The Uhuru Solidarity Movement shares the following article from InPDUM Resistance, the blog of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement. We condemn the killing of Kimani Gray by the NYPD and stand in unconditional solidarity with the African community’s right to resist! Uhuru!
African Rebellion Rocks Brooklyn after NYPD Murders Teenager!
Written By Kianga of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement
On March 9, 2013 16 year old Kimani Gray was shot seven times by two police officers from the NYPD. The autopsy found Gray was hit once in the rear left shoulder, twice in his back thighs, twice in the front thighs, once in his left side and once in his lower left forearm. The police officers claim that Gray, pointed a .38 caliber pistol at them, which they claim was found at the site. However, many of the eye witnesses tell a different story and say that Gray was running for his life and screaming for the officers to stop. Kimani’s family also states that he didn’t own a weapon and he was actually coming home from a baby shower.
For the last few days since Kimani’s murder, vigils are being held and instead of a “peaceful” march, Africans are taking to the streets angry and enraged. Bottles are being thrown, windows are being broken, as well as verbal and physical altercations occurring with the police. As the rebellions enter the third day, it is estimated that at least 46 people have been arrested. Africans in New York are tired of the treatment of the state particular the police; this isn’t the first, second, or third time that the NYPD has murdered an African. In fact there are countless cases in which the NYPD has inflicted these types of colonial assaults on the African community.
One may wonder why aren’t “popular” news stations such as CNN, MSNBC, FOX, etc… covering this case or at least providing an update. Instead they are showing nonstop courage about the criminal organization-The Vatican. We are bombarded with the news about a new pope while a young African man has been murdered by the police and people are rebelling in the streets. It is important to understand that the ruling class media has no interest in the African community and they are going to always protect the status quo. This is why InPDUM’s blog is extremely important because we have to be able to put out stories and our analysis about what is happening in the community.
Kimani wasn’t just shot; he was plowed down by seven bullets! He was a 16 year-old young man whose life was stolen from him, like many other Africans who are murdered or enslaved inside of prisons. Although, it is very upsetting that such a young man was killed by the police, his murder is yet another indication of how important it is for Africans to get organized. Africans must not only get organized, we need to be organized under a revolutionary program that has revolutionary goals, and it must be led by a revolutionary organization. It is important that as this struggle deepens, that the African petty bourgeois aren’t allowed to come and co-opt this struggle. They are notoriously known to want to talk, pray, sing, or “calm” us down so we won’t want to struggle. Once we are “calmed” down then it happens again because we still have no power.
Because the officers’ account of the shooting sounds sketchy and the fact that Kimani had seven bullets in his body, it leads one to doubt that Kimani did point a gun at the police.
Yet the police claim a gun was found, but anyone with knowledge of the police, know they are notoriously known to plant drugs and weapons on helpless Africans. The police instead decided that Kimani’s life meant nothing and that killing him would be met with little to no resistance.
InPDUM doesn’t question whether Kimani pointed a gun at the police or not. Based on the outcome of his encounter with the pigs it is clear that he should have. INPDUM understands that African’s have a right and a responsibility to resist. Furthermore, we believe that we must continue this resistance wether it’s in the form of rebellions or attacks on the state. But these acts of resistance must be done under revolutionary leadership and organization.
That is why the resistance that is currently taking place in Brooklyn is so important. It is only through resistance that the brutality that Africans experience in Brooklyn and around the world will come to an end.
NYPD Tactics of Counterinsurgency Won’t Work
The police have set up roadblocks in East Flatbush, where Kimani was murdered, and other strategic locations throughout Brooklyn. These roadblocks and checkpoints were set up as a tactic of counterinsurgency to prevent the spreading of the resistance. The roadblock pictured in this article was set up to prevent protesters from approaching a nearby police station.
Prior to the rebellions, there were never any roadblocks in the area, which is an indication that these are defensive tactics being used by the state. These road blocks do not represent strength; they represent weakness and recognition by the state of the power of the people. They represent recognition by the state that more is to come and it cannot be stopped!
Resistance Must Be Revolutionary Resistance!
We are not engaged in resistance to create a better NYPD. The NYPD will never change. The NYPD was formed to brutalize Africans and kill the Indians on whose stolen land New York City rests. We are resisting and fighting for the right to have power over the police in the African community. For that to happen, the NYPD must go!
InPDUM calls for the immediate removal of the colonial police out of the African community and for the African community to have their own body of forces that will protect and defend the African community.
On March 23-24 the International Peoples Democratic Uhuru Movement will hold its annual international convention. The theme of the convention is One Africa! One Nation! Protect and Defend Our Own through Organized Resistance!
RNDP Pt. 16
We demand an end to the public policy of police containment of African people within the U.S. and its replacement with a public policy of economic development through massive capital infusion that would be used to uplift the entire community by supporting existing African businesses, establishing new African businesses, including cooperatives, and by contributing to the general self-reliance of the African community.
