Today I went to the march for Ezell Ford, another black male murdered by the police.
 I am not a black male, so I do not know what it means to live under that constant threat of violence on your body from the state forces. But I do know what it means to live under the threat of violence. So, I have mad solidarity for all those who have died at the hands of the police, or have been assaulted by them. This is a racist, patriarchal fucked up oppressive society and we need to stand together.
 I haven't been to a march in awhile. It's so contradictory to feel such a feeling of beauty at an event that occurs due to such oppression, but we took mad streets, and with no hesitation, and that sort of power in the face of a police state makes me feel like maybe there is hope. And I don't have a fucking ton of hope nowadays.
 I don't want to give a narrative of my experience⌠rather I just want to discuss a few ideas/thoughts/reflections/rants..
 As I said, we took mad streets. It was fucken amazing. Lots of militancy, anger, power, and community. The police ended up escorting us, of course. That's how they cut our power to take streets, make it seem as if they are the ones "letting" us take the streets. And here we are in a pretty much "fuck the police" march, with the police. It also scares people, who wants to join a group of people surrounded by the cops? On our march back to 65th and Broadway, from the Newton Police Station, they insisted on cutting off our comrades in cars from the people marching. In response, we surrounded the cars in our march and did not allow them to be stopped by the police. The police want to control every aspect of an unpermitted street march because they know that if they try to outright and stop it, it will only lead to escalation⌠and they know that the tipping point is not that far. But, we took the streets, held the intersections, and it felt like an actual march versus all the permitted marches that feel like parades.
The police are an occupied army. They are not from the community. They do not give a shit about the people in the communities they are supposed to "serve and protect." They do not serve and protect, they KILL. It's what I think every time I see their stupid cars. It was also on a sign today, and I want to repeat it over and over to everyone. Cops do not serve and protect, they KILL. Today, Ezell's community asked the police for answers as to his murder, why did they kill him? What happened in the confrontation? Why have the police given no information, not even to his mother? None of the questions were answered. The police stood in a line, in front of their police station, protecting their fortress, smiling at the masses, as if this gathering was comical. One of them kept glancing at their watch, yawning. I was almost in tears, as Ezell's brother pleaded with them, and then demanded⌠and then⌠a young black boy asked the police if they would shoot him when we walked to the store? They stared back at him with nothing. They continued to stand, some of them with their hands resting on their guns. We turned around, raised up our hands and chanted, "Hands up! Don't shoot." Then the media showed up, and the mood shifted away from the police, who for the rest of the time we were there stood there, saying nothing except joking remarks to each other. They are an occupied army, they are not from South Central. They are there to do what a lot of other occupied armies do in other countries - terrorize, terrify, kill, kidnap, shoot, intimidate, beat up.. and that's a reality.
The Revolutionary Community Party needs to chill. I don't disagree with their rhetoric necessarily (at least not all of it..) but why do they gotta jump in and take over with their fucking bullhorn every protest?? Especially if they are white! Not all marches have to have chants. We do not need to mindlessly repeat phrases as we walk for an hour or more. Silence can be good, it allows for dialogue to happen, for people to reflect on what's happening, and for maybe someone who is not as empowered to step up and start a new chant. I have been to a lot of fucking marches. So have those in the RCP. But a lot of people haven't, and are not comfortable on a bullhorn or with chanting. If you don't give folks space to develop their protest strategies, antics, and tactics, then you are pretty much slashing away at their autonomy. And we do not have to do marches / protests the way they've been done. The thing about inexperienced people is that sometimes they have the best and most creative ideas. So those of us who are more experienced in protest need to take a step back, and encourage others. Every time the state fucks us over, we build a little stronger. The rigid absolutist ideas and theories of groups like RCP just set us back though. Autonomy, affinity groups, and spontaneity is what we need in the streets.
There was a loudspeaker, and we played fuck the police by nwa, and it was awesome. Cos fuck the police.
 This afternoon and tonight made me a little more hopeful for people, and community. I have all of the solidarity for those who are friends, neighbors, family of Ezell Ford. I am so furious that someone who was so loved was so wrongfully taken from people's lives. And I'm not sure what to call my next emotion - maybe rage, at that it happens so often. And that it happened thousands of times over in Gaza just a month ago. All these things make me hopelessly depressed, but then I remember the resistors (from LA to Ferguson to Gaza to Egypt to Greece to London to Bangladesh to China to Nigeria)⌠All of us who dare to fight back against the system⌠and well maybe at the end of the day in the future we will win.
