Oct 22nd National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation

[Oct22.chicago@yahoo.com]

Greetings Sisters and Brothers of Occupy Chicago, from the Ad  Hoc Committee for October 22^nd.

 

This October 22nd is the 16th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation.

 

We will rally Saturday October 22 at 1pm at the Thompson Center 100 W Randolph, followed by a march around the Loop.

 

Then at 6 pm we will reconvene at Michigan & Balbo to protest at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Gala at the Chicago Hilton Hotel.

 

We think it would be a very significant and important thing for members of Occupy Chicago to participate in  the October 22^nd National Day of Protest and that it will make a difference if Occupy Chicago is part of march and rally on Saturday October 22 .  We would very much like to have someone from Occupy Chicago speak at the rally.

 

Our Proposal is this:

            We propose that individuals involved in Occupy Chicago 1) Attend the march and rally as a group and 2) Have representation among the speakers addressing the October 22nd rally.

 

Below is an excerpt from the call for the 16^th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation (the full Call is located at http://www.October22.org):

 

Across the U.S., Black, Latino, and poor neighborhoods are treated like occupied territory by increasingly militarized armies of law enforcement. People are criminalized and brutalized for their perceived status – socioeconomic, immigration, mental health, and/or racial, gender, or sexual identity. People living in our communities, especially youth, are routinely stopped, harassed, beaten, and even killed. Across the U.S., Black, Latino, and poor neighborhoods are treated like occupied territory by increasingly militarized armies of law enforcement. People are criminalized and brutalized for their perceived status – socioeconomic, immigration, mental health, and/or racial, gender, or sexual identity. People living in our communities, especially youth, are routinely stopped, harassed, beaten, and even killed.

 

THE VIOLENCE OF THE COPS, THE COURTS, THE FBI, LA MIGRA, AND HOMELAND SECURITY IS INTENSIFYING. OUR RESISTANCE MUST INTENSIFY AS WELL! Every year, thousands of people nationwide express their outrage, creativity, and resistance in response to the crimes of this system. People speak out and perform, they march in the streets, and more. The October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation embraces and encourages any and all such expressions of people’s righteous outrage.

 

In Solidarity and in the struggle for a better world,

 

Grant Newburger,

for the Ad  Hoc Committee for October 22^nd.

 

For Chicago Info email: Oct22.Chicago@yahoo.com

(312) 933-9586

Facebook: October 22 Chicago

Info@october22.org

[mcfuzz]

I have tried the number on my old fliers a couple times today. Does the offer still stand for a speaker? Regardless, we have raised this at GA and will hopefully vote to participate in it officially.

It is very important that we show people we are not naive in regards to police. We cooperate with them as a strategy, and out of commitment to nonviolence, but we do not condone their racist practices.

[mjcassel]

I agree that Occupy Chicago needs to participate in this event. America's prison culture is used to hide the inequities and failure of the capitalist economic system by incarcerating those most obviously failed by the system.  Those in prison are propagandized as morally corrupt when they are actually victims who have been systematically and perpetually disenfranchised.

[Philip DeVon]

We need to participate and combine forces, this is a no-brainer!

[RC]

What other groups are part of the coalition? It is easy to be damned by mere association, and the MSM will be eager to do so.