Juanita Young of New York City survived a beating by 8 police officers
Here she holds a picture of Malcolm Ferguson, her son shot by police in 2000. In 2007 she won a $10 million dollar judgment in court but continues to fight appeals by the government.
“I have four other kids. I wouldn’t want to go through this again, or for any other mother to have to. When they kill your child, there’s a kind of pain you can never get relief from. You take that with you to the day you die.”
Without the political will for freedom there is no progress.
Governments cannot give this to oppressed people. Those that are flourishing in the status quo, or just content to settle for whatever the elites throw at them have got no interest in a new world.
Political will is in people, whether they realize this or not.
One confusing issue about the word politics itself is that some elite (or their surrogate) holds political power. Acting in the moment as opposed to reacting is the mark of the person who defies myths.
Refusing to allow police to brutalize a community member is political power. Physically halting gunstrapped cops from doing this is a task. Yet there are other ways to combat the injustice. By witnesses documenting what happened, and letting voices be heard at the scene or in a public speak-out, unified power is also expressed. Entering the court system to challenge the system on this, with no illusions as to the structure returning with real correctives to itself, is another tactic.
“I have four other kids. I wouldn’t want to go through this again, or for any other mother to have to. When they kill your child, there’s a kind of pain you can never get relief from. You take that with you to the day you die.”
