From the Streets of Ferguson: A Message from the Month of Resistance to Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation

August 18, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us Big props to the people of Ferguson! They are doing things that haven’t been done in a long time! The whole country is watching. They have been standing up firmly in the face of both the occupying army of police rumbling through the streets with their armored personnel carriers, firing tear gas and rubber bullets, and the attempts by various “advisors” to control and channel their just rage. Because they have stood firm, people in Ferguson have focused the attention of the world on the horrific injustice and outrages that are put on millions of people day in and day out. No one would even be talking about Michael Brown if the youth of Ferguson had not poured into the streets. This has brought forward support from all over the country and even worldwide. We can all learn profound lessons from this courage and determination. This battle for Justice for Michael Brown is far from over. They have named the killer cop, but he hasn’t been charged and isn’t in jail. Now they are dragging Michael Brown’s reputation through the mud by claiming he stole something from a store, all in order to justify his murder. Even if this were true, when did the punishment for shoplifting become execution!? The people of Ferguson are still in the streets and people around the country need to be there too, protesting all this and linking it to the brutality and murder the criminal “injustice” system continues to inflict on people on an all too regular basis in every part of the country. All of these incidents, and the whole New Jim Crow of mass incarceration, are part of the genocidal program that we are dedicated to expose, resist, and STOP. We need to join with battles like this all around the country and call on everyone to join with us in making October 2014 a powerful Month of Resistance against Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. Everyone who has stepped out in vigils and protest around Michael Brown should get with the Month of Resistance. From now forward this must be a time where from the prisons to the streets, from the universities to the ’hoods, in cities and towns across the country, where those most affected directly are joined by all those who refuse to live in a society where this is the reality. Everyone must step in and step up and take this fight against mass incarceration to a whole other level. THIS MUST STOP NOW! Juanita Young, Travis Morales, Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson, Joey Johnson, Dionne Smith-Downs, Carey Downs, and Carl Dix—people working on the October Month of Resistance who have come to Ferguson