NATIONAL
SHUT DOWN DAY
TUESDAY APRIL 14
Three reasons why EVERYONE who cannot tolerate the epidemic of murder by police should act April 14
March 23, 2015
People Must Be Inspired, Mobilized and Organized, Urgently, for #ShutDownA14!
Revcom.us/Revolution has put out three reasons why EVERYONE who cannot tolerate the epidemic of murder by police should take part in massive actions all over the country set for April 14—actions that have been called to shut things down all over the country, bringing the "normal operation" of things to a halt through mass political mobilization and action:
These actions will make it absolutely clear that these unpunished murders by police must STOP—and that the whole genocidal agenda that they are part of must be reversed!
These actions will let the world know that this is not just a problem in Ferguson, Missouri, or Madison or Oakland or any of the other places in the headlines day after day. These actions will make clear that this is the reality of America. That this is not a few bad apples or bad departments, this is systemic! And it will be fought that way.
Most of all: these actions will sound a loud call to millions, here and around the world, that there are people determined to STOP this... It will make it clear that there are people—and there is a movement—determined to fight for a future where our youth are not cast off, locked down, warehoused, routinely abused and even murdered—a future where they can instead live with their humanity fully recognized. A movement determined to call on, inspire, and organize many, many others to join in this battle. These actions will say to the millions now agonizing to come out and be part of changing the future!
On college campuses this means that on April 14, the whole campus must be confronted with this reality, it means that this is the topic that students and faculty are debating and being compelled to say where they stand. No business as usual. This might be through sit-ins, die-ins, classes canceled, walking out en masse—there are many forms this can take. Then students would join with others in their area to impact society as a whole.
For this to happen, revolutionaries and freedom fighters everywhere must wage a systematic and concerted fight to organize people and to bring forward waves of new leaders who will also take responsibility for organizing others.
Here is a plan for how we can do this (Click here)
Stop Mass Incarceration Network,
P.O. Box 941, Knickerbocker Station,
New York City, NY 10002-0900
stopmassincarceration.net
Calling All Students:
There Is a Need and There is Still Time to Throw in with #ShutDownA14 to STOP MURDER BY POLICE!
April 11, 2015
A Message to Students and Young People of ALL Nationalities
"...The problem is real. The challenge is real. The role you choose to play in the face of this will also be real."
March 18, 2015
Listen to Nicholas Heyward, Sr., father of Nicholas Heyward, Jr., and Iris Baez, mother of Anthony Baez, on Uptown Radio at Columbia University
April 10, 2015
UC Riverside Student Statement on April 14: "Which side of history do you want to be on?"
April 11, 2015
Special Edition of The Michael Slate Show—
#ShutDownA14 Stop Police Murder
Interview with Amina, Sam and Leia, who are organizing protests on campuses for April 14
From a member of a Revolution Club:
Seizing Every Opportunity to Build for April 14
April 10, 2015
At the 22nd Annual National Conference of MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlan). The Idaho Chapter stands with A14 and the Stolen Lives Families.
Taking A14 to the MEChA National Conference
April 12, 2015
Building a Core for #ShutDownA14 at an Arts College
April 9, 2015
A Conversation with Two Students about A14:
"Oh hell, yeah, let's do this"
April 9, 2015
This Generation MUST Say NO MORE!
Bringing Forward Cores on the Campuses Through the Stolen Lives Days
April 2, 2015
Double Down on the Moral and Political Challenge Posed by the Stolen Lives Poster
April 4, 2015
Letter from Young Revolutionary
Get With A14! Struggle with No Apology to Get Free
April 2, 2015
Chicago Stolen Lives Dinner:
Families Tell Their Stories of Heartbreak, Outrage, and the Fight for Justice
April 1, 2015
Stolen Lives Day at UC Berkeley: Thousands Confronted with the Epidemic of Police Murder, Challenged to Fight Back
April 6, 2015
April 1 Stolen Lives Day at Seattle University
April 6, 2015
Stolen Lives Day on a Houston Campus
April 3, 2015
Anecdote from Stolen Lives Days on a Campus
April 3, 2015
Interview with Friends of Tony Robinson:
From Shock and Tears to Anger and Leading Thousands in Protest
"We created a Facebook event, invited over 3,000 people…"
March 23, 2015
Thousands of students pack the state capitol rotunda to demand justice for Tony Robinson, Madison, WI, March 9. AP photo
Interview with High School Student Organizing in the South for #ShutDownA14
"It's so liberating because of the possibility of freedom and hope... I will be walking out A14!"
March 23, 2015
(Not the person interviewed)
From Sunsara Taylor:
Speaking to a College Class about #ShutDownA14
"I made the point that history is not made by general sentiment, there have to be those who are willing to lead. There have to be some students in this room right now who step forward and say we will make this happen. 'Who is willing to do that?'"
March 21, 2015
Students in Madison, Wisconsin, protesting police murder of Tony Robinson, March 9, 2015. Photo: AP
Organizing and Mobilizing. WHOA!!!
From a H.S. student in North Carolina
To the average student those may sound like intimidating words, but if you are even looking at this page I can already make the assumption you are not the average high school student. You are not oblivious to the injustices amongst the Black and Brown people on our communities. Well let me get into detail about how I a 18 year-old Senior in one of the worst High Schools in the west corridor took action...
Interview with Young Friend of Tony Robinson
Madison High Schools Unite to Stand Against Murder by Police
March 17, 2015
Students calling on students:
Bay Area High School Students Call for #ShutDownA14
Kenwood Academy (Chicago) students challenge University of VA students to walkout April 14 #ShutDownA14 #JusticeForMartese
NYC College Students Call for #ShutDownA14
Students and youth have a special responsibility to act!
Walk out of school.
Take over buildings.
Block freeways.
Bring this country to a HALT!
Get Organized to #ShutDownA14
What to Do,
How to Organize
Click here for downloadable organizing materials
Visit the Youth & Student Organizing Page of the
Stop Mass Incarceration Network:
stopmassincarceration.net
To students and youth:
#ShutDownA14
After the demonstrations of the summer and fall...
After all the promises and all the investigations that went nowhere...
After the hundreds and hundreds of arrests...
The police are still brutalizing and murdering Black and Latino people—hundreds* a year—and getting away with it... in every city and town of America.
We will NOT live in a society that does this. And we will NOT stand by. On April 14, we need to "hit them where it hurts." And when it comes to STOPPING murder by police... what REALLY "hits them where it hurts" is:
massive outpourings of people, shutting things down all over the country, bringing the "normal operation" of things to a halt through mass political mobilization and action... drawing forth more and more people, from all different parts of society... going straight up against and exposing, BEFORE THE WHOLE WORLD, this whole damn system—its brutally oppressive nature, its towering INjustice, its murdering enforcers the police, its sickening lies that it is "the champion of freedom"—and SHOWING THE WHOLE WORLD that there are masses of people pouring into the streets, right in this country, to demonstrate that they WILL NOT TAKE THIS ANY LONGER!
ALL OUT FOR APRIL 14!
Students and youth have a special responsibility to act!
Walk out of school.
Take over buildings.
Block freeways.
Bring this country to a HALT!
This message was adopted by a national committee of student and youth organizers from UC Riverside, North Carolina, Wright University, New York City, Los Angeles, and Cleveland. Add your name here by emailing studentsyouthsmin@gmail.com.
*Police killed 196 people between January 1st and March 9 of 2015 alone.