Bill Ayers

These are still the cold facts: police officer Darren Wilson confronted an unarmed Black teenager named Michael Brown on a street in Missouri and fired a dozen shots and killed him dead; Mike Brown’s dead body was left on the street in the sun for 4 ½ hours before officials had it removed; a grand jury concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to indict Wilson on any criminal charges, or to find anyone else responsible for any actions in relation to Mike Brown’s death and mortification. There were reasonable alternatives, of course there were, at every step down this deadly path, and yet this is the merciless inventory: Wilson is free; White supremacy wins another round; Mike Brown is still dead.
Here are a couple photos from Chicago, and the cascading movement for democracy, justice, and love sweeping the nation:

On Ferguson and violence

We heard the news of the non-indictment of Darren Wilson in the killing of Michael Brown during my teacher education class.  No one was surprised.  Still, we took a moment.  Sober and in some ways frightening – to think about the country we live in.  I found myself deeply moved to be in the presence of these young future teachers.  These hopeful teachers.  These teachers who do something revolutionary and unusual:  they see Black and Brown youth as human beings, full human beings with worthy lives.  In other words, they defy the American norm.

When I drove home late in the evening, the freeway was jammed up with demonstrators.  As I got out of the car in my driveway, helicopters were loudly flapping over my house, watching and directing police.

Next I heard the inevitable voice of the state.  Don’t use violence.  Remember Martin Luther King, Jr.  You do not build a movement on violence.  We are all against violence.  The governor, the mayor, the president all instruct the oppressed with the same advice. As an aside:  they killed Martin Luther King.

And it raises questions for me.  First let me make a disclaimer:  I am against violence.  I am horrified by violence.  I wish there were never violence in this world.  But for representatives of the state, the entity which makes a science of violence, the ones who spend billions of dollars perfecting ways to make hot metal pierce soft flesh, the ones who are armed to the teeth all night and flying drones and helicopters overhead, the ones who extend violence around the world, for the state to preach against violence?  Am I crazy or is this just a crazy world?

And they don’t just preach against violence.  They presume to instruct us on how to build a social movement.  Really, the state?  The ones that the movement is up against?  Why would they ever think that we would all stop and say, “Oh, right, yes, these people who are killing us have some ideas how we can best build our movement.  Maybe the Ferguson police chief and prosecutor should be invited to our next meeting to help us plan movement building.”  I mean, really, are they out of their minds?

We heard the very same thing from Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto when demonstrations erupted over the police disappearance and murder of 43 student teachers from the school in Ayotzinapa, in Guerrero.  Peña Nieto, his hands still bloody with the murders, had the gall to tell demonstrators how to demonstrate, how to build a movement.

I’m not sure what to do.  It will be a long struggle for justice, that’s for sure. But I imagine that angry youth will only hear the voice of the state and decide to do just the opposite of what they are told.

As for violence.  It is not something that one is “for” or “against.”  It is.  It is in the fabric of America, in its founding and in its continuing.  I can tell you one president who did understand this, and that was Abraham Lincoln.  Of course he was no abolitionist, he was no radical.  But he saw the massive violence which tore the country apart and, in his second inaugural address, he admitted that the chickens had come home to roost:

“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’”

Do you hear that?  He’s talking about reparations, he’s talking about payback.  If all the wealth piled up by stolen Black labor must be taken; if all the blood that has been shed in racist slavery must now be shed on white bodies, then so be it. That’s karma, motherfucker.

Was he happy about violence?  Not in the least.  But violence in the system begets violence.

These are the facts: police officer Darren Wilson confronted an unarmed Black teenager named Michael Brown on a street in Ferguson, Missouri last August; Wilson fired a dozen shots at Brown and killed him dead; Mike Brown’s dead body was left on the street in the sun for 4 ½ hours before officials had it removed; and last night a grand jury concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to indict Wilson on any criminal charges, or to find anyone else responsible for any actions in relation to Mike Brown’s death and mortification. Wilson is free. White supremacy wins another round. Mike Brown is still dead.

The pattern is repeated day in and day out: police use lethal force on Black and Brown youth, and they get away with it. It’s part of a system.

And the serial killers are still on the loose.

Here we are occupying City Hall in Chicago in a dazzling assembly led by the Black Youth Project—and joining millions around the world upholding the values of democracy and justice, solidarity and love.

No justice! No peace!

Black lives matter!

This photo just arrived and cracked me up—such an intent and curious reader!

But youth want to know!

Young folks in the lead!

Playground Magazine:

http://www.playgroundmag.net/articulos/entrevistas/Gente-encantadora-ponia-bombas_0_1421857810.html

http://blog.m80radio.com/80-y-la-madre/2014/11/03/bill-ayers-habia-que-parar-que-cada-semana-murieran-6-000-vietnamitas-manos-de-eeuu/

I voted.
Early.
No illusions that a billionaire’s ball is either a reflection of popular will or a mandate for what is to be done; no dreams that pulling a lever fulfills my ongoing responsibility as a socially engaged person or could possibly realize my most hopeful vision of a just and joyful world; no fantasies that the process is either clean or fair or honest.
But I voted.
Because it’s a fundamental right. Because people who are denied that right demand it and fight like hell for it all across the globe. Because I remember the courage of African-Americans on the courthouse steps in Mississippi and Alabama enduring hatred and humiliation, risking violence and death for access to the ballot. Because the right to vote is secured with blood. Because the right to vote is, then, sacred.
But four billion dollars? Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Finance, Big Military, Big Prison. That’s not democracy. That’s an oligarchy.
As Emma Goldman once said, “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.”
Oh, and they did.
The Onion got it right: “Republicans poised to retain control of Senate.”
Gloria Ladson Billings commented: “Republicans are going to party like it’s 1865.”
Indeed.

I mentioned this important book a few days ago. Here is an interview I did with Maya Schenwar that appeared in Truthout today:

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/27130-prison-itself-is-inflicting-mass-violence-bill-ayers-interviews-maya-schenwar

An urgent new book about America’s gulag, and how it destroys democracy and hurts everyone’s humanity:

For years, in addition to her tireless work running Truthout, Maya Schenwar has written on the impact of prisons in the United States – the devastating effects this system of incarceration has on individuals, families, communities and the country as a whole.

As more and more people recognize the US prison system as a pressing issue, her work has appeared not just at Truthout but also The Guardian and The New York Times. Now we are very proud to announce the release of Maya Schenwar’s debut book, Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn’t Work and How We Can Do Better.

Locked Down, Locked Out is a deeply personal and unflinchingly honest book, drawing directly on the experience of Schenwar’s own family, as well as extensive research and interviews with those who are incarcerated and those who are working to find better alternatives to incarceration. Through the stories of prisoners and their loved ones, Truthout’s editor-in-chief looks at how prison breaks apart families and communities, creating a rippling effect that touches every corner of our society. With an eye always on the practical, she explores how we can provide healing and resolution to victims while building public safety in communities – and ultimately, how we can create a safer, more just world.

Locked Down, Locked Out has already been acclaimed by everyone from Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, to former Congressman Dennis Kucinich, and from Bill Ayers to Angela Davis, who says it contains “brilliant juxtaposition of abolitionist imaginaries and radical political practices.”

Published by Berrett-Koehler, Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn’t Work and How We Can Do Better will be in stores on November 10. But you can get Maya Schenwar’s book ahead of time, shipped directly from Truthout, by making a minimum donation of $25 today!

One of my wondrous publishers in Spain is Hoja de Lata Editorial, a small press born in the spirit of making a virtue of necessity. Encouraged by this unique moment, they’ve recently launched what had long been their dream editorial project, a label committed to offering evocative readings for uncertain times through two collections. The first is Sensibles a las Letras, narratives of successful contemporary authors, updated translations of works that deserve another chance, early works by new authors and unreleased classics. The second collection is Mecanoclastia, essays that can serve as thoughtful tools for the work and struggles ahead. Our endearing mechanical toys are mostly made ​​of tin, but Hoja de Lata aims to provide a catalog that will last over time, designed for the reader who knows what she wants and dares to bet on different titles.

Please spread the word to all your Spanish-speaking companeros, and visit Hoja de Lata here:

http://www.hojadelata.net/diasdefuga.html