PHOTO/IRENE DE BARRAICUA
Cathleen Williams: Kevin ‘Brother’ Carter, you are a leader in keeping alive the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s Campaign in Sacramento, California, where Stephon Clark, a young, unarmed African American man, was recently killed by the police. How would you describe your goals in the movement?
Kevin ‘Brother’ Carter: We need to change the power dynamics between the “haves” and the “have-nots” as we struggle to survive in the new jobless economy. There’s no replacement for displacement. It’s class warfare against the poor. My goal is to foster conscious awareness that we are not fighting for one culture or for one nationality. This is about the human race. As the poor, we are all suffering, we all have the same problems and the same challenges. Currently, I am active in the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, to build a movement against poverty, militarism and the war economy, environmental devastation, and systemic racism.
CW: Stephon Clark was recently killed by the police in his grandmother’s backyard in Sacramento. He was unarmed and holding a cell phone. Why did this happen, in your view?
KBC: First, we live in a nation that is under the gun. We have police with guns, we have ordinary people with guns. Corporations like the NRA have put everybody in the mindset of fear.
Stephon Clark lived in Meadowview, a diverse, impoverished, urban community, where many people of color live, as well as poor whites. The police classify such neighborhoods as dangerous and “high risk.” When they go into a “high risk” neighborhood, they have a tactical, military mindset, driven by fear of danger and crime. They see you more as a target than a resident, especially if you are a person of color. Many assume that if you are Black or Brown, you are associated with crime.
When the police pursued Stephon Clark, they felt they had to “eliminate” the threat regardless of whether he had a gun or cell phone. This is simulated in their training. Their mindset prevails over our human rights, our civil rights, and our constitutional rights.
The justice system is designed to protect the police. The “haves” make the laws for the “have-nots.” That’s where the problem lies. It operates as a fascist system within itself, with the police acting as judge, jury and executioner.
CW: What do you see as the solution?
KBC: We must stop the oligarchs of this country who want to divide and conquer us and keep us apart so they can continue to do what they are doing to us, keeping us in this confusion about hate, race and prejudice. We need to keep our eyes on the prize, and come together for the common goal, understanding what’s holding all of us down. We can make new policies to control the police and to protect our families and our future. You have to continue to keep the vision of unity, that’s the most important thing.
