Two young men leisurely walk down the street in their Ferguson, Missouri community. The police ride up and moments later one of the young men, college-bound 18-year-old Michael Brown is dead. Witnesses describe it as a police execution. An outraged community begins to protest. The police respond with a cover up. This is followed by even wider protests and growing rebellion.
While the community is urged to be peaceful, militarized officers in battle gear hit the streets for war. The officers face off with protesters, taunt them and call them animals. This is not just one bad racist cop. We are slipping further into fascism. Our automated economy no longer needs us. Human life is cheapened to zero. A new, militarized, fascist police state is put in place to crush the demands of the people for justice and a decent life.
Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant, James Boyd—the list of victims awaiting justice is endless and will only increase. Today its Michael Brown of Ferguson, tomorrow it could be you in your town. It is precisely because the system is the cause of mass unemployment and poverty that the government defends the rights of the police to murder us in cold blood. Injustice will end when the economic system that has given rise to it is gotten rid of and replaced by a cooperative economy that will end poverty. Imagine the justice in a new world of abundance, peace and freedom for all. As a first step, indict killer cops!
Read “All We Want Is Justice,” another article on Ferguson in this edition.
The israeli SAWAT teams practices each year in Oakland. Then they practice on the Palestininans while the US SWAT teams practice on youth of color in this country. same mind set. murdering people they and their supervisors consider worth less than others. imagine the kind of home life those SWAT team members have? are their kids expendable? their wife? the neighbors?
Take the weapons away from all the cops. Teach them to use reason, kindness and compassion instead.