Protesting Another Police Killing of a Black Child, Armed Protestors Say 'We Dare You to Shoot.'
Newsome's words are reminders to the outside world that, for most of this nation, state forces offer no protection against danger.
Co-founder of the Greater New York Black Lives Matter group Hawk Newsome spoke at a rally in Mississippi this past weekend protesting the killing of 15 year-old Jaheim McMillan by police last month. Police still have not released to the public body camera footage from the officer who killed the Black child, though community residents who claim they've gotten ahold of a copy say that the events contradict the report police filed.
Newsome's words are reminders to the outside world that, for most of this nation, state forces offer no protection against danger. In fact, they are the ones we have to be scared of.
Anyone claiming to be in favor of justice, then, cannot omit an analysis of the United States' singularly lethal police forces, who disproportionately lock up and kill poor and ethnic and racial minority peoples.
"Out here, it's them against us. Bottom line - they are the enforcers for an imperialistic, oppressive government. They are on the front lines to keep n**gers in check and until you stand up to that, you ain't saying nothing," he said.
Newsome went on to claim that the protest group's small numbers are of little concern when they are not just armed but willing to die in defense of the innocent and marginalized. "We might not have numbers but...there's plenty of us. I'd rather 10 soldiers than 10,000 cowards, people willing to stand up and lay down their lives for us," he continued.
Newsome called upon community members to leave behind their fear of the state and come together to stand in defense of one another with the same vigor sometimes showed by underworld members plying their trade and defending small capitalistic interests on the street with gang violence. "You've got Bloods and Crips that will bang on each other but a police officer could slap they mother, choke they father, and kick they kid and they won't do nothing," he taunted.
Days away from a primary election where voters can choose between two sides of a single corporate party that uniformly supports U.S. empire both abroad and domestically, Newsome said that the point of resistance is in the street, not in the ballot box. "The real movement...is in the streets...You ain't going to march your way to freedom, you're going to fight and organize your way to freedom," he said.
"Respect is not given, it's taken. Freedom is not given, it's taken."
Speaking the entire time while armed with a rifle and surrounded by other armed community defenders, Newsome said it is time to leave behind the pleas to conscience to highlight police brutality. Now, once again, he said it is time to simply arm and defend ourselves against those who come for our children.
"Now, we ain't saying, 'Hands up,'" he shouted.
"We saying we gripped up, and we dare you to shoot."