by the Organization for Black Struggle
September 30, 2014
We republish this call from the Organization for Black Struggle to encourage those who are available to respond and participate.
We are in a movement moment.
What began as a local call for Justice for Mike Brown has grown into a nationwide shout for justice. Mike Brown falls in a long line of others killed as a result of systemic racial bias and violence against black and brown communities. John Crawford, III, Ezel Ford, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, Amadou Diallo, Marilyn Banks and countless others named and unnamed have been killed through the excessive use of force by law enforcement.
As droves of people, many of them young and black, took to the streets of Ferguson in resistance and to demand justice for Mike Brown, thousands of others joined in solidarity around the country. The interconnectedness of our struggles became clear. Police brutality and excessive use of force against young people of color, militarized policing, poverty, economic inequality, and the absence of real participatory democracy deeply harm our communities from Dayton, OH to Los Angeles, CA.
The uprisings in Ferguson and mobilizations around the country represent a desire by community members to claim their right to self-determination, energy to strengthen a movement for racial justice, and end violence against black and brown communities.
We are calling for a convergence in Ferguson, MO from October 10th – 13th to continue the fight for justice for Mike Brown and to spark the broader movement for racial justice and sow transformative seeds for others to carry back home. There is an urgency in this moment to strengthen the mobilizing, organizing, and resistance happening across the country to build a movement.
If you want to join in this national fight, sign-up to organize locally and come to Ferguson, MO October 10 – 13th.
Our Values:
This mobilization is centered around the following key values:
- There is a prevailing need to empower individuals and communities with the knowledge and resources they need to transform the world around them.
- Constant struggle and vigilance is necessary to protect our rights and achieve the justice that we seek.
- Our shared oppressions cannot be reduced to the personal; our issues are systemic, so the solutions should be as well;
- While racism can manifest itself personally all too often, racism is also institutionalized and structural. The sooner we can see racism as structural, the sooner we can try to break the cycle.
- Our current economic system degrades people of color and low-income people — justice must address the economic inequality built into the capitalist system.
- We believe that movements are based in local struggles; sometimes, like here in Ferguson, our movements find a crack where we must all push together. We are fighting for Justice for Mike Brown, for many others murdered by the police and for people of color as a whole.
What the weekend is looking like…but subject to change:
- Friday Oct. 10 – Justice Now: Justice for Mike Brown
3 pm Clayton at District Attorney’s Office
- Saturday Oct. 11 – Justice for Us All
10 am Meet Downtown STL (gather at Scottrade Center) Permitted March to Old Court House and Noon Rally at Old Court House
- Sunday Oct. 12 – HipHop and Hope, a day of Faith and Culture
1 pm Block Party (TBA) and 7 pm Dr. Cornell West (TBA)
- Monday Oct. 13 – Moral Monday Day of Action
10 am West Florissant (Ferguson)
The Organization for Black Struggle is a grassroots organization in the St. Louis area, founded in 1980 by activists, students, union organizers and other community members in order to fill a vacuum left by the assaults on the Black Power Movement. OBS aims to contribute to the creation of a society free of all forms of exploitation and oppression and to build a movement that fights for political empowerment, economic justice and the cultural dignity of the African-American community, especially the Black working class.