Update: July 13, 2016 Protests Continue and Spread

July 13, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Protests against police murder and the all-around racist oppression of Black people have not only continued, now into their seventh day, but are also spreading into smaller cities in the U.S., like Riverhead, New York, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Even outside the major centers, these protests are often drawing hundreds of people, including many who join on the spot, and are marked by fierce spirit and a determination not to allow business to go on as usual while Black people are being systematically murdered across the country. People shut down highways, sit down in city streets and at city halls, protest late into the night, with many hundreds arrested so far.
This upsurge is also spreading to major cities in Europe, Canada, and in South Africa. And more and more prominent people—actors, musicians, and athletes—are speaking out, often in the face of sharp attack from cops and other reactionaries. And we are still learning about protests that took place over the weekend.
Here we can only give a basic sense of the extent of all of this (see here and here for earlier reports):
Protests in the U.S.: Protests—sometimes for days on end—have taken place in Wilmington, Delaware; Riverhead, Rochester, and New York City, New York; Myrtle Beach and Charleston South Carolina; Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Oakland, and Huntington Beach, California; Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio. Four people were arrested protesting at Graceland (Elvis Presley’s home) in Memphis, Tennessee (where media noted that most tourists on line were supportive of the protest). In Wichita, Kansas, hundreds tried repeatedly to shut down a major interstate. Again, this is only a very partial list.

Hundreds gathered in the center of Amsterdam, July 10. Emotions were “intense” according to a participant. Photo: @RZuaslan

International Protests: In Cork, Galway, and Dublin, Ireland; London, England; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Berlin, Germany; Vancouver and Edmonton, Canada; and Capetown, South Africa, with hundreds on up to a thousand people marching in each of these locations.

Hundreds of people rallied at Dublin’s General Post Office in Ireland, site of the start of the Irish Uprising against British domination launched 100 years ago. Organizers called the protest to “show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S.” and to “condemn the horrific acts of violence perpetrated on a daily basis by U.S. law enforcement against Black bodies.” Protests were also held in the Irish cities of Cork and Galway. Photo: @soundmigration

Hundreds of people began protesting on Saturday after white supremacists again raised the Confederate flag outside the South Carolina statehouse (the state had been forced to take it down after the Charleston church shootings). Protesters blocked a major intersection near the statehouse and were still there as of Sunday night. (Twitter image)

July 11, Cleveland, dozens of protesters marched through downtown, clashing with police at one point, and then partially stopping traffic on two different bridges during rush hour. Photo: @JC_HARP Jul 11

A dozen people—including people who work in the fashion industry and felt that they were putting their jobs at risk—made black shirts with the names of victims of police murder in white and staged a silent protest in the midst of New York City’s Fashion Week, one of the biggest fashion events in the world, expressing outrage at police murders and at the silence of fashion industry in the face of these crimes. Photo: Mashable

The Los Angeles police commission, meeting at police headquarters, ruled that yet another murder—that of 30-year-old Redel Jones, a 4 foot 11 inch tall woman allegedly armed with a kitchen knife—”did not violate policy,” prompting shouts and outrage that caused the meeting to be temporarily shut down. A little later, hundreds of people descended on city hall and attempted to storm the doors. Cops slammed the doors, so people sat down on the steps, blocking the doors, playing NWA’s “Fuck tha Police” and seriously disrupting business. Photo: @StoltzeFrankly

Prominent people: Many people are speaking out, including in ways that impact thousands or even millions:

WNBA’s Minneapolis Lynx team wore warm up shirts with “Change Begins With Us” on the front, and the names of Alton Sterling and Philandro Castile on the back, for their July game with the Dallas Wings. The team’s captains gave a powerful press conference explaining their decision, with one of them describing being threatened by cops with drawn guns while playing with her friends when she was eight years old. Off-duty Minneapolis cops who work security at the game responded by walking off, in a blatant act of using police authority to censor and suppress criticism. Photo: @stensation

• Players from WNBA teams the Minneapolis Lynx and the New York Liberty wore warm-up shirts protesting the murders—the Liberty’s Swin Cash said: “until the system transforms, we cannot sit here and act like there is not a problem here in America.”
• Beyoncé is performing “Freedom” in front of a backdrop of hundreds of names of people killed by police.
• Snoop Dogg and The Game led a march in Los Angeles.
• Julia Stiles, appearing on the Daily Show said: “I can’t not address what has happened today. I just don’t understand how many more people—husbands and fathers and sons—have to die before something changes.... It’s been too much for many years. It’s been too much for decades.... Period. I mean, how many people have to say it?”
• Olivia Wilde tweeted outrage at the murder of Alton Sterling and ran into a storm of haters; she came back with “To everyone threatening to unfollow me because I said #blacklivesmatter, PEACE. And also, #blacklivesmatter.”