********************  POSTING RULES & NOTES  ********************
#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.
#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern.
*****************************************************************

March 12th - 14th, 1969 the Student Strike at LACC

March 12^th marks the 50^th anniversary of the first day of the _Los Angeles City College’s 3 day student strike <http://cdm15115.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/LACCNP02/id/15817/rec/1>_. In truth it was more coup d’etat than strike.

The Black Student Union, of which I was a member, along with its coalition allies in the _Mexican-American Student Association <https://www.peoplesworld.org/.../remembering-the-1968-east-los-angeles-high-school...>_, the _Students for a Democratic Society <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Students-for-a-Democratic-Society>_and the _Viet Nam Veterans Against the War <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Veterans_Against_the_War>_1.) sealed building locks with liquid solder; 2.) created offside campus distractions to slow the expected response of the LAPD; 3.) passed out a thousand fliers explaining the reason for the action; and, among other things , 4.) seized control of the school’s radio station and broadcast appeals to the larger student community to join our strike and to meet at the traditional campus free-speech area, the flagpole located mid-campus. Prior to these events our coalition had swept_student council in school elections <http://cdm15115.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/LACCNP02/id/15765/rec/16>_. The council voted to support the strike.

_The strike had been called <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED042453.pdf>_inprotest of the LAPD’s brutal attack_upon the students of Carver Junior High School’s BSU <http://ourweekly.com/news/2016/feb/25/search-fred-kawano/>_. At the time, militancy among activists and the resort to violence on the part of the policing forces were /de riguer/. But these things, to be understood today, have to be situated historically.

In 1969 Blacks in America had survived almost exactly _250 years of slavery <https://historicjamestowne.org/history/the-first-africans/>_followed by _100 more of third-class citizenship <https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_org_kkk.html>_. The peaceful resistance of the Civil Rights Movement was giving way to the active resistance and armed self-defense examples of the _Republic of New Africa <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_New_Afrika>_led by _Robert F Williams <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Williams>_originating in North Carolina, the _Deacons for Defense <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deacons_for_Defense_and_Justice>_of Louisiana and the Black Panther Party across the country. The militancy of the BSUs was part and parcel of that trend. But the line between militancy and bullying is not hard and fast. Mirrored images, the two blur themselves into each other.

How is it that we became what we opposed? Lynchings, beatings, police dogs attacking, cattle prods and billy clubs had been unleashed time and again upon peaceful protesters. The necessity of resistance, even armed resistance, was undeniable. Force and violence yield only in the face of counter-force and counter-violence. But these come concomitant with hierarchy. And our organizations just so reflected the _hierarchical structure of American society <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/health/boss-bullies-workplace-management.html>_: Bosses and workers; men and women; military officers and _‘dog faces’ <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogface_(military)>_; whites and peoples of color. Our organizations reflected that with a leadership cabal’s authority over ‘foot soldiers’. Caricature sans character.

Unable to convince many in the student body. We took it upon ourselves to make the choice not only for ourselves but also those who either disagreed or didn’t care. Thus our seizure of the school was not a measure of our strength but, indeed, of our weakness.

The Civil Rights Movement had left in its wake many martyrs slain and more apostles of peace injured and/or jailed. Finally Blacks tired of turning one cheek only to get slapped harder on the other. Mexican-American activists were experiencing a similar awakening. There was the grand _Chicano Moratorium <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicano_Moratorium>_that began in 1968 in East LA (where the LA Times reporter covering the actions, _Reuben Salazar, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruben_Salazar>_would later be killed by a tear gas canister indiscriminately fired by the LAPD). And the invasion and occupation of South Viet Nam with its attendant draft hot-housed the growth of the SDS and the VVAW. These were the conditions that culminated in the height of self-contradiction that was our strike. Some would say I was a leader of the strike and heads turned when I walked the campus. BMOC. Hubris.

Two events were the trigger that lit a long-burning fuse of introspection that culminated not with a bang nor a whimper but in the ice-cold calculation that is realization.

I hated cops and I detested apathy. Before the strike, I was crossing Vermont just outside the school and there was a white older motorcycle cop who spoke a kind greeting to me. I viciously turned spouting profanities at him and calling him “pig”. Instead of the expected harsh rejoinder, the cop teared up protesting “I am a Christian man. I try to treat everybody well. I took this job to help and protect the poor and the weak”. I went from 7 feet tall to 7 inches small.

The other incident took place on the first day of the strike and I, along with 3 martial arts trained BSU members, was passing out fliers about the Carver students. I approached a white girl but she refused the flier saying “I don’t care about that”. I threatened “I should slap you.” Time I said it, I knew I was wrong. With her was a well built guy who said “If you do, I will break your arm.” This stopped me in my tracks. But it wasn’t the threat to me, it was the courage that faced up to me. Hearing his retort the other BSU members had quickly surrounded him but I waved them off. If our actions could bring up courage and resistance to that degree then there must be something wrong. It wasn’t with our message, it had to be with our methods.

Eventually the full realization came: We cannot force. We cannot ‘buffalo’. We cannot bully. If we are to overcome our enemy, if we are to change this miserable world, we ourselves cannot become that enemy.

JAI                                                                                                                                                             3-12-2019

    Here is a link to the _Collegian's coverage of the strike:

<http://cdm15115.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/LACCNP02/id/15817/rec/1>_

  *
      o

            Page 1


JAI


*Final Thoughts*

Internally, I have not changed one bit since those times.

    The answers were always there, its just that their discovery was
    hindered by the mantle of militancy. A militant slant that was
    dictated by the conditions. It was a necessity. Niggahs had put up
    with almost 250 years of slavery and a hundred more of 3rd class
    citizenship. We could be drafted but many of us couldn't cast a
    vote. We were Americans when they needed additional cannon fodder.

    So the rejection signaled with the power of the fist (esp Panthers)
    that we would no longer be beaten, jailed and/or lynched. I think a
    good deal of the backbone that we developed came from revelations by
    Elijah Muhammad with his paramilitary arm, the Fruit of Islam. These
    were men who would brook no lynchings, insults and threats. Malcolm
    came out the NOI. In response to and at the time of the battle for
    voting rights in the South, Malcolm came out with the slogan, "Its
    the ballot or the bullet".

    Now the system resorted to the less militant wing, figure-headed by
    King. Concessions were granted: the franchise, affirmative action,
    the reversal of Plessy v Ferguson
    <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plessy_v._Ferguson> that was Brown vs
    The Board ofEducation of Topeka, KS

<https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrWnLlLC4dcjGkAa.sPxQt.;_ylc=X1MDMjExNDcwMDU1OQRfcgMyBGZyA3locy1zei0wMDEEZ3ByaWQDUjcweUVWQkhTN1dVTEp2bzlkSHN3QQRuX3JzbHQDMARuX3N1Z2cDNARvcmlnaW4Dc2VhcmNoLnlhaG9vLmNvbQRwb3MDMARwcXN0cgMEcHFzdHJsAzAEcXN0cmwDNDUEcXVlcnkDQnJvd24lMjB2cyUyMFRoZSUyMEJvYXJkJTIwb2YlMjBFZHVjYXRpb24lMjBvZiUyMFRvcGVrYSUyQyUyMEtTBHRfc3RtcAMxNTUyMzU0MTU5?p=Brown+vs+The+Board+of+Education+of+Topeka%2C+KS&fr2=sb-top&hspart=sz&hsimp=yhs-001&param1=dGFnWDEwNDI1MDctc2VhcmNoc2VjdXJlLHNlYXJjaHNlY3VyZSx2Ml8yMDQyNzI0MjU0NWMzNGVkOGQ5YTcxMzYuNjMxNzY1ODJfZmViMjA5NGNjMDg2ZTkxNjc5NzAyMDQ2NGJiYTdlMGIsVVMsY2EscGFsbWRhbGU&param2=eyJzZXJwR2VvUmVkIjoibm8iLCJleHRUYWdzIjpbXSwiYnJvd3Nlck5hbWUiOiJGaXJlZm94IiwiYnJvd3NlclZlcnNpb24iOiI2NSIsImV4dFZlcnNpb24iOiJob3N0ZWQiLCJleHROYW1lIjoiU2VhcmNoIFNlY3VyZSIsImNsaWNrU3JjIjoieWhzX3N5biIsImNocm9tZVN0b3JlSWQiOiJTZWFyY2hfU2VjdXJlX2Nsb25lX1JobnhGSmZXQ3JAd3d3LnNlYXJjaHNlY3VyZS5jbyIsInNlbFRoZW1lIjoiIiwiZG9tYWluIjoid3d3LnNlYXJjaHNlY3VyZXByby5jbyIsImF1dG9TdWdnZXN0Q2xrIjoib3JnYW5pYyIsIm9yU3JjIjoib21uaWJveCIsImljZyI6IjAiLCJoZmV3IjoiIn0&type=type7070290-sv7-dGFnWDEwNDI1MDctc2VhcmNoc2VjdXJl-6354f87ec9d05394a832c004388ba078>
    that outlawed segregation in interstate travel that were designed to
    re-channel the motion of the Civil Rights Struggle back into
    peaceful protest. But none of this happened until the advent of a
    serious militant opposition.

    Not all of the just above is demonstrative of a conspiracy amongst
    the ruling class to grant concessions, elevate the harmless, so as
    to isolate and/or Jail or kill the 'sore thumbs' sticking out.. But
    this is why the system exists as an objective reality acting almost
    as a conscious mechanism that only responds to stresses put upon it
    by new ideas, newly recognized strengths.
    Put simply, the gains we made were only accomplished when the left
    hand, the militant sector, came into existence as more than just a
    here sometimes, there at others, acts of rebellion Only when there
    came the militant sector's organized force.
    We had to adopt that posture (in truth, we were lambs in wolves'
    cloak as the number of us compared to the police we killed) because
    force only yields to itself. Not the pleas, not the prayers, not the
    logic,not even the 'common sense' that _today_ has been felled by
    Trump and his minions. Think about it: you got Billy Graham's son
    praising a 'man' who thinks he can "...do anything. Grab 'em by the
    pussy".
    The truth is that this recent development shows the extent that a
    large mass of white people will go to be 'white' again. When being
    'white' meant something even if it exists only as an affirmed
    negation: "I am not Mexican, I am not Muslim, I ain't no 'nigger'."
    And they got guns and know how to shoot. And will shoot. Soon.

    These are the most dangerous times since that time when we stormed
    the heavens only to fall flat on our face. The major difference, and
    here is the rub, is that in the '50's and '60's _we drove the
    discussion_. Now all the energy is from the racists. They set the
    stage. Openly announcing "Jews will not replace us". Still, these
    monsters, inspired by Trump, the NRA, FOX 'News', podcasted and
    Facebooked out , this poison flows. And all of this against their
    own interests.

    It is, once again, 'The World Turned Upside Down"
    <http://militaryhistorynow.com/2018/05/29/the-world...>, which is
    the tune the British sang upon their defeat by the colonials.

    So, no, I ain't changed. Its just that reflection (and I cited two
    real-time examples) dawns. Points the way out of the fog that is
    Life. And reaches its way towards the universal that is understanding.


             JAI

_________________________________________________________
Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm
Set your options at: 
https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com

Reply via email to