January 2016 Activism FROM PAGE 1


Dylann Storm Roof, the suspected gunman, ascribed to Neo-Nazi and White Supremacist


ideals and was


charged with murder for the June 17 massacre. His trial on nine murder counts among other charges is slated for July 2016. He was also charged with federal hate crimes.


Seemingly every week videos of police killing or abusing Black men and women made headlines. Sandra Bland,


Woods and


Laquan McDonald, Mario Freddie


Gray joined


almost countless others who died at the hands of police or while in police custody. Their deaths not only brought to light the abuse and injustices by law enforcement that Black communities have cried


out about for decades,


but these cases fueled activists who demanded justice for victims of what many labeled “state sanctioned violence.”


to be killed city police departments:


“Black people were more likely by America’s largest Police


departments disproportionately killed Black people, who were 41 percent of victims despite being only 20 percent of the population living in these cities. Forty-one of the 60 police departments disproportionately killed Black people relative to the population of Black people in their jurisdiction. Fourteen police departments killed Black people exclusively in 2015, 100 percent of the people they killed were Black. For only five police departments were 100 percent of those killed White,” according


to a Mapping Police


Violence report on police killings in 2015.


Police killed at least 1,152 people in the United States from January 1-December 15, 2015, said the report.


“Nearly one in four of these


people was killed by one of America’s largest 60 city police departments. Fifty-nine 60 city


of the nation’s largest police departments killed


civilians in 2015. Some killed at much higher rates than others: Bakersfield, Oklahoma City, Oakland, Indianapolis Metropolitan,


Long Beach, New


Orleans, St. Louis Metropolitan, and San Francisco Police Departments killed people at the highest rates in 2015.”


“While some have blamed violent crime for being responsible for police violence in some communities, data shows that high levels


of violent


crime in cities did not appear to make it any more or less likely for police departments to kill people,” the report found. “Rather than being determined by crime rates, police


violence


reflects a lack of accountability in the


culture, policies, and practices


of the institutions of policing, as investigations into some of the most violent police departments in America have shown.”


Resistance, rebellion and results


“With state-sanctioned violence, there are a few things going on. In many ways I think it’s connected to the inter-communal violence. I think we left open three critical areas to really start planting seeds,” said Davey D, a hip hop journalist, historian, talk show host and activist.


First there’s the problem of media,


which affects the community inside and out, he continued. “We give too much of the past to too many people who have used our dehumanization for


www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com


profit” and that dehumanization comes in many forms, he said. Some is overt, he said, but much is very subtle.


Some celebrated the successes of Black women in key law enforcement positions, from U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and California Attorney General Kamala Harris to Los Angeles District


Attorney Jackie Lacey, he


said. But people have to ask, where is the accountability for those in public office? Davey D continued.


“Like we did with Obama, we


didn’t demand a certain amount of standards that needed to be put forth because


our endorsement of their


success was really dependent upon the expectation that they would humanize us and they didn’t in the long run. So that fielded a compromise in a big way and the end result was and the end result has been we are not empowered,” he said.


But this year, youth, particularly


Black and Brown youth, refused to remain silent and sit on the sidelines in the face of oppression.


Nationwide demonstrations and protests against police brutality and


White Supremacy culminated


in October when according to some estimates


800,000 to 1.5 million


people gathered in Washington, D.C. for Justice Or Else!, a commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March. The Oct. 10 gathering, convened by Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, gave a platform to Black, Indigenous and Brown communities


and other aggrieved


groups who presented their cases and demands before the world in a continued fight for true freedom, justice and equality. There was also a call for Black communities to stop the fratricidal violence that plagues many urban areas.


“It’s hypocritical for us to say that we are ‘citizens’ and we are still trying to get civil rights, while at the same time we are denied the human right of self-determination. I’m honored to be here in front of this great, great house that was built by Black slaves. So I don’t think I’m encroaching on any American by standing on the ground that was paid for with the sweat and the


blood of our ancestors,” Min. Farrakhan told the massive crowd from a stage on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.


“There can no justice, no equity without


be no freedom, the


willingness of some to sacrifice for the rest. What good is life if we are not free? What good is it to be alive and every day that you live you see your people suffering? What good is it to be—continue in life under tyranny? So there must come a time when we say, ‘Enough is enough.’ It must change— and I am willing to do whatever it takes to bring about that change,” said Min. Farrakhan.


“America is under Divine Judgment as we speak. Elijah Muhammad taught us 50-60 years ago of what we’re going to face, and he said there would be Four Great Judgments: Rain, unusual rain, Snow, unusual snow, Earthquakes, Hail; and that [God] would use the forces of nature against America,” he continued.


“When I leave you today, the


calamities are going to get stronger, because God wants America to let us go. Not integrate us—let us go, and give us a good sendoff. Those of you who are scripturally sound: Moses was not an ‘integrationist,’ and neither


The Hampton Roads Messenger 5


are we. Let me be clear: America has no future for you or for me. She can’t make a future for herself, much less a future for us. The scripture says, ‘Come out of her, My people’—and we’re going to have to come out. God says he takes the kingdom from whom he pleases, and he gives it to whom he pleases,” said Min. Farrakhan.


a year


“It’s clear that of


this year was rebellion and resistance


as it relates to police brutality and misconduct and killing of Black men and women in American society,” said Dr. Ron Daniels, president of Institute of the Black World. In places like Ferguson, Mo., New York, Chicago and


Baltimore, “The the incredible outspokenness


and action of youth was evident, he explained.


young African American men and women on the street


response by in resistance


there and of course the explosive and positive growth of the Black Lives Matter movement which has become sort of the mantra of this new generation,” said Dr. Daniels.


amount


“What you saw is an incredible of


resistance from Black


people. Very strong, very creative, very innovative and I think intensifying and growing during the course of the year.”


Jonathan Butler, a student leader and activist escalated that intensity when he stopped eating on Nov. 2 to force the resignation of Tim Wolfe, University of Missouri president, who failed


to address students’ concerns


about campus discrimination and take meaningful action.


Black After students the had been


complaining for years, to no avail. His hunger strike lasted seven days.


university’s football


team and coach backed the graduate student’s demand and refused to play until Mr. Wolfe


vacated his post,


he and school chancellor R. Bowen Loftin resigned.


“I think it’s pushing us in the


direction we need to go. Total dissatis- faction, total mistrust, no belief in this system,” said Faheem Muhammad, an activist and co-founder of Black Buycott. He said the


system is to break Black isn’t


broken, but it’s rotten to the core and works perfectly as it was designed, which


people


particularly and the oppressed of the world. Part of the problem is some Blacks have the notion that the Democratic Party, or anyone else will help them, he explained.


“It’s not that Obama didn’t want to do something for us or desire to do something for us, but this system is filthy. It’s wicked, and it’s corrupt, so he can’t do anything for us,” said Mr. Muhammad.


quo gave rise to action. In solidarity with demonstrators


Dissatisfaction with the status in Ferguson


and nationwide protests in honor of Michael Brown, Jr.,


the Blackout


Collective shut down the Bay Area Rapid Transit in West Oakland on “Blackout Black Friday.” In Chicago, thousands took to the streets the same day in response to the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald who was shot and killed by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke in October last year. Video of the encounter was not made public until November 2015 and only after a judge ordered its release. Soon after the teens death the city quickly paid a $5 million settlement to the family. Allegations of a conspiracy and cover-up quickly ignited protests in a city whose sordid police history is well documented. In response, demonstrators shut down the Magnificent Mile, on Black Friday, causing retailers to lose millions of dollars.


Retailers, who count on


November and December holiday sales to boost their financial coffers, took a hit in 2015 as sales spiraled downward. According to a mid-December article on Forbes.com, post-Thanksgiving days have been


terrible for most


retailers in 2015. According to the National Retail


Federation, this year’s holiday sales are “slower than expected.”


While some analysts attribute


the decline to fewer dollars coming in due to lower prices, it’s clear that this year has been a relative bust for the collective retail establishment.


“If our Black lives don’t matter,


then neither should our Black dollars,” said Minister Farrakhan.


Politics, fear During his year end Dec. 18


press conference, President Barack Obama told reporters steady, persistent work over the


past few years is


“paying off for the American people in big, tangible ways.” He touted unemployment falling to five percent and growing wages as examples of progress.


But for many Blacks on the


economic front, 2015 continued to remain relatively stagnant.


According to mid-December


data released by the Economic Policy Institute, the unemployment rate for Blacks was still on average twice that of Whites, regardless of educational achievement.


From December


2014 through November 2015 the unemployment rate for Black college graduates was 4.1 percent compared to 2.4 percent for Whites. The disparity between those with less than a high school diploma was even more telling, with Blacks having an unemployment rate of 16.6 percent compared to 6.9 percent for Whites.


data,


According to the “persistent


disparities


EPI in


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