Photo courtesy fo Robert lBlackwel Gibbs
The New
Civil Rights Movement
The demonstrations
against the killing of unarmed Black men are a good thing. This fight against
racism will eventually benefit everyone as it will cause a review of police
procedures and policies. The criminal justice system is rigged in such a way
that no police officer who kills anyone is ever indicted. This should change to
a different standard of any police officers who wrongfully kills someone should
be fired. The standard is a long struggle before it could be effectuated. And
it might never be accomplished without a complete dismantling and overhaul of
our justice system.
On November
13, 2014 there were three demonstrations for racial justice seen on Worcester,
Boston, NYC, and Washington. At least twenty five people went to the NYC
demonstration from Worcester. The trip to NYC was organized by Communities
United Collective (CUC). A group formed shortly after a Support Ferguson Mo
rally in July of 2014 in the Worcester commons. The CUC consists of mostly
relatively young people of all races who are too young to have participated in
the civil rights movement of 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. All of the people in CUC are enthusiastic and
this showed when they and students boldly blocked the streets of Worcester and
made their voices heard at the Worcester City Council meeting.
A weakness
of the CUC seems to be that they are never certain from meeting to meeting what
is needed to be done.
The
description of the rally in New York by some of the people who went shows this
enthusiasm.
Jules
“The Millions March
was a peacefully organized Rally. It was a very successful. We shut the streets
down and raise awareness. It won’t end until Justice is brought to those who
ripped families apart and took the lives of the innocent. If I had to do it
again, I’d do it a thousand times over.”
Jonathan
“The bosses have to
have heard and that is why they are discrediting the marchers in any way that
they can. This was no rowdy bunch of hoodlums. This was an extremely well
organized political action. I
expect reforms to come in the long term. This is just
the beginning of a growing movement. The police can't do this anymore. The
people aren't going to let them
“Yeah sure! I
thought it went really great and it was amazing how many people came out in
solidarity. I think are point of why we're fighting got across but we still
have a ways to go and we need to take that people power past protesting.”
Robert
“Uplifting while
sorrowful! It was moving to see so many like minds there for the main cause.
The police were calm but we knew what they really wanted. When we all took
Brooklyn Bridge and shut down both sides to traffic it was a show of real
power.”
The rally in
Washington D.C. might indicate a difference in tactics between the old guard civil
rights activists and the young activists. A group of younger demonstrators from
St. Louis wanted to go up on the stage when the TV cameras were and speak. The
people running the rally said that the people from St. Louis needed VIP passes
to get on stage.
This new civil
rights movement apparently has reached a critical stage. What is next? More
blocked streets, more teach ins, or something else is next? Will there be a
division between the young and the older civil rights activists? Hopefully this new movement will have the
lasting power of the effectiveness of the old.
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