After the Verdict in the Trayvon Martin Case

Los Angeles: Protests through the Night

July 15, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

July 13, evening: People of all nationalities and ages began gathering in Leimert Park in the Crenshaw area of Los Angeles within an hour of the verdict. Anger/disbelief/grief/gut-wrenching pain poured out. A mother and daughter showed up and marched all night, who only a few hours earlier had been crying on the street when they ran into a revolutionary and learned there was something they could do, together with others, to send a message to the world.

Young people from many different backgrounds, especially young Black masses, as well as people of all ages and backgrounds took to the streets chanting "Trayvon Martin, Emmett Till, No More Youth Getting Killed," "We are all—TRAYVON" and "Trayvon didn't have to die. We all know the reason why: THE WHOLE DAMN SYSTEM IS GUILTY!!" Many took turns running with the large vinyl banner to the front of the march with Trayvon's image and the slogan: "WE ARE ALL TRAYVON—THE WHOLE DAMN SYSTEM IS GUILTY."

The LAPD announced a tactical alert throughout the city. By 11 pm, the march came back to Leimert Park, where lines of LAPD cops waited to corral the people and put a lid on the protest—and then the marchers swung back up Crenshaw headed north, determined to keep going, NOT be stopped and to spread the outrage. Many more cheered them on and joined in. The march swelled to several hundred, with cars going the opposite direction honking and hanging out of their windows joining in. People on several buses traveling south realized they were witnessing a wild, growing, defiant, and organized outpouring of people outraged by the murder of Trayvon, and they could then be seen jumping up and down in the aisle of the buses, and pounding fists on the windows to show their support.

Several times in the evening, the LAPD tried to block the marchers and contain the anger—and more than once, the people refused to be contained and together found the ways to dodge the riot-clad pig lines to keep marching. Several young Black men and women, some with their faces covered, took responsibility to help outmaneuver the cops and keep it going. Once, they led the marchers to calmly walk down a side street as if deciding to leave the area, and then making a joint run for it across the street, around the pig lines and back onto Crenshaw before the cops could figure out what was happening and try to move to prevent it. Squadrons of motorcycle cops leapfrogged to the next large intersection—only to have a good section of the marchers stopping far south of there at the MTA Expo line crossing as a train approached—blocking the tracks! Several hundred gathered there for several hours, with the LAPD repeatedly pleading for protesters to clear the tracks, turn around and march back to Leimert Park and end the protest. Masses laughed and shouted in their faces, and chants rang out even louder.

In the span of hours spent on the train tracks or blocking intersections, different forces and programs circulated in the crowd. Revolutionaries invited all who are sick of the outrages of this system and want an end to the murder of the Trayvons of the world, to come to the L.A. Central Library next Saturday for the showing of the film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! Bob Avakian Live and get into this revolutionary leader, the strategy for revolution and Bob Avakian's vision of a radically different world. In the midst of one of the standoffs with the cops, a Revolution Club member stepped up to read the statement by Carl Dix, "Zimmerman Walks Free—How Long Will This System Continue to Get Away With Murder?" People listened intently, and it struck a chord among a section of people. All night people took up Revolution newspapers, some displaying the paper as they marched.

Now into the wee hours of the morning, the LAPD announced an unlawful assembly—and the marchers took off again, around the police lines, continuing up Crenshaw—crossing over the freeway from South L.A. heading north. Along the way the LAPD opened fire with rubber bullets and bean bags at the marchers, hitting several, including a KNX reporter as they were walking AWAY from the pig lines. The marchers were finally dispersed around 3 am, spreading the word throughout the protest and to masses who had come out of their houses to gather back at Leimert Park the next day at 1 pm—to carry forward the outrage.

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