I think a most important point is the diff between Joe's corner market and Ralph's and consciousness of that difference.
In '65 this lesson was kinda spontaneously developed as demonstrated by the slogan "Soul Brother Owned". A sign saying that placed in a shop's window meant a decent chance of not being sacked. http://articles.latimes.com/1992-05-04/news/mn-951_1_watts-rebellion Course this was 'spontaneously' learned during the transition period from the civil rights struggle in the South to black militancy across the US and therefore there was an ethos afoot. A revolutionary culture was in the acts of forming. A culture that valued something even as it slashed right out against almost everything about this system. Today, nothing like that exists save in infancy and only here and there. And the greatest lesson of the '50's and '60's (and, indeed, any revolutionary period) is how quickly people can change. Sure there are some small business people who treat the community dirty. And "F'ck Them" too. A true story about '92 happened on Van Ness between Slauson and 54th St. On the SE corner of Slauson was a liquor store owned by Koreans. http://articles.latimes.com/2002/may/01/local/me-patt1 I was in a habit then of buying a pack of cigarettes and a can or two of brew. Anyway I stopped smoking cause my youngest was getting nosebleeds. I stopped, she stopped. So I go to the store and put the beer on the counter and the guy behind it--as was the matter of course--put a pack of Barclay's down. I said No, no, no. I stopped smoking. He said You stopped? I nodded. He said Here, I'll give them to you free. I left the beer on the corner and never went back in there. His store was burnt. I could hear the booze bottles bursting with heated pressure and enjoyed the song. At 54thand Van Ness there was (and is) a market then owned by a Korean lady. Though later, I am given to understand, killed in a robbery, she was a person of grace who treated customer's right, gave credit and, I understand, gave assistance when needed. That store was left alone with neighbors helping to guard it. It suffered no damage at all. In the main the neighborhood cleaners, corner markets, etc are not our enemy and *should not be attacked.* Such are the livelihoods of independent workers (those who own their tools of making a living but do not employ wage-labor) and the petty petit-bourgeois (those who employ only a very few wage-workers and who must work right alongside of them). These are not Capitalists (with a large C) , i.e. those preventing us from working because their profit made on our labor is not sufficient for them to employ us. That and those are the enemy. That is a class lesson that the Left need propagate among the people. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John A Imani <johnaima...@gmail.com> Date: Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 10:00 PM Subject: Re: On the degeneration of the Anti-Zimmerman Protests into Inanity Cops don't show up when silly m'f'ers beating up somebody at Arco station of Slauson and Crenshaw. Cops show up (in force) when the crowd bullrushes WalMart. Tells ya what cops are for. And I ain't got no problem w bullrushing WalMart. But I do w stupid shit. And with attacking small businesses (who are not our enemy. Wal Mart, however, is). But all this, again, is on the Left. Go to "Bastards of the Party"<http://dotsub.com/view/c81a88ea-7136-429b-9339-c6eadf9dec9a>to see a version of this theory in its awful practice: "...the decimation of the Panthers led directly to a recrudescence of gangs in the early 1970s." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastards_of_the_Party On Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 9:12 PM, John A Imani <johnaima...@gmail.com> wrote: On the degeneration of the Anti-Zimmerman Protests into Inanity If the Left is looking for someone to blame for the degeneration of the righteous protest of the Zimmerman verdict into the crass opportunism of the mob then look no farther than itself. Ourself. It is our failure to connect with the masses, to articulate a vision that is both sensible and apprehensible. As long as we don't do that, the righteous indignation with the inhumanities that this system not only perpetuates but feeds off of will continue to degenerate into crass opportunism replete with violence. We must find a way to speak to, work with and inspire our class. W/o that we lose. Sure there are some small business people who treat the community dirty. And "F'ck Them" too. I have a true strory about '92 that shows what happened around Van Ness between Slauson and 54th St. But in the main the neighborhood cleaners, corner markets, etc are not our enemy and *should not be attacked.* On Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 10:00 PM, John A Imani <johnaima...@gmail.com>wrote: > And even more than that, as regarding the police: > > If anything is to be learned in terms of comparisons between 1992 and > today, it is this: as long as we doing stupid shit like beating up Reginald > Denny en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Reginald_Denny or trashing small > stores they ain't gonna come. They want us to look stupid on TV and we > oblige them. > > But when we get to f'king with the money (WalMart) then yon they come. > > But FTP, the point is: the mass of (wo)men are tired of living lives of > 'quiet desperation' and given opportunity will strike out. We need to > learn with our comrades such that all of us will strike *for*. And that > takes work. > > We must engage with the community > > > On Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 9:48 PM, John A Imani <johnaima...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> >> >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >> From: John A Imani <johnaima...@gmail.com> >> Date: Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 9:39 PM >> Subject: Re: On the degeneration of the Anti-Zimmerman Protests into >> Inanity >> To: "rac...@lists.riseup.net" <rac...@lists.riseup.net>, " >> rac-lasupport...@lists.riseup.net" <rac-lasupport...@lists.riseup.net>, " >> copwatc...@lists.riseup.net" <copwatc...@lists.riseup.net> >> >> >> Cops don't show up when silly m'f'ers beating up somebody at Arco station >> of Slauson and Crenshaw. Cops show up (in force) when the crowd bullrushes >> WalMart. Tells ya what cops are for. >> >> And I ain't got no problem w bullrushing WalMart. But I do w stupid >> shit. And with attacking small businesses (who are not our enemy. Wal >> Mart, however, is). >> >> But all this, again, is on the Left. Go to "Bastards of the >> Party"<http://dotsub.com/view/c81a88ea-7136-429b-9339-c6eadf9dec9a>to see a >> version of this theory in its awful practice: >> >> "...the decimation of the Panthers led directly to a recrudescence of >> gangs in the early 1970s." >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastards_of_the_Party >> >> >> On Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 9:12 PM, John A Imani <johnaima...@gmail.com>wrote: >> >>> On the degeneration of the Anti-Zimmerman Protests into Inanity >>> >>> If the Left is looking for someone to blame for the degeneration of the >>> righteous protest of the Zimmerman verdict into the crass opportunism of >>> the mob then look no farther than itself. Ourself. >>> >>> It is our failure to connect with the masses, to articulate a vision >>> that is both sensible and *apprehensible.* >>> >>> As long as we don't do that, the righteous indignation with the >>> inhumanities that this system not only perpetuates but feeds off of will >>> continue to degenerate into crass opportunism replete with violence. >>> >>> We must find a way to speak to, work with and inspire our class. W/o >>> that we lose. >>> >>> -- >>> JAI >>> RAC-LA >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> JAI >> RAC-LA >> >> >> >> -- >> JAI >> RAC-LA >> > > > > -- > JAI > RAC-LA > -- JAI RAC-LA [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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