This past weekend thousands of youth activists from across the US traveled to Ferguson, MO to meet and learn from our brothers and sisters on the ground there. Their fight is not over. It has just begun. They are demanding justice. They are demanding validation of their human dignity. They are demanding an end to excessive use of force by police, over weaponarized officers, the lack of transparency and the use of racial profiling and terrorizing tactics that plague police departments and forces in Ferguson and beyond. They are fighting, they are escalating and we need to join them. Because their struggle is our struggle and their liberty will be our liberty. Because they are fighting for all of us. Because every 36 hours a black man is killed by police forces. Because black and brown transwomen are over-scrutinized and over-arrested simply for existing in public space. Because everyday a member of the urban working class or poor loses her home to greedy landlords or are symbolically erased and silenced in gentrified spaces. Because migrant women in transit are captured and sexually assaulted by border patrol. Because as marijuana is legalized in Colorado, 60% of African Americans in prison are there for drug charges. Because 35% of black children and 20% of Hispanic children are expelled or suspended from their schools. Because we are standing on stolen land. Because treaties from the Iroquois nation to the West bank continue to be broken. Because of Mike Brown, because of Ezell Ford, because of Israel Hernandez, because of Eric Garner, because DJ Factory, because Mary Turner, because no one wants to be the next hashtag. 

Police/security forces everywhere currently are allowed the right to kill, abuse and terrorize with impunity black, brown, queer, poor, immigrant, disabled bodies everyday for the sake of “defending” society against our marginalized existence. It happens everywhere: from Ferguson to Gaza, from the Mexican border to BedStuy, from Pakistan to Honduras, from Harlem to Miami, from Russia to Jamaica, from my home to yours. 

It’s time we answer the battle cry screamed out by the youth in Ferguson. It is time we set aside small differences in ideology and embrace the fight against the oppression shared by us all. The revolution can be here if we want it. The struggle is real. It is time to stand up and liberate our communities ourselves, and not wait for out-of-touch talking heads and self-interested politicians to do it for us. Demand justice, demand dignity. They are your rights. Join us at the rally to launch the fight or start one in your own city. Wear all black. #BedStuy2Ferguson #ShutItDown #BREAKAWAY