June 10—National Hoodie Day:
Saying NO MORE to Open Season on Black Youth!
June 17, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
On June 10, national and international attention was focused on Sanford, Florida, where the trial of George Zimmerman, the vigilante murderer of Trayvon Martin, opened with jury selection. A very important thing that many of those eyes saw was people taking to the streets and acting in other ways to deliver the message, "We Are All Trayvon! The Whole Damn System Is Guilty!" National Hoodie Day, called by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network (SMIN), was taken up in cities across the U.S. by people of different nationalities and garnered much local and some national coverage in print and broadcast media.
In Sanford itself, a delegation that included Cephus "Uncle Bobby" Johnson and Beatrice X, the uncle and aunt of Oscar Grant, who was murdered by cops in the Oakland/San Francisco area on New Years Day, 2009 and Noche Diaz, a member of the NYC Revolution Club and an activist in the Stop Mass Incarceration Network (SMIN) brought the message to ground zero in Sanford in the fight for justice for Trayvon. This fight was also taken up in Boston; Buffalo, NY; Chicago; Cleveland; Dallas; Detroit; Fresno, CA; Jacksonville, FL; Los Angeles; Milwaukee; New York City; the Oakland/San Francisco area and the Twin Cities in Minnesota.
In the days leading into Hoodie Day, high school students snapped up stickers bearing the slogans, posed for pictures wearing hoodies, and signed banners. Teachers in Chicago contributed money to get more stickers printed, and people on the streets of Harlem donated $300 to send Noche to Sanford. Thousands of stickers and fliers went out to people attending a hip-hop concert in Oakland.
The call for Hoodie Day was spread widely on Facebook and Twitter. Chaka Khan, who gathered dozens of actors and musicians to do a tribute song for Trayvon following his murder last year, tweeted: "2Day is National Hoodie Day. Will u stand with me? RT #Justice4Trayvon. Arsenio Hall was among 50 people who retweeted this message. Others who tweeted about it included Chuck D, Cornel West, the Prison Watch Network and Occupy Wall Street.
On June 10 itself, people took to the streets in powerful marches and rallies. 70 people were in the street in LA's mostly Black Crenshaw District. Traffic stopped as Aztec Dancers mixed with high school students of different nationalities to express bitterness at how Trayvon's murder concentrated the way Black youth are targeted in this society. 75 marched through downtown Chicago, wearing hoodies and carrying signs and banners. The "3 Strikes" quote from Bob Avakian was read aloud at the rally, with the crowd joining in on the last line: "That's it for this system; 3 strikes and you're out!" In NYC, rallies in both Harlem and at Union Square gathered 70 people, some of whom braved torrential rains to come out, and some of whom joined the demonstrations when they came upon them in the streets. In Buffalo, NY, marchers wound through a Black community, bringing traffic to a standstill and drawing support from drivers and people walking by, some of whom joined the march.
This is just to give a taste of what went on in cities around the country.... but go to "Updates from Sanford and Around the Country: The Trial of Trayvon's Killer—The People's Demand for Justice" to read full reports:
Oakland, CA. 50 people gathered at the Fruitvale BART train station where Oscar Grant was murdered by the police; another 25 were at 14th and Broadway in downtown. In the afternoon, six members of a social club in the community showed up, wearing black hoodies, ready for a video production for justice for Trayvon which had been pre-arranged a week prior. A rapper from the Revolution Club stepped up to the beat track from a local rap group in the hood, as the social club moved to the beat, speaking to the deep sentiment from those in the hood that "we are all Trayvon Martin." Afterward, the social club and others passed their phones around taking pictures for their hashtags, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook friends. People were proud of what they had done, wanting to do more; and the social club then set up a video showing/discussion of the DVD BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! specifically for their next meeting.
Crenshaw District, LA. 70 people hit the streets for a very spirited and determined rally and march in the Leimert Park area during rush hour traffic, bringing business as usual to a virtual stop in the Crenshaw district—an historic and present-day commercial and cultural hub of Black people in LA. People came out of storefronts to give fist salutes and take pictures, and cars by the dozens honked their horns in unity. Masses took to the bullhorns and held up banners; seriously and joyously running up and down the street, rushing up to cars and passing out information on the battle for justice for Trayvon; some youth came off the street to join. The march was covered by the Los Angeles Times and several TV and radio stations.
Harlem and Union Square, New York City. Some 100 people came out, first in Harlem, then later in Union Square, speaking of their anger and fears, but also of their pride in standing up with others to fight it, and their determination not to back down. In Harlem people rallied in St. Nicholas Park and got out stickers saying "We Are All Trayvon Martin/The Whole System Is Guilty" to over 50 high school students who were grabbing them and putting them on on-the-spot. Then they marched through the area, chanting "Trayvon Did Not Have to Die; We All Know the Reason Why; The Whole System Is Guilty." They started the march with 15 people and grew to over 25 as others joined along the way.
Downtown Chicago. Rush hour traffic was jolted awake by a roving march that grew to 75 people wearing hoodies and carrying banners with the image of Trayvon Martin in his hoodie, homemade signs, banners signed by high school students—delivering the message "We Are All Trayvon Martin! The Whole Damn System is Guilty!" The crowd included family members of those killed by Chicago police. One mother wore a target on the back of her head with the hoodie up—where the police had shot her son. A former prisoner with his son and wife were in the house, along with activists for prisoners rights and people from Occupy. Young activists from Occupy and the Revolution Club led the chants. People in the protest carried banners that had been signed and/or made by students at high schools and throughout Chicago. In the week before in a neighborhood on the West Side a group of youth playing basketball at a hoop in the street stopped their game and grabbed handfuls of stickers and fliers. As the sound car pulled away, instead of resuming their game these youth took the stickers and fliers and started down the street, handing them out to people sitting on their porches.
These actions provided a necessary counterpoint to the attempts of Zimmerman's legal defense team in this case, abetted by the media, to drag Trayvon's reputation through the mud to justify Zimmerman murdering him. It took thousands of people taking to the streets across the country to force the authorities to arrest Zimmerman and put him on trial. It will take more of the same to have a real shot at justice in this case.
As a member of the Revolution Club put it, "This was a good beginning." SMIN is calling for people to remain focused in on this case, ready to put their hoodies back up, and express their rage at the bulls-eye on the backs of oppressed youth in the streets and in other ways at key points in this case.
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