutal enforcers in blue...all those who have suffered beatings and humiliation for being "the wrong color" or "being in the wrong place" or having "too much pride" or not having "the right papers" or speaking "the wrong language."

We are proud to be among the people who have dared to call for the national day of protest on October 22 toward putting a stop to an intolerable situation...

where killers in blue go free time after time...

where the youth are criminalized and disrespected...

where Black people, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans are treated like moving targets by armed and organized authorities...

where our people are dying because CIA runners for the rich and powerful flood our communities with drugs to finance repressive regimes--and then unleash a war on the poor and the desperate...

where the fear and anger of many middle class people gets misdirected against the people on the bottom, the people under the gun of the police.

*****

October 22--We are wearing BLACK to remember, to demonstrate our anger...and our resolve.

October 22--We are saying the NAMES of those whose lives have been stolen from us. We are telling the world how they died. We are calling on all who have been brutalized to come out and testify--alone, no more.

We are resisting, marching, singing, speaking out, lighting candles, standing up for all the people. We are standing on the shoulders of all who have manifested resistance--from Los Angeles to New York, from border to border.

We are putting things back in focus.

Who are the real criminals? Who are the ones that put the dope in the communities and who took the jobs out? Who are the ones building prisons and closing the schools?

All across the country people are beginning to get a different idea on who's really representing justice, who's really representing courage--the political liars and blue-coated brutalizers, or the people who stand up and put out the truth?

*****

Together we are taking some really urgent steps on a path to a different place.

There are times when a movement needs to marshal all its strength for a powerful blow against the oppressor. When old antagonisms must be overcome, or put aside, because of the greater antagonism we face. Times when everyone strives together to change the way things are.

The war coming down on the people signals that this is such a time.

Acting together we can force the truth out. The diversity of who's come together on this can inspire those who've given up hope and awaken those who've been walking in a fog. The determination that we will show on this Day--and we won't let them turn us around--will draw forward new people.

People will see who has justice on their side for real.

And they will see the growth of a movement against this injustice. They will see a movement where there is unity and struggle--where we unite all who can be united for a powerful new expression of resistance that can seriously begin to turn the tide. The fact that people are taking the offensive on many different fronts in a whole Month of Resistance this October lends our struggle an even broader perspective.

***** vv

We have made a new beginning and new alliances--the people have taken matters into our hands to demand an end to official brutality.

Let's go forward together from this day. We need to bring out ALL the names of those who have been murdered and brutalized. We need to erect memorials in our cities to those who have fallen in this war on the people.

We need justice.

In our view, this will necessitate a great struggle, requiring us to turn our communities into strongholds of resistance and reach out to millions throughout the society--to really stop the power structure and their enforcers from degrading and brutalizing the people. Every day we confront the reality that this rotten system will never jump back without a fight and this power structure can never solve the problems of the great majority of people.

Sisters and brothers, on October 22 the RCP renews our commitment to stand with the people to wage this fight--not to sell out or turn back, no matter what the enemy uses to come at us, whether it be bullets or bribes. We are willing and prepared to take on the responsibility of helping to build the understanding, organization, unity and fighting capacity of the people and to carry this fight all the way through.

Stop Police Brutality, Repression and
the Criminalization of a Generation We are Human Beings--We Demand a Better World We Will Not Accept Slavery in Any Form! Revolution Is the Hope of the Hopeless!