Terrorism -- At Home!

[nattyreb]

TERRORISM -- AT HOME!
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[Col. Writ. 8/6/05] Copyright '05 Mumia Abu-Jamal

For many people in this country, for millions, in fact, when they think about terrorism, their minds do not drift to the tortured trauma of the Middle East. Their dreams aren't peopled with swarthy Arabs, or whispering groups plotting bombings in major American, or European, cities.

They think of lives darkened by the ever-present threat of terrorism from fellow Americans, and not from weird white guys in white robes, either.

Their lives are shadowed by cops; by Americans who might swear to serve and protect, but who do not intend to either serve or protect them.

This is especially so in Black communities across America, but it's also prevalent in Brown America, and indeed, in white, working class America, where people see the horrific, legalized violence unleashed upon them by cops.

They can look to no political relief from these threats, for, more often than not, cops serve as henchmen for political machines, or, in some cases, they fund such political operations.

When they turn to the judiciary, there they again find no way, except in extreme cases where they win civil judgments, which are, in fact, shifted tax moneys, going from Peter to pay Paul.

This writer has received many a letter from people who have suffered from the hands of the cops, who have tried to get a hand from nationally known Black leaders, but often to no avail.

Some have become stories, which you've read or heard; others have gone on, into the great silence; untold, unheard, unheralded tales of brutality, that leaves people broken, in pain, and, often, far too often, alone.

For such people, what is the solution -- to vote? To write a letter to the editor? To talk to one's clergy? To pray?

I thought of this when I heard about the unprovoked beatings of two Black men in Philadelphia, Ernst Ford and Moses Franklin, who were demonstrating against the police killing of another Black man, in West Philadelphia. According to published reports, both men were beaten viciously by cops, for practicing what are allegedly termed First Amendment rights of protest and assembly.

When police beat people, kick people, brutally pummel and blackjack people, because they don't like what those people are protesting about, this isn't 'police brutality.' That is a polite way of saying what it really is: police terrorism.

It is the forces of the state punishing and intimidating people, to try to deter political behavior that the Constitution supposedly protects. But, in truth, the constitution protects nothing. It is, after all is said and done, only a piece of paper. The principles and promises written therein are violated every day, all across America, and have been violated with impunity for centuries, against millions. To treat it as a kind of Holy Grail, is but to ignore the stark lessons of history.

There *is* a solution, but it isn't as easy as writing an e-mail.

It's the only solution that can ever happen, short of Revolution itself.

Organize.

When people dare to come together, to work together, in their own independent organizations, they can make things happen.

It is only that power, of people coming together to fight back, that will ever have a chance against this social cancer.

Organize. Organize. Organize.

There are no shortcuts. There is no instant, add water, and -- poof!

People can, and must organize other like-minded people, to bring an end to this gathering terrorism -- at home.

Copyright 2005 Mumia Abu-Jamal

[Mr. Jamal's latest work is a look at a major radical group,
the Black Panther Party. *WE WANT FREEDOM:
A Life in the Black Panther Party*, (Cambridge, Ma.: South
End Press, 2004). (http://www.southendpress.org); Ph.
#1-800-533-8478.]
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