…But There Is No Blood on Our hands
By Frank Chapman
While we have joined ‘Black Lives Matter’ in condemning the murders of two Brooklyn police officers Rafael Ramos and Wejian Lui; we also find it necessary to state our opinion as to the dangers our movement faces at this time.
Patrick Lynch, President of the Policemen Benevolence Association, told the protestors they have blood on their hands and he said, “The Blood on hands starts at…City Hall.” And he further stated, “For the first time in a number of years we have become a ‘wartime’ police department. We will act accordingly.”
Is there really anybody in the struggle against racist injustice who is asleep on the racist, reactionary politics of the police unions? Well if so you are about to get a wake-up call because the harsh and insulting words they had for the Mayor of New York City is just the opening shot. They do not share our vision of justice and they are using, even as we speak, the cop killings in Brooklyn to create public hysteria so they can unleash vindictive acts of violence against African Americans and then brutally repress anyone who dares to protest.
We will be called upon to stop protesting so as not to further inflame the situation. We will be told that there are "Black terrorists" lurking in our movement and we will be asked to publicly denounce them without knowing who the hell they are talking about. And then we will wake up too late and find out that they are talking about all of us. The only viable weapon we have right now is mass protests and building a movement to end police violence and mass incarceration and all forms of racist, political and economic injustice.
We should not lay our weapons down when our enemies are calling for war. Let us continue to protest for the justice we deserve.
Frank Chapman works with the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression in Chicago