Sisters’ Call to Action in Solidarity with “The Squad”

Sisters’ Call to Action in Solidarity with “The Squad”

 “And still we rise.” --  Maya Angelou

The Sexual Predator on Pennsylvania Avenue in his recent vicious attacks on “The Squad”: Ilhan Omar, Ayana Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib, told these women of color to “go back to their crime-infested” countries. All of these women are American citizens. All of these women are proud of their heritage and work for their respective communities. All of these women are being attacked because they fight for the working class, challenge white supremacy, and patriarchy because they are women. They dare to be women who have political conviction around their support of Palestine, their support of Venezuela, and their denunciation of border camps.

We call on all women and their communities to join us in solidarity with “The Squad” by signing this letter, asking others to sign this letter, and joining us on August 28th (the anniversary of the murder of Emmitt Till and in honor of his courageous mother, Mamie Till.) These women who are Somali, Black American, Puerto Rican, Arab, Muslim, and non-Muslim women have fought together for the interests of all communities: workers, women, Latinx, Black, Muslim, LGBTQ, straight, and immigrants against the rich and powerful. If we allow any one of our communities’ human rights to get picked off and pitted against each other, we will all lose. An injury to one is an injury to all!

Trump has tried to erase their legal status as U.S. citizens and tries to make them “the Other.” As we have seen with racist U.S. policy “The Other” dies in prisons. “The Other” suffers in cages. “The Other” is shot down in the street. “The Other” dies face down drowned in raging rivers seeking the asylum that the Statue of Liberty promised. 

But it goes deeper than that. The economic system of the United States and the fascist policies that maintain it were built into how the black population has been controlled and contained from the inception of the U.S. in order to guarantee the labor of African people from slavery in the 1700s  to Jim Crow, during the 1960s, and through today. During slavery, Black women were forced to re-produce the labor force. This is the foundation of this country. Trump is attacking women like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib because they dare to question and fight against America’s unjust economic past and present.  

Trump also attacks reporters and undermines a free press. It is dangerous when one man wants the public to believe that he is the only person to be trusted. This is a hallmark of fascism. Blaming “the Other” as the cause of low wages, unemployment, high rent, high utility bills, high deductibles is what Mussolini and Hitler in WWII and is what Trump is doing now. Blaming “The Other” is what fascism does. 

We stand with them in solidarity and show our collective outrage by signing this letter, asking others to sign this letter, and joining us. If you want to include your signature (individual or on behalf of your organization) then please contact Shafeah M'Balia at jazznjustice@gmail.com.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, NOON

THOMAS FOREMAN PARK (5^th & Nash), GREENVILLE, NC

ENDORSERS SO FAR (8/14/19):

Organization Endorses:

-NC Black Women’s Roundtable

-SpiritHouse, Durham, NC

-Muslim Women For, Raleigh, NC

-Muslims for Social Justice
-Women’s Commission, Black Workers For Justice
-Action NC RAGE
-Black Workers For Justice
-Coalition Against Racism, Greenville, NC
-Southerners On New Ground (SONG)

Individual Endorsers:

-Rosa Saavedra, Companeras Campesinas, Raleigh, NC/Puerto RICO

-Nathanette Mayo, former pres., UE 150, Fruit of Labor, Raleigh, NC

-Rukiya Dillahunt, former president, Wake ACT; board, Fertile Ground Food Co-op, NC

-Naeema Muhammad,  NC Environmental Justice Network, Rocky Mount, NC

-Willie Roberts, Coalition Against Racism, Greenville, NC

-Gloria De Los Santos,

-Larsene Taylor, DownEast  Coal Ash Coalition, former pres., UE150, Blueprint, Goldsboro, NC

-Erin Dale, Raleigh, NC

-Lora Tate, Grifton, NC /BWFJ/BWMG

-Shafeah M’Balia, BWFJ, MSJ, IJAN, Rocky Mt., NC/Savannah, GA

-Ashaki Binta, BWFJ, North Star Services, Cambridge, MD

-Naa Norley-Adom, Durham, NC

-Kathy Knight, BWFJ, Tillery, NC

-Jaki Shelton Green, Mebane, NC

-Shemekka Ebony, Raleigh, NC

-Tanya Wallace-Gobern, National Black Workers Centers Project, Raleigh, NC

-Kim Eng, MD, Rocky Mount Racial Justice Group, Rocky Mount, NC

-Evelyn Powell, Edgecombe Co. Board of Commissioners, Battleboro, NC

-Patrice Jacobs, Pres., Long Leaf Chapter, NC Public Service Workers Union, UE150, Wilson, NC

-Sekia Royal, Vice Pres., NC Public Service Workers Union, UE150

-Tonjur McDuffie,  Goldsboro, NC

-Hattie Gatlin,  Goldsboro, NC

-Fatimah Afif Adekola, Philadelphia, PA

#BlackLivesMatter Action in Durham on 7/21/16

Hundreds of people gathered in front of Durham police headquarters at 6pm on Thursday (7/21) evening. As the crowd grew, the rally took over the intersection (Chapel Hill St and Duke St) blocking the flow of traffic in all directions. Seven Black and POC organizers chained themselves to the railing outside of the police department. Meanwhile, white comrades, connected to one another with lockboxes, blocked Duke St. 

The program featured speakers from a number of organization, including MSJ (thank you to Q for speaking), as well as Black Youth Project 100, Southerners on New Ground (SONG), Workers World Party, Durham Solidarity Center, Showing Up For Racial Justice - Triangle (SURJ), Black Workers for Justice, SpiritHouse, and others. Speakers denounced violence and terror the police systematically inflict against Black people and spoke about the need to re-invest in the welfare of our communities—by prioritizing community needs, first and foremost, and re-directing resources to job programs, affordable housing, education, healthcare, etc. Many recognized that we find ourselves in a moment within the larger movement that is spreading nationwide, and we cannot afford to stay silent.

Importantly, many speakers uplifted the names of those killed by police nationwide, as well as here in our state—just this year, Akiel Denkins was killed in Raleigh, Deriante Miller in Kinston, and Jai "Jerry" Williams in Asheville. Their names were lifted up throughout the evening.

Further, rally organizers paid close attention to the role police plays locally. Annually, the Durham Police Department already receives nearly $60 million of the city budget. The Durham Police Department this year was found to demonstrate alarming racial bias against Black residents in their policing but has not faced any funding restrictions from city officials. Over the past year, Durham Beyond Policing, a local campaign opposing the building of a new police headquarters and demanding investment in Black and Brown community, has called city’s attention to the harm that the police bring to communities of color.  

After the larger crowd dispersed, protesters engaging in civil disobedience and their supporters remained at the intersection until midnight, having blocked traffic in all four directions for six hours total. The rally was part of #FreedomNow national day of action, a call for which was issued by the Movement for Black Lives, a national coalition of Black racial justice organizations. 

The rally received significant coverage in local media: 

1) ABC 11: "Protestors Block Streets in Durham" 

2) WRAL: "Black Lives Matter Protest Blocks Traffic in Durham" 

3) N&O: "Hundreds in Durham Protest Police Killings, New Police Headquarters" 

4) WNCN: "Black Lives Matter Protestors Block Downtown Durham Streets" 

5) Herald Sun: "Solidarity: Protestors demand defunding of police, community investment" 

Black Lives Matter/End Islamophobia Forum at UE150 Biannual Convention

North Carolina Public Workers Union, UE Local 150, organized biannual convention in Raleigh on July 16-17, 2016. Delegates from 16 workplaces from across the state gathered to discuss the current political landscape, to support the Black Lives Matter movement, and show important gains of the Fight for $15 movement and plan steps for the next 2 years of struggle! UE Local 150 is rank-and-file and predominantly Black workers led organization. Nationally, UE (United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America) is one of the most progressive unions in the country that believes in workers empowerment than business unionism. UE has embraced the movement for BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israeli occupation, based on a motion by UE Local 150 chapter. This makes UE the only national union to adopt such a measure.

During the convention, a panel on Black Lives Matter and Ending Islamophobia was organized. This invited speeches by Danielle Purifoy from Durham Beyond Policing and Manzoor Cheema from Muslims for Social Justice. This panel explored the theme of police oppression and envisioning a future without policing. Islamophobia is an extension of anti-Black racism and it is increasingly employed as a divide-and-conquer strategy. The following is the speech on Islamophobia:

"Islamophobia, or bigotry against Muslims, is an extension of anti-Black racism. Islam and Muslims are not a race, but they have been reduced to a race or racialized. We should also keep in mind that a significant number of Muslims are Black Muslims. Significant number of Muslims came to the USA through slavery. About 30% of slaves were Muslims. Their religion and heritage was robbed. After slavery, many Black people converted or reverted to Islam and established some of the first mosques in the country. Large number of immigrant Muslims came to the USA after 1965 visa policy change that allowed Black and Brown immigrants to come to the USA. This was a result of the civil rights movement's demand to increase quote for non-European immigrants. As immigrant Muslims, we owe a debt to Black Muslims and anti-racism movement.

Islamophobia, like other oppressions, is a result of the crisis of capitalism. Capitalist forces have always required tools to divide people and pit victims of exploitation against each other. Working class whites have historically supported anti-Black policies that have also hurt their class interests. As the country witnesses one of the highest inequalities in more than 100 years; capitalist and white supremacist forces employ homophobia, xenophobia against immigrants and Islamophobia to further divide-and-conquer working and oppressed people. The work by UE Local 150, the largest rank-and-file public workers union in North Carolina, is exemplary in building intersectional movement. UE Local 150 is led by Black workers and has brought Black Liberation perspective to labor organizing. UE Local 150 has also supported global anti-colonial movements, namely support of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against the Israel occupation. Your achievement in working outside the “business unionism” model and connecting issues of race, class, gender, sexuality (UE150 came out strongly against transphobic HB2 law) and wars abroad is an inspiration for progressive allies.

As Muslims for Social Justice, we are committed to linking the movement against Islamophobia with Black Liberation and worker rights movement. We do not take the issue of solidarity lightly. Solidarity is beyond sentimentality. Our goal is to organize Muslims working class and link them with the movement led by Black Workers for Justice and UE Local 150. This organizing work in the Muslim community and joining the broader workers and progressive movement is essential to topple the oppressive balance of power. Nothing short of that will solve the root cause of oppression. Muslims for Social Justice will launch a paper “Muslims Workers” soon that will be used as an organizing tool in Muslim working places. We look forward to learning from and developing a longterm partnership with Black Workers for Justice and UE Local 150, as we launch this important chapter of organizing Muslims workers."

Here are pictures from the event

From Mourning to Organizing for Justice

Anti-colonial writer Frantz Fanon exclaimed decades ago, “When we revolt, it's not for a particular culture. We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe!” His prophetic words became a tragic reality for Eric Garner who repeated "I can't breathe" eleven times as he died on July 14, 2014, while in a chokehold by a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer. I can't breathe has become a metaphor for oppressive survival in a racist society.

There was an outrage when images of Alton Sterling being shot multiple times circulated on the media. Sterling was killed while he was held to the ground by Louisiana police officers. This outrage turned into a revolt when, just one day later, a video of fatal shooting of Philando Castile, this time by a Minnesota police officer, circulated on the media. Anti-racism activists mobilized across the country against these killings. However, they were quickly demonized in the wake of the tragic shooting of five police officers in Dallas, TX. Before the dust settled on Dallas tragedy, former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh declared on Twitter, "3 Dallas Cops killed, 7 wounded. This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you." What started as a revolt against police brutality was met with an immediate attempt to criminalize the movement and suffocate dissent. 

Mourning the death of Sterling and Castile, and not allowing the Dallas tragedy dampen the #BlackLivesMatter movement, were major themes during vigils in Raleigh. North Carolina-based Black Workers for Justice, condemned police brutality and institutional racism. They also emphasized the need to raise voice against other oppressions, including Islamophobia. Muslims have been all too familiar when tragic instances are hijacked to de-humanize the entire Muslim community. Black Workers for Justice statement read:

"We must not be deterred from challenging these police killings of our people. Like the mainstream media and government efforts to use the Orlando, FL, massacre to promote Islamophobia, the Dallas, TX, shootings of police will be another attempt to place the blame on the movement for Black liberation highlighted by the slogan Black Lives Matter."

Raleigh has seen police brutality of its own when Black youth Akiel Denkins was killed by a Raleigh police officer on February 29, 2016. His killing led to the establishment of a coalition demanding justice in policing, called Raleigh PACT or Police Accountability Community Taskforce. PACT played a key role in organizing the vigil to create a space for mourning and healing in the wake of murders of Denkins, Sterling, Castile and a Black man Jerry Williams killed in Asheville on July 2, 2016. Denkin's mother, Rolanda Byrd, spoke against police brutality and called for justice during the vigil. "It has taken a tragedy, the five officers that were killed in Dallas, to wake up the conversation on how black families are being treated on a daily basis," Byrd said during her speech.

The fact that Alton Sterling was killed while selling CDs and Eric Garner was killed while selling loose cigarettes has highlighted the oppressive subsistence living conditions for many Black Americans, whose real crime is being Black and poor. During a prayer vigil at As-Salaam Islamic Center in Southeast Raleigh, there was a call for diverting money to Black-owned businesses and banks. South East Raleigh has established a Black and Brown led food co-op, called Fertile Ground, in a predominantly Black neighborhood designated by the local government as a “food desert”. Building indigenous economy and providing healthy food to the marginalized communities are at the core of co-op's mission of grassroots empowerment.

The recent murders of Black people have taken place at a distance, but they are close to the lived experience of many in North Carolina. After mourning, there was a movement in the community to organize for justice.