Collectively advancing our political education and showing up to rage and celebrate together in the streets is integral to victory in the fight against police brutality and for Black liberation.
We send deep gratitude to the cultural workers who energize us today and always. Cultural work and art is embedded and instrumental to every social movement in humxn hxstory. There are always attempts by the state to quell or suppress community artistry and cultural work, whether it be music, dance, or hxstorical narratives.
In Trinidad, state sanctioned oppression literally took instruments away from citizens and as a result, improvisation and creativity of locals brought about Calypso music. Throughout Latinx Amerika the martial art of Capoeira was disguised as dancing and used by Afrikans who were enslaved to train and keep their Afrikan cultural and spiritual connections. During the Khmer Rogue in Cambodia/Srok Khmer, the first main targets of the violence was directed at cultural workers, artists, musicians, educators and those who knew hxstory.
This is why art is necessary in movement building. Art and artists tell the stories of hxstory in a way the media will not, in ways that we know is even more powerful. Arm yourselves with knowledge and culture. Hxstory only repeats itself because we aren’t listening.
Until we share the streets again, read up, rest up, and keep fighting.
Safety + Security: Safety Tips for Protesters: https://www.instagram.com/p/CA0_Bl5JXRl/?igshid=1ew8ya8165gs6
Security Culture Basics: https://www.instagram.com/p/CBHHnkmpEAw/?igshid=1r21cn23srqnv
Grand Juries: FAQs: http://grandjuryresistance.org/files/GJ_FAQ.pdf
“What You Should Know about Grand Juries”” https://www.indybay.org/uploads/2008/10/03/grandjuries-infosheet.pdf
More info on the history of grand juries and stories of grand jury resistance: www.grandjuryresistance.org
Policing and Counter-Insurgency: “Why Misogynists Make Great Informants” https://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/security/misogynists-make-great-informants
“Slave Patrols and Civil Servants: A History of Policing in Two Modes: https://crimethinc.com/2017/03/15/slave-patrols-and-civil-servants-a-history-of-policing-in-two-modes
Excerpts from Malcom X speech on police brutality + Decrim Seattle statement on the “good protestor/bad protestor” narrative: https://www.instagram.com/p/CB_cJaoJS54/?igshid=5w5m3jwspddk
Abolition: Excerpts from “Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police”: https://www.instagram.com/p/CBf0EwRp_Rh/?igshid=imlf7ymoxk36
“If You’re New to Abolition: Study Group Guide”: https://abolitionjournal.org/studyguide/
Cultural Work as Resistance: Art from the Black Panthers and statements by Emory Douglas, Jordan Casteel, and Fahamu Pecou: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/arts/fifty-years-later-black-panthers-art-still-resonates.html