What Are They Afraid Of?!
Editors' Note: On June 3 the LA Sheriffs reversed themselves and granted the march permit. Go here for the news flash.
| revcom.us
LA County Sheriff's Deny Permit for Revolution Club March on June 12
The Revolution Club Says this March Will Go Forward
People Begin to Raise Their Voice to Demand the Permit Be Granted
As plans are coming together in Los Angeles for the Revolution Club March on June 12, “Show the World: We Are Getting Organized Now For REVOLUTION, NOTHING LESS!,” there has been an outrageous attempt at political suppression by the LA County Sheriffs who have arbitrarily and unjustly denied the permit. This is unacceptable, this march will go forward and a range of legal and political voices are raising the demand that this permit be granted!
This march will start at Southwest College in the Westmont neighborhood of South Central, it will march through the neighborhood and arrive at the LA Sheriff Station South, and it will send the basic message: “WE ARE FIGHTING TO EMANCIPATE ALL HUMANITY—For a World Free of All Oppression and Exploitation! No More Antagonistic Divisions Among the People. THIS SYSTEM CANNOT BE REFORMED—IT MUST BE OVERTHROWN!”
The Revolution Club received a formal denial signed by head Sheriff Alex Villanueva with the bogus reasons given that, 1. this Sheriff's station “does not have a sufficient number of patrol deputies... without inhibiting normal police protection to the rest of the unincorporated region nearby” and that 2. “Past demonstrations within the last year at South LA Station became unruly, which ultimately resulted in injury to persons and property.”
First of all, the only reasons these protests became “unruly” is because of the wanton brutality from the pigs themselves. After these Sheriffs murdered 18-year-old Andres Guardado and 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, there were a series of protests at this Sheriff’s Station. These protests were met with vicious brutality—the Sheriffs tear-gassed legally assembled protesters, including young children at a press conference; they shot rubber bullets aimed at injuring protesters, aiming for people's groins, hands and faces, and arrested dozens of people. Second, the basic right of the Revolution Club to deliver this urgent political message is not dependent on how many pigs they can dispatch to direct traffic!
The Revolution Club chose this political target because, “The LA County Sheriffs—like the other police forces and the military—‘serve and protect’ THIS SYSTEM—the system of capitalism-imperialism. The system that rules this planet. The system that destroys lives and crushes spirits… that treats all kinds of people as ‘less than human’… that hunts down and drives down our youth in so many ways… and that threatens the very existence of humanity.”
The LA Sheriffs terrorize people throughout LA County, murdering at least 330 people since 2000. After killing people, they stalk and aim to silence the families of victims of police murder who speak out about the killing of their loved ones. There are open white supremacists within the LA Sheriffs, with organized gangs that get special badges and tattoos for murdering Black and Brown people.
With this rejection, the Sheriffs are making clear that they cannot tolerate the people getting organized to deliver this message. And in this, they are showing the NEED for this march in the first place: because their violent repressive force is illegitimate. The Call for June 12 says, “This system must go! So, Let’s Get Down to Basics: We Need A Real Revolution!” This march is about standing up to this system and raising a beacon that there is an organized force here in this country that is serious about revolution and a whole better world. “This revolution is possible. We are in a rare time when this really could be. But only if we get organized.” This is urgently needed!
The Revolution Club is not only not backing down—but is reaching out throughout all of society, to all those—coming from a range of political backgrounds and perspectives—who “want a better world,” and who see the need for the basic right of people to make this political statement.
In the face of this attempt at political suppression, a range of people coming from different perspectives have signed a letter demanding the LA County Board of Supervisors (which oversees the LA Sheriffs) reverse this denial and grant a permit. Those who have signed include Marjorie Cohn, the former president of the National Lawyers Guild; Mike Davis, professor emeritus, U.C. Riverside and author of books that have exposed the brutality of the LA police; Jim Lafferty, the executive director emeritus of the National Lawyers Guild, LA Chapter; Jorge Rodriguez, co-chair of the 50th Anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium Planning Committee; Stephen Rohde, an interfaith activist and retired First Amendment lawyer; and Rev. Frank Wulf, pastor, Echo Park United Methodist Church.
The Revolution Club will be holding a major press conference this Wednesday, June 2, at 11 a.m. to demand this permit be granted, and will be involving people throughout Los Angeles and across the country who recognize the justness of this basic demand.
“What is the message that has gotten these LA Sheriffs all shaken?
“June 12th … a force that is getting ready to actually get rid of this system!”
Comments from Noche Diaz, national spokesperson for the Revolution Clubs, at the June 2 press conference.
STATEMENTS DEMANDING THE LA SHERIFF GRANT THE REVOLUTION CLUB A PERMIT TO MARCH ON SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 2PM, SOUTHWEST COLLEGE THROUGH THE WESTMONT NEIGHBORHOOD TO THE LA SHERIFF’S STATION SOUTH
- From Sequarier McCoy, aunt of Dijon Kizzee, killed by LASD in 2020
- From Stephen Rohde, Civil rights activist, retired First Amendment lawyer, and author of American Words of Freedom and Freedom of Assembly
- From Elly Levy, Attorney-at-Law and Anti-Fascist Activist
- From Isabel Cardenas, American-Salvadoran / U.S. Citizen and Community Activist since 1960
- From Emanuel Padilla, Activist
- Letter from the ACLU of Southern California “Re: Reversing Los Angeles Sheriff's Department's Denial of Event Permit for the Revolution Club.” (PDF)
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