Ahh youth. I remember back in the day when I was more "on fire" then "clued in". So swept up in what needed to be "torn down" but not putting too much thought about what needs to be built up. Luckily I was never so "on fire" that I was cavalier about risking other people's lives on my flawed though well meaning ideas. However; there are a lot of fake revolutionaries out there who will do so.
Ferguson has a few
Organisers of demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri, promised to intensify their protests over the killing of Michael Brown if the officer who shot him does not face criminal charges, warning police that they are prepared to die on the streets for their cause.
Ready to die on the streets over Mike Brown without even a proper airing of facts? That's dumb. Secondly, in all seriousness THIS is worthy of life giving? Really? No. No it's not.
Three prominent members of the protest movement that sprung up after the deadly police shooting of Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old, told a rally in New York on Tuesday night that there would be a fierce backlash if a grand jury declined to indict officer Darren Wilson.
Lets just forget that it is alleged that Brown assaulted the police officer and during that scuffle the police officer's gun went off in his vehicle. That simple allegation means nothing? Really? Doesn't matter? Really? Because you do realize that if that happened that is not only assault on a police officer but it can also be considered attempted murder. So you do realize that the shooting was not about the store robbery or the walking down the street. Right? These are the fake revolutionaries. Real revolutionaries do not deceive the people to get them to action.
“If they can’t serve justice in this, the people have every right to go out and express their rage in a manner that is equal to what we have suffered,” said Ashley Yates, a co-founder of Millennial Activists United, who was arrested last week while protesting in Ferguson.
What justice? Do these individuals have facts at hand that the rest of the public does not know? That the Grand Jury doesn't know? Furthermore; Exactly WHAT have YOU suffered? Serious question. I know what the business owners suffered. I know what Brown suffered. But "we"? We who? And suffered what exactly? If you're gonna ask folks to come out "prepared to be shot and killed" you should at least give out the details. Real revolutionaries lay out detailed grievances.
“We’re going to take our anger out on the people who have failed us, and if they are prepared to deal with that, then let them have at it,” said Yates. Poe said that while people in America often expected “casual revolution”, Ferguson may be “the moment when we can’t do that”.
Failed you? Did I read that right? This "revolution" is over what white people "failed to do for you"? What kind of BS revolution is that? That sounds like some begging revolution to me. That sounds like a "we are going to throw a tantrum (riot) because you won't do x,y and z for us" revolution. Note to fake revolutionaries: Doing for self is the highest form of revolution.
More than a week of unrest followed Wilson’s fatal shooting of Brown on 9 August after the city officer stopped the 18-year-old and a friend for jaywalking. Several witnesses have said Brown was shot while fleeing and when his hands were up. Police say he assaulted Wilson.
And of course the actual evidence shows that Brown was NOT shot while fleeing but was actually facing the officer and in various witness statements moving towards Wilson. But hey facts don't matter much to the fake revolutionary. Secondly The initial stop was not for jay walking. Jay walking is when you cross a street against a light or between lights. Walking
down the street is called impeding the flow of traffic. In both cases you can be stopped by a peace officer because under the law you are putting yourself at risk for death as well as the obstruction of traffic.
Police cracked down on the protests with a militarised presence including armoured vehicles and dozens of armed officers in riot gear. Demonstrators were shot with teargas and rubber bullets. More than 220 people have been arrested since the protests began. A grand jury in St Louis county is now considering evidence gathered by a county police inquiry.
No mention of the looting of stores. No mention of the "snitched get stitches" spray painted on the side of a store to warn owners about cooperating with law enforcement. No mention of the gun fire. No mention of any of that (and more). We're supposed to believe that folks were just marching down the street like it was the Caribbean Day Parade in Brooklyn. But again, fake revolutionaries aren't interested in facts.
The three activists said that in addition to the arrest of Wilson, protesters were demanding that Bob McCulloch, the prosecuting attorney for the county, whom they accuse of pro-police bias, to step down from the case, or for the Missouri governor, Jay Nixon, to remove him. They also want the resignation of Ferguson’s mayor, James Knowles III, and its police chief, Tom Jackson, over their handling of the crisis.
Well certainly one can question police bias. I'm sure it can be proven. I think that there is a bias in all prosecutor's offices towards believing the story of a police officer. Even the idea that they have 24 hours or so before they even have to answer questions (a situation civilians are not afforded) is a sign of bias. I think the increasing use of video cameras is a great way to overcome this bias because the camera does not take sides. However; the issue here is about facts and folks not liking what they point to. What sane person would give into demands of a population that is not interested in facts? I wouldn't. And if you want the mayor out of office you should be able to use your 60% majority status to remove him at the ballot box. Is voting too hard for the fake revolutionary?
Speaking in the ballroom in Washington Heights where Malcolm X was shot dead in February 1965, they defended protesters’ conduct in previous clashes. Poe criticised what he called the “intellectual set” who analysed race relations but “didn’t show up and didn’t want to get shot when the teargas came out”.
Hey, if your dumb ass wants to get shot over Mike Brown, over streets you didn't pave, houses and apartment complexes you do not own and businesses you do not run or governments you did not create or operate but beg from, then you go and do that. That's why you're a fake revolutionary.
The real "intellectual set" knows that if you want to have a real change in Ferguson and elsewhere, then folks gotta buy up the businesses that supply essential services to the residents. They need to buy up the real estate. They need to get themselves into the governing structure cause, you know, government is a necessary part of any organized revolution. We the "intellectual set" know this. This is what was going on in Jackson MS. with Chokwe. Do you see this fake revolutionary using Chokwe as an example? Nope. This fake revolutionary doesn't know shit else but begging white folks (via riots) for shit they don't have a clue how to develop themselves.
And ultimately this is how you know a fake revolutionary when you see one. They are all about the violence. They are all about the death. They are all about the begging. They are all about the tantrum throwing (riot). They are all about ignoring pertinent facts. They are all about excusing the behavior of the people they wish to put into harms way for their petit riot revolution. They are the "Revolutionary Fronts" in Sierra Leone, Liberia and elsewhere. They are ready to kill, rape, maim and use children to kill. They're not ready to build though. Building is hard. Building takes patience. Building takes long term planning. Building requires setting rules of conduct for your society. Building requires enforcing those rules. In short, building is more hard work than most of these fake revolutionaries are capable of.
Asked during a question-and-answer session “are you ready to die for this?”, Poe said: “Don’t come to Ferguson if you aren’t ready to die. Stay at home, as it could happen.” Yates said: “I can say this with 100% certainty: all three of us have had moments in the street where we realised we could die right there.”
I agree with Poe. If you have any sense whatsoever, stay at home. Really. Do not let these fake revolutionaries get you killed for their own vanity. If you really want to make change in Ferguson (and other places). Deal with the high rates of black crime. When you bring that down you bring down the need for police to be in these places. You do realize they are their because of the crime right? Get together among yourselves and get a pitch to the rich black folks in your state. The ball players, etc. Put a plan together for them to establish or buy out the local businesses and then run them with or by locals. There are a LOT of things that can be done to deal with the real deal issues in Ferguson, but getting yourself shot while rioting is not one of them. Unless of course you are a fake revolutionary. In which case, go for it.
