Marginalized People Stand Strong

The Marginalized People Stand Strong

The Community United Collective (CUC) held a rally of one hundred people in the City of Worcester on April 14, 2015. Although peaceful and relatively small, this rally has had a disproportionally large effect on the City.  A couple of days before the rally began City official brought out the big guns threatening to arrest people. A well meaning group of clergy seemed to have been organized by the City to preempt the rally. City Councillors said that protester should be charge with some kind crime.  A Worcester Police offers was arrested for civil rights violations. After the rally the City Manager said he would drop charges against the Kelly square protestors, if they agreed to behave. A City Councillor reportedly called for a Civilian Review Board. Councillor Lukes has an agenda item to punish the people at Mosaic Center.

No Worcester Police officer has ever been arrested for any action he took while on duty. No City Councillor in recent history has called for a civilian review.  The rally of Community United Collective as a part of the Black (all) Lives Matter new civil rights movement has compelled something of a social upheaval in the City of Worcester and the USA. Cops are being arrested for murder for killing unarmed people while on duty.  .

There were no politicians at the rally, not even candidates. There are twenty nine candidates seeking seats on the City Council. There seemed to be no clergy. There were street people, there were middle class working people, there were students, there were radicals, and there were the peace community. Marginalized people were at the rally.

CUC read a statement that said that it and its friends would not be turned around by the City government, the cops, the politicians, and other misleaders. There was a question and answer session after the statement.  A member of the CUC said that the stories appearing in the Worcester Telegram were inaccurate and possibly intended to intimidate protesters. No protested has been charged as of the date of the rally. Two protesters were being summons to a Clerk Magistrate Hearing to determine if the City had enough evidence to file a charge.

A spokesman for Progressive Labor Party who has been active in the CUC said that income inequalities were one of the material conditions leading to racism and gender disparities.  Income disparities eventually lead to killing of unarmed working people, especially young Black men.

The Black Lives Matter protests are continuing,  on April 14, 2015 the Brooklyn Bridge in NYC was blocked and in Springfield MA a roadway was also blocked.

The discussion about race is heating up and it seems that the CUC is not backing down. Let us see if the City can have a candid discussion without hiding behind the Department of Justice or some other interlocutor.