I was sent a statement and video today regarding an incident that happened last week during a demo for Eric Garner in Staten Island. Apparently one group of activists started to argue with other activists and threats of violence were made. And while activists arguing during demos isn't a new phenomenon, members of a media-favored group, Justice League NYC, threatened to assault two young female organizers -- something that shouldn't be swept under the rug.
Justice League NYC, if people remember, is the group that popped up last year in the middle of mass protests over police brutality. Grasping the mainstream conscious by appearing with celebrities and getting a few NBA players to wear 'black lives matter' shirts, the group has connections to music mogul Russell Simmons and the city's most well known (and hated) political opportunist, Al Sharpton.
It's no secret that people in the grassroots have rolled their eyes at Justice League but the incident highlights the growing rift. In the video, posted below, a male member of JL threatens violence against one young woman while another JL leader, a former Sharpton associate, does the same. Check the statement and video:
Threats of violence against women, and the people who make them, have no place in the movement for black lives. Several grassroots NYC organizers faced threats of physical violence by members of Justice League NYC at a demonstration for justice for Eric Garner on Staten Island on Friday, December 4, 2015. These young women of color, organizing within Millions March NYC and NYC Shut It Down, have been targeted for surveillance and repression by the NYPD. They have been putting their bodies on the front lines of street protests for over a year. Threats of violence against women should be taken seriously and not merely brushed off with calls for 'unity'.
What happened in Staten Island is not an isolated incident. A similar incident in Chicago during protests for Laquan McDonald saw establishment organizers physically push out women of color. Violence against women, and the threat of it, is a crucial method of enforcing the very oppression we are fighting against. It is absolutely necessary for all people involved with the Black Lives Matter movement to understand clearly that hatred including misogyny, queerphobia and transphobia cannot be tolerated in our demonstrations, our spaces, or our organizations.
The threats made by Justice League NYC members last Friday night offer a clear example. There is a clear divide between the radical organizers on the front lines of struggle and reformists or would-be members of the establishment who hold closed-door meetings with the likes of Mayor Bill De Blasio and Norman Seabrook, President of the NYC correction officers' union. Justice League NYC's vapid, content-free calls for unity, their penchant for celebrity-backing and their coziness with officials feed attempts to co-opt the movement for the benefit of the very political establishment which created, maintains, and continues to expand the racist police/prison state -- as De Blasio and the city council have, by increasing the numbers of police and correction officers, rather than investing that money in the real needs of New York City's communities.
Ironically, Justice League NYC just the night before was practicing a philosophy of "Kingian nonviolence" while taking arranged arrests by police officers. But when the news cameras were nowhere to be found, its members were making threats of physical violence against young women who organize for black lives, within earshot of the group's leadership, without the least rebuke. This is far beyond ordinary hypocrisy. If the movement seeks accountability from the state then it needs to demand it of itself, as well.
NYC Shut It Down
Millions March NYC
Afrikans Helping Afrikans
Cop Watch Patrol Unit - CPU
New Yorkers Against Bratton
Why Accountability