Rise Up October was an event created to resist the ongoing mass incarceration and murderous acts of police against people of color.
This is my account of the rally/march; read my prospective and experience.
Being the directionally challenged person I am, I thought I would take a while to find those gathered. To my surprise, I saw them once I turned onto University Place, being there was a big stage. My first thought was "oh no it's one of those events that uses respectable politics and 'creates awareness'". Either way I walked deeper into the crowd. I received a Revolution newspaper from the Revolutionary Communist Party, which seems like a really dope org. They showed up and showed out! One of their members got on stage and spoke. He spoke on how he shouldn't call himself a revolutionary or communist but does, which was another "oh no" moment for me. If we want change we've got to be radical about it.
There was a Pastor, a Rise Up member and a woman who was highly praised for her community work, I apologize for not remembering their names, that emceed the event more or less. The Pastor said a few things that I really appreciated. He touched on some rhetoric that's used to rebuttal the police being a system rooted in hate and racism. People say "not all cops are bad", "what about black police?" and "the officer was in fear of his life!" This pastor shut those ideas down by saying "if there are good cops, why aren't they reporting the bad?" He also said this about black cops: "you may be my color, but you are not my kind." The fact that he called out the entire police force a systemic form of hate was bold to me; I really appreciated it. He also highlighted the fact that churches are participating in the movement. Many churches and leaders are silent, but there are many churches that are present and active in these spaces of organizing and changing.
What I did not appreciate from this pastor however was him explaining that those church members who are apathetic are "sitting around eating fried chicken"; that seemed to be pushing stereotypes in my opinion. He also did not allow the event to be fluid. With events around something as heavy as the police killing unarmed people of color and not being punished for it as if our lives didn't matter, we need to leave room for unexpected occurrences. During the event families from all over the country were there, speaking out for their slain loved one, urging us to say their name. These folks are of course going to have a lot to say and want the time and respect to do so, because this is about them.
O'Shaine Evans' sister got frustrated at the pastor when he urged her to wait to speak or not to speak or whatever he said that would've stopped her from telling her story at that moment. She said "I'm tired of these politics. This isn't about y'all; it's about us." This really needed to be said. They had Eve Ensler, Quentin Tarantino (which is a whole other problematic concern) and Dr. Cornell West speaking at this event which is amazing, but this isn't about them; which Tarantino, West and a few other guest speakers were able to realize and gave their time up for the loved ones left behind to share and express. However, every time they did, that pastor would just call another guest speaker, though he did say he loved the families. It just could've been handled better in my opinion.
Once the march was about to start, the families of victims of police brutality began to line up. a group of organizers got on stage and sang "Hell You Talmbot" which was powerful. We started to march. I started marching with a few folks singing "I'm fed up I cant take it no more!" A man was playing his jembe and we were very celebratory. I advanced to some students playing on plastic buckets with sticks; they were also very live. Being a Dream Defender, when we show up, we turn up, so I like being around like minded organizations and people during actions.
Something funny happened when marching with those students. Some white people in the march attempted to start a chant "white silence is white consent" which everyone else's face read the same as mine "Girl bye." There are always problems when white people want to participate in the movement without realizing their role in it. They need to be allies as Ensler, being a white woman, urged them to do in her speech. Those white people didn't do anything problematic per say, but there are definitely more powerful things to cry out in such a critical moment. So one of the students cut their chant short by starting another one. They tried to keep theirs going but finally joined the "Indict! Convict! Send those killer cops to jail! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!" chant.
I meet my friend Rachel half-way through the march and she led a song she taught me today. I heard it before but never grasped the words. It goes
I can hear my brother crying 'I can't breathe.'
Now I'm in the struggle and I can't leave.
Calling out the violence of the racist police.
We ain't gonna stop, til people are free!
We almost reached Bryant Park when cops blocked those still marching at 5th Ave. Many of us turned around to retrieve them. By the time I got there they were marching again chanting the call and response "Who's Streets? Our Streets!" chant. We all made it to Bryant Park and family members were beginning to speak again.
Due to fatigue and coldness I left at that moment. Overall I was glad to be there and thought a lot was done as far as action and planning. The next three demonstrations already have a date and I will be there, remembering the 1 year anniversary of the death of Tamir Rice and another year of remembering Eric Garner. I liked how so many people continued to urge families not to participate in Black Friday and Christmas gift shopping. I am paraphrasing, but a man from Justice League, an org in the Bronx, said "we won't buy Jordans while they make money off the work from our backs" This was not an all talk event which was great. It wasn't great that there were barricades on one street lane for us to walk along with cops lined up besides it. When cops are directing traffic at an event opposing them it weakens the message. I wish to have just took up the streets with the thousands out there. Even with the few "oh no"s I had at Rise Up October, all in all it was still a history changing moment and allowed us to lead the narrative.
Who was there? What'd I miss? Please share your experience at Rise Up October and get plugged into your community's organizations tackling the issues of mass incarceration, police murdering unarmed people of color, exploiting the poor and violation of human rights.
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