This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.

Who do the police "serve and protect?"--not the oppressed


by the Missouri chapter of RAIL

Meeting
RAIL will show a video about police brutality The End of the Nightstick, have a guest speaker and discussion about further political activism against police terror.

The End of the Nightstick tells the story of institutional racism, violence and cover-up. It is also the story of resistance as a local activist group in Chicago refuses to let the story of police violence be hidden.

World Community Center
438 N. Skinker
St. Louis, MO
Saturday, February 1
6:00 P.M.

Lots of people agree that our communities need to be safe from violence and crime. The question is: Who are the real criminals, who is most responsible for violence and crime in our communities?

MoRAIL believes that the police who defend the status quo of exploitation, poverty, and drugs are the real criminals, not those people driven to petty crime by hunger or unemployment--let alone those framed by the police. It is a fact that oppressed people often steal, beat, even rape and murder other oppressed people. But this kind of crime is fostered by an oppressive system and can only be eliminated once we have pulled down this system and its lackeys.

True: None of us can live peacefully and productively when we have to live in fear for ourselves and our loved ones. Yet many of us refuse to recognize the facts or become weak-kneed when confronted with police brutality and murder. Some look the other way while others apologize for the criminal activities of those sworn to "serve and protect."

Apologists for the police tend to justify police violence by blaming the victim. When Garland Carter Jr. Was murdered by St. Louis cop "Eddie" Sanchez the apologists said that it was because he was a "gang member", therefore guilty and justly executed. In their eyes, the police have the exclusive right to act as judge, jury and executioner. Never mind the fact that eyewitnesses saw Sanchez take a gun out of the trunk of his car and plant it on his victim. Although investigators found Sanchez guilty of violating police procedure for having guns in his trunk and he reigned the police department, the murderer is free to walk the streets. Is that justice? Does it make the streets safe?

On October 20, 1996, Randolph (Randy) Vance was brutally beaten to death by white Seventh District police officers at his home at 5108 Kensington. After being handcuffed and anklecuffed, he was KICKED, STOMPED, STRUCK WITH NIGHTSTICKS AND FLASHLIGHTS. HE WAS FORCIBLY DRAGGED FROM HIS HOME DOWN 12 CONCRETE STEPS. HIS HEAD STRUCK EVERY STEP. One month to the day Randy was killed, Michael Dillard, an eyewitness, was MURDERED. Coincidence? We want the truth!

Apologists for the police say that Randy deserved to die because he was on drugs. Did that give police the right to play God and kill Randy Vance while he was handcuffed and anklecuffed?

Amerikkka's police, like an occupying force, terrorize the Black and Latino community every day and night. Police selectively choose Blacks and Latinos for arrest and imprisonment, every day and every night. These attacks are increasing in an ugly atmosphere of a police-prison state. The international community has cited the U.S. government for violations of human rights concerning "immigration, police abuse, its prison system, and the death penalty."(1) The Human Rights World Report 1997, released by the Human Rights Watch group, also states that "Police officers in a number of cities were accused of serious human rights violations, including unjustifiable shootings, severe beatings and with many of the alleged victims asserting that these abuses were racially motivated."(2)

We have seen time and time again that the police do not serve the interests of the black, Latino and other oppressed nations' communities. On the contrary, they are agents of white capitalist- imperialist rule. Their job is to protect the privileged status quo in Amerikkkan society. Let's ask ourselves this honest question: when have the police served our community?

Can you trust the police for you protection? Are you and your family safe if you call on the police as Randy Vance did? Can we really have safe streets when police get away with murder?

Silence is complicity. It is time to wake up and speak out. The people have a right and a duty to rebel against police terror. If you are truly for safe streets join RAIL and its efforts to STOP POLICE BRUTALITY!

Only the people can change the violent oppression and poverty we are faced with. History proves that when masses of people organize, unite and act for change--CHANGE HAPPENS. It is right to rebel against police terror. Ultimately, the violence created by capitalism and perpetrated by its running dogs will only be eliminated by socialist revolution. The time for talk is done. The time to mobilize has come.

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