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Uhuru Movement statement on killing of four Oakland officers and Lovell Mixon
End the policy of policy containment and support a policy of genuine economic development that truly benefits and uplifts the African community.
The Uhuru Movement thanks all of our friends and supporters who have voiced their concerns about the position taken by the Uhuru Movement on the March 21 killings of four Oakland policemen and twenty-six year old Lovelle Mixon.
We unite with your interest in dialog and resolution to this situation and in building unity among the various communities in Oakland through genuine social justice.
The Uhuru Movement has always understood that our friends may disagree with some of our positions—positions which always uphold justice for the African working class community.
We understand and unite with your concerns that the tense situation in Oakland must be resolved.
It is unfortunate that it takes a situation like this to bring Oakland’s real problems to the surface.
We have to take the March 21 events in the context of the long history that the Oakland police department has had with the Oakland African working class community.
It was the infamous brutality of the Oakland police that gave rise to the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in the 1960s.
There has been the exposure of the notorious Oakland “Riders,” whose brazen violence, harassment, racism and dishonesty are well known.
There have been relentless police murders of African community members young and old, such as Casper Banjo, an elderly African man and well-known, respected artist who was blatantly shot by the police last year.
There are hundreds of African and Mexican working class people who have been murdered by police over the years, real human beings whose names fade from the collective memory so quickly. Many of these victims have been blatantly slandered in the media, doubling the pain of the grieving families.
The recent cold-blooded, point blank BART police murder of young Oscar Grant was only unusual because it was caught from many angles on video.
But it is much more than this. Oakland has a very clear publicly supported policy of police containment, implementing an incessant martial law with ever-present SWAT teams and police helicopters circling over neighborhoods daily.
California’s prison population is the fourth largest in the entire world and the OPD does everything possible to feed young African men and women from Oakland into that system for their entire lives.
Discriminatory legislation such as Three Strikes locks up countless African people as young as 14 years old for things that white people get to go to rehab for.
It has long been documented in articles by journalist Gary Webb in the San Jose Mercury News, for example, that the US government is responsible for imposing the devastating crack cocaine plague in African communities, and it is well known that the police have and continue to facilitate this.
The Uhuru Movement does not support the loss of life of any person. But the loss of life at the hands of the police in the African community of Oakland has been going on for half a century.
The “tensions” in Oakland are caused by the police, not by an impoverished community struggling to survive.
Even the mainstream media sources such as the New York Times and National Public Radio have had to mention in most reports that many in the African community do not support the police’s position in this case, and understand that Mixon’s actions were the result of years of oppression of a whole community which has come to a boiling point.
Lovelle Mixon’s life, like that of thousands of young African men in the impoverished neighborhoods of Oakland, was over long before he was killed by police. He faced a hopeless dead end of joblessness, poverty and criminalization by a society that would rather lock up young African men than make college or jobs available to them.
The police are not social workers; they are a military force with the assignment to carry out a violent containment policy against a whole community. The purpose of the police is to maintain power for the status quo and uphold the relations of poverty and wealth in the city.
If we want to move forward and “build bridges” as a city there is only one road to do so. We have to truly understand the calls of a community under siege and demand an immediate end to this completely failed public policy of police containment, this war without terms waged against the African community of Oakland.
We have to demand a policy of genuine economic development for the African community—development that truly benefits and uplifts the deeply impoverished African working class of this city, and is not just another cover for gentrification and dispersal of the oppressed.
We appreciate your continued support of the Uhuru Movement and urge you to take an active stand in transforming Oakland into a model city of shared prosperity and true social justice.
Uhuru!
We unite with your interest in dialog and resolution to this situation and in building unity among the various communities in Oakland through genuine social justice.
The Uhuru Movement has always understood that our friends may disagree with some of our positions—positions which always uphold justice for the African working class community.
We understand and unite with your concerns that the tense situation in Oakland must be resolved.
It is unfortunate that it takes a situation like this to bring Oakland’s real problems to the surface.
We have to take the March 21 events in the context of the long history that the Oakland police department has had with the Oakland African working class community.
It was the infamous brutality of the Oakland police that gave rise to the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in the 1960s.
There has been the exposure of the notorious Oakland “Riders,” whose brazen violence, harassment, racism and dishonesty are well known.
There have been relentless police murders of African community members young and old, such as Casper Banjo, an elderly African man and well-known, respected artist who was blatantly shot by the police last year.
There are hundreds of African and Mexican working class people who have been murdered by police over the years, real human beings whose names fade from the collective memory so quickly. Many of these victims have been blatantly slandered in the media, doubling the pain of the grieving families.
The recent cold-blooded, point blank BART police murder of young Oscar Grant was only unusual because it was caught from many angles on video.
But it is much more than this. Oakland has a very clear publicly supported policy of police containment, implementing an incessant martial law with ever-present SWAT teams and police helicopters circling over neighborhoods daily.
California’s prison population is the fourth largest in the entire world and the OPD does everything possible to feed young African men and women from Oakland into that system for their entire lives.
Discriminatory legislation such as Three Strikes locks up countless African people as young as 14 years old for things that white people get to go to rehab for.
It has long been documented in articles by journalist Gary Webb in the San Jose Mercury News, for example, that the US government is responsible for imposing the devastating crack cocaine plague in African communities, and it is well known that the police have and continue to facilitate this.
The Uhuru Movement does not support the loss of life of any person. But the loss of life at the hands of the police in the African community of Oakland has been going on for half a century.
The “tensions” in Oakland are caused by the police, not by an impoverished community struggling to survive.
Even the mainstream media sources such as the New York Times and National Public Radio have had to mention in most reports that many in the African community do not support the police’s position in this case, and understand that Mixon’s actions were the result of years of oppression of a whole community which has come to a boiling point.
Lovelle Mixon’s life, like that of thousands of young African men in the impoverished neighborhoods of Oakland, was over long before he was killed by police. He faced a hopeless dead end of joblessness, poverty and criminalization by a society that would rather lock up young African men than make college or jobs available to them.
The police are not social workers; they are a military force with the assignment to carry out a violent containment policy against a whole community. The purpose of the police is to maintain power for the status quo and uphold the relations of poverty and wealth in the city.
If we want to move forward and “build bridges” as a city there is only one road to do so. We have to truly understand the calls of a community under siege and demand an immediate end to this completely failed public policy of police containment, this war without terms waged against the African community of Oakland.
We have to demand a policy of genuine economic development for the African community—development that truly benefits and uplifts the deeply impoverished African working class of this city, and is not just another cover for gentrification and dispersal of the oppressed.
We appreciate your continued support of the Uhuru Movement and urge you to take an active stand in transforming Oakland into a model city of shared prosperity and true social justice.
Uhuru!
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Comments
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Awesome shit! While it's true that OPD (and of course not just them) have run roughshod over the communities of poor and working class black, brown, yellow, and red folks for decades, and while it's true that police everywhere are the front line defenders of Capital and the State, it's also true that Mixon was a sociopath. Anyone like him--a person with a proven track record of poor impulse control--should never be welcome among sincere revolutionaries. People like that, if brought into the ranks of conscious proles, will inevitably cause more harm than good. Face it folks, Mixon wasn't even worthy of being considered lumpen--the cat was straight up gangsta. He and his homies preyed on the week in their own community, not Montclair, not Piedmont. There was no class consciousness anywhere near him. When a cop is injured or killed during an altercation with someone whose poor and/or working class, that's self-defense and everyone is behind that. But in a time of relative social peace killing cops is only going to bring more repression down on our communities of resistance. The cops will always win in the end during times of social peace, both militarily and psychologically. Only the most craven scumbags are publicly celebrating the deaths of the cops, and cloaking it in pseudo-revolutionary rhetoric is even worse. Fuck you Uhuru. Go back to beating up dykes you cowardly shits.
Not everything which happens in history is connected. There are repetitive themes and there are unique events. Lovell Mixon, a black man, raped a 12 year-old black girl who gave his likeness to the police artist, and who gave up a sample from her sodomized butt of Lovell's semen. This has nothing to do with Black Panthers, or Bart shootings. The NY Times reported that Jermaine Mixon knew that cousin parolee Lovell had a handgun. Other Mixon's may have known too. How did that AK-47 get into Lovell's sister's apartment where Lovell fled after two murders using the handgun that Jermaine Mixon knew about? Lovell Mixon hid in that apartment for two hours until his final shootout. Early reports stated that an "anonymous tip" led police to the apartment and that others in the apartment building knew that Lovell had killed cops and went to that apartment to hide. It was terrorist fear of retaliation which kept the community mute from alerting the police to the killer's whereabout for two hours. The public is more terrified of the power of neighborhood criminals than they are of the police. Given a choice, people will defer to the will of the local terrorist, whom is more certain to act and act more violently than are the police. It takes an act of special courage to tip the police that a serial killer-rapist is hiding in your building.
Mixon's cousin Jermaine Mixon also reported that Lovell Mixon had recently engaged in pimping, a career choice involving a form of perpetual rape to condition unwilling females to work in unpaid slavish bondage for a male master. That Lovell Mixon is associated with five black-on-black "rape" cases doesn't begin to tally the score of his total rapes of black women. The average prostitute is raped over 100 times per year, often by her pimp master and his friends, but also by "Johns" both blacks and whites.
No economic development in history has ever come from top-down benevolence. You can't demand that the top predator in the food chain, homo Sapiens, "be nice". You are dealing with this era's equivalent to the Tyrannosaurus Rex in his heyday. What color is the sky in your alternate universe?
Yeah whitey made blacks slaves for 400 years, but that's nothing compared to what whitey did to whitey, the 800 year Roman Empire over Gaul and Briton and Germany for instance. In fact Idi Aman did the same stuff not long ago in Uganda, the Incas did it in Peru, and the Mongols did it from China to Moscow. When you get down to it, it's all the same genes baked under an African sun for millions of years, which is why I can do a blood transfusion with you. There are no special villain races -- there are just lots and lots of predators, like Lovell Mixon or George Bush, and there are victims who let them get away with it. The way to stop letting them get away with it is to not divide by color but to unite despite color. You are dividing when you need to be uniting. The villains have your community so terrorized that most people (maybe even you) are afraid to call the police and report a terrorist serial-killer rapist parolee with a gun is hiding at such-and-such place.
Mixon's cousin Jermaine Mixon also reported that Lovell Mixon had recently engaged in pimping, a career choice involving a form of perpetual rape to condition unwilling females to work in unpaid slavish bondage for a male master. That Lovell Mixon is associated with five black-on-black "rape" cases doesn't begin to tally the score of his total rapes of black women. The average prostitute is raped over 100 times per year, often by her pimp master and his friends, but also by "Johns" both blacks and whites.
No economic development in history has ever come from top-down benevolence. You can't demand that the top predator in the food chain, homo Sapiens, "be nice". You are dealing with this era's equivalent to the Tyrannosaurus Rex in his heyday. What color is the sky in your alternate universe?
Yeah whitey made blacks slaves for 400 years, but that's nothing compared to what whitey did to whitey, the 800 year Roman Empire over Gaul and Briton and Germany for instance. In fact Idi Aman did the same stuff not long ago in Uganda, the Incas did it in Peru, and the Mongols did it from China to Moscow. When you get down to it, it's all the same genes baked under an African sun for millions of years, which is why I can do a blood transfusion with you. There are no special villain races -- there are just lots and lots of predators, like Lovell Mixon or George Bush, and there are victims who let them get away with it. The way to stop letting them get away with it is to not divide by color but to unite despite color. You are dividing when you need to be uniting. The villains have your community so terrorized that most people (maybe even you) are afraid to call the police and report a terrorist serial-killer rapist parolee with a gun is hiding at such-and-such place.
I am finding it difficult to express the level of embarrassment I feel on behalf of those who marched in Oakland tonight. The statement that Uhuru has published on the subject seems to operate on the premise that African American men are animals incapable of thought and not responsible for their actions. Throughout history, millions of African Americans have faced brutal oppression, rape, and murder and yet maintained their morality. Lovelle Mixon did not face anything on a par with those who lived through the middle passage, who were tortured and raped and separated from their families, who saw fathers lynched and mothers spit on.
Poverty, joblessness, and police brutality are serious, devastating problems that plague not just Oakland but African American communities across the country. But none of those conditions relieve the men and women of those communities of responsibility for their actions. Mixon has been linked to the rape of a 12 year old girl who, in all likelihood, was a young black girl.
As a black woman, I consider any organization that would organize a march in support of a man who raped a black child as declaring war on me and any daughters I might have. I consider the argument that poverty or joblessness turns black men into mindless animals to be a slap in the face of my ancestors who faced more dire conditions than Lovelle Mixon could have dreamed of. I have heard people talk about the Uhuru Movement as extreme, but I did not know until tonight that the organization is repugnant and, were its philosophies to flourish, would surely be the end of the very community it means to protect.
Poverty, joblessness, and police brutality are serious, devastating problems that plague not just Oakland but African American communities across the country. But none of those conditions relieve the men and women of those communities of responsibility for their actions. Mixon has been linked to the rape of a 12 year old girl who, in all likelihood, was a young black girl.
As a black woman, I consider any organization that would organize a march in support of a man who raped a black child as declaring war on me and any daughters I might have. I consider the argument that poverty or joblessness turns black men into mindless animals to be a slap in the face of my ancestors who faced more dire conditions than Lovelle Mixon could have dreamed of. I have heard people talk about the Uhuru Movement as extreme, but I did not know until tonight that the organization is repugnant and, were its philosophies to flourish, would surely be the end of the very community it means to protect.
Uhuru has published on the subject seems to operate on the premise that African American men are animals incapable of thought and not responsible for their actions.
the same old song from Uhuru
the same old song from Uhuru
Although I completely and totally disagree with the Uhuru written comments about the truely
devatating murder of these Oakland Police officers I believe they need to be included in any real, open honest discussion about race relations in general, and specifically in Oakland.
In my personal opinion Lovell Mixon hatefully murdered those four officers because of his hatred toward the European American "white" community. His kind of hatred is not unknown in the African American community of Oakland.
Are there fearless African Amerians willing to engage in a two way street discussion about race relations---sans African Americans lecturing European American whites? I hope so. I am ready
devatating murder of these Oakland Police officers I believe they need to be included in any real, open honest discussion about race relations in general, and specifically in Oakland.
In my personal opinion Lovell Mixon hatefully murdered those four officers because of his hatred toward the European American "white" community. His kind of hatred is not unknown in the African American community of Oakland.
Are there fearless African Amerians willing to engage in a two way street discussion about race relations---sans African Americans lecturing European American whites? I hope so. I am ready
youre blaming the victim,rather than examining americas racial genocide history.it created what you see now.any wonder this man exploded.black and white and latin alike,are not acknowledging the damage that america continues to create. you produce children when there are people with no safe homes.health problems that cannot be helped.many suffering while you go to sports games or focus on sex and consumption.time to wake from the hypnosis of what you think life ais.you must seek other ways,not what youve been taught about being human.study the time proven and constantly innovative knowledge of the ancients and now also many moderns.
Just in case you all forgot they are the same white black nationalists that will take your old furniture! No metal desks though. please
Um, I think that they people on this march without head coverings are either incredibly brave or stupid. I think the Opd is gonna come back on a lot of people about this.
I would be really impressed if people protested the funeral at oracle arena where there are going to be 10,000 cops.
Um, I think that they people on this march without head coverings are either incredibly brave or stupid. I think the Opd is gonna come back on a lot of people about this.
I would be really impressed if people protested the funeral at oracle arena where there are going to be 10,000 cops.
My heart goes out to the officers families. But sadly...... many officers get what they deserve. They go into our communities and display such ignorance and racial prejudice. They get away with killing hundreds, thousands of our young and old black men. So what goes around comes around! There needs to be more compassion to replace the ignorance that they often display!
I'm always amazed how quickly people rally to blame others for their failure but never once acknowledge their own contributions to dark side of the African America community. I am a black woman from Oakland who all to familiar with the black on black crime that plagues this community. There has been a higher number of blacks maliciously hurting fellow blacks than any incident that has had police involvement. And somehow, ignorant blacks will still find a way to blame everyone but the person responsible.
Millions of black men and women who are raised in the ghettos go their entire lives without being arrested or gettng caught up in some ridiculous game. I doubt this is because they spent their free time dodging a cop on a bad day. These thugs that run wild and destroy our cities deserve the fate they get because they know the difference between right and wrong. They make their choices by their own will, no one elses. There have been plenty of avenues made to help these people but they choose to remain numb to better opportunities. Who's fault is that?
Millions of blacks have struggled but took what they could find to become better people. Like someone said, our ancestors struggled with more oppression than any of us, but they rose above it. So you're telling me now, the people who F-up are somehow different and deserve special treatment because they're too lazy or too stupid to find a way like the rest of us?
These people and the one's who support them are an embarassment to the black community.
Millions of black men and women who are raised in the ghettos go their entire lives without being arrested or gettng caught up in some ridiculous game. I doubt this is because they spent their free time dodging a cop on a bad day. These thugs that run wild and destroy our cities deserve the fate they get because they know the difference between right and wrong. They make their choices by their own will, no one elses. There have been plenty of avenues made to help these people but they choose to remain numb to better opportunities. Who's fault is that?
Millions of blacks have struggled but took what they could find to become better people. Like someone said, our ancestors struggled with more oppression than any of us, but they rose above it. So you're telling me now, the people who F-up are somehow different and deserve special treatment because they're too lazy or too stupid to find a way like the rest of us?
These people and the one's who support them are an embarassment to the black community.
Really??? May be our black men need to realize that blaming the hardships of their lives on cops is just not cutting it anymore. Maybe black men need to step up and claim responsibility and maybe, just maybe, a black family needs to stay together to produce a functional adult. Yes racism is still present, but education can enlighten and eliminate these horrendous crimes.
“There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do do not want to lose their jobs.”
— Booker T. Washington
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