From a Refuse Fascism activist in Phildelphia |
Hey, Hey! Ho, Ho! Mike Pence has gotta go!
Cheers to all who came out w/ great courage & determination to protest the fascist rally at the FOP Lodge.
Get in the streets, stay in the streets demand: #TrumpPenceOutNow
Follow: @RefuseFascism https://t.co/LxL0LtFkKy pic.twitter.com/AlDg31LIkA
— Refuse Fascism Philly (@refusefascismPH) July 10, 2020
What do Tulsa, “Mt. Rushmore,” and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge #5 in Philadelphia have in common? They are symbolic of blatant white supremacist violence used as backdrops by a regime that knows what kind of support it wants for the program it aims to carry out. Because the regime is not gearing up for an election – they are preparing for the consolidation of fascism. And the hour is getting late.
It’s July 2020. Covid-19 has killed 135,000 in the United States and it is spreading faster and faster. There has been six weeks of fierce mass struggle in the streets against white supremacy and police brutality met by massive state repression and increasing violence from the fascist social base. An election is scheduled four months away, which the fascists in power have proven they intend to win or steal at any cost, if they allow it to happen in the first place. The Supreme Court has just handed the fate of over a hundred thousand women to their employers, essentially gutting women’s privacy rights and their right to choose if and when they want to have children.
Against this backdrop the theocrat a heartbeat away from the presidency, the head of the Covid-19 taskforce, Mike Pence, announced that he was coming to Philadelphia, a liberal, diverse city, one that had shown up in a big way for the uprising of the past month in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. It was announced that Pence would be coming to speak at the headquarters of the Fraternal Order of Police, who are in the midst of their own campaign, of sorts.
As protests grew in the early days of June, the Philadelphia Police unleashed waves of violence against both protesters and neighborhoods. They shot round after round of teargas at trapped demonstrators; dropped canisters from a helicopter; lobbed gas down residential streets and even onto family’s porches; hit firefighters with it as they tried to contain a fire. Philly police pulled down protesters’ masks just to inject pepper spray directly into their mouths and noses. They fired rubber bullets against unarmed civilians, cracked skulls at full force with their batons, arrested journalists for covering all of this, stuffed those they detained into an abandoned, dilapidated jail, whipped up and unleashed armed white residents, including convicted murderers, to roam the streets after curfew threatening Black Lives and anyone who might seem like they value Black life.
Despite all this and much more, the protests here and around the country persevered. After The New York Times exposed the Philadelphia police for just some of this, the Mayor and the Police Commissioner performed the bare minimum of a mea culpa. But the FOP did not. Par for the course, they issued a statement essentially calling for a new mayor and new commissioner. They’ve held fundraisers for Officer Joey Bologna who was charged with assault for the filmed beating of a protester who he attacked from behind, smashing his head with a baton at full force.
This is why Pence visited this place in this time: not only to make clear that the fascist Trump/Pence regime condones and encourages the brutality that these police already inflict, but to enlist them into Trump’s core with a mission of keeping Trump and Pence in power, no matter what any election or court might say.
Pence told the crowd that “on behalf of President Trump and our entire administration, I’ll make you a promise: We will always have your back.” He said that “Under this President and this administration, we’re not going to defund the police — not now, not ever.” He made clear that they are up against an enemy that is so craven, that anything they do is justified, repeating Eric Trump’s baseless claim that protesters have been “burning down churches” and even twisting Biden’s words to claim that the Democratic nominee called cops “the enemy.”
He referenced the Bible, telling the cops that they “don’t carry the sword in vain.” That verse reads in full: “But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain. He is God’s servant, an agent of retribution to the wrongdoer.” This is not the role of law enforcement in a just society. It is not even the norm of law enforcement in the US, the most policed country on earth. But this is what they’ve said throughout their term and they are standing by it: “I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad.” – Donald Trump 3/19/19
Those forces – the police, military, bikers for Trump – showed up on Thursday at FOP headquarters. There were hundreds, if not more than a thousand, Trump supporters between the crowd inside the FOP, their rally outside and the “Bikers,” many of whom were retired cops. They were, and are, virulent, empowered, and not afraid to Sieg Heil or shout “White power!” along with “All Lives Matter” and “USA, USA, USA.”
Sixty folks showed up to stand for humanity in opposition to all of that. These dozens represented the potential for a radically better future. Refuse Fascism gathered in a shopping center parking lot just up the road from the Lodge. Some 30-40 people met us around the “Fuck Trump” truck, a flatbed that we collectively decorated on all sides with banners and posters. We stated the crossroads that we face, with a few organizers speaking to different elements of this and laying out the basic plans for the action. Then we gathered everyone together, and set off with the Truck leading about 20 marchers who were in turn leading about 15 cars, some decorated all honking and chanting.
Because we recognize the danger we’re up against, we devised a plan for our car caravan to encircle the marchers to maintain our safety while walking to deliver this message of rejection to everything represented by the unholy marriage of the theocrat Pence and the white supremacist FOP. Folks on bikes helped maintain our speed, cohesion, and communication. We chanted “Fuck Donald Trump,” “Black Lives Matter,” with the names of people whose lives have been stolen by the police, “Silence is complicity with white supremacy – which side are you on?” and “Trump/Pence Out Now!”
As we turned the corner and came upon the private road leading to the lodge, we joined 20 or so protesters already there, and encountered hundreds of Trump supporters/Back the Blue supporters. We blasted Public Enemy’s “State of the Union,” Beyonce’s “Freedom” and of course, “Fuck Donald Trump” as the marchers joined the protest and the folks in cars went on to park and come back to join.
Two sides are contending here. One stands for humanity – to have a chance at a just future – and the other stands for naked hatred and bigotry & a fascist nightmare. Which side are you on? How will history judge the ones who stepped out & the ones who stayed on the sidelines? https://t.co/EHzUBfOlRs
— Trump/Pence Must Go NOW—#OutNow (@RefuseFascism) July 9, 2020
We chanted, agitated, and stood our ground, acting with courage and determination, acknowledging differences in perspective, backgrounds and goals, but fighting together for what vision we share; that white supremacy must be ended, that the police cannot go on killing with impunity, and that this regime must go now! We created a space that valued each others’ lives while recognizing that we were fighting for something much larger, and putting ourselves on the line for that.
Despite the small numbers, we represented a wide demographic cross-section with regard to neighborhood, nationality, age, class, gender, education, political experience. We struggled with each other over the way forward, both tactically in the moment and over the biggest questions of the day. And even as we were literally surrounded by the most vile hatred, we brought to bear a spirit of defiant joy.
But this is the crux. One of the greatest elements of the June uprisings was that in the face of repression, people came back into the street even stronger. That has not been seen in this country in decades. But that is only one part of what makes an uprising successful. We need to turn the righteous rebellion of the masses into determination, organization and an understanding of where our power lies and where it must be directed.
This was also happening the same day that millions were celebrating on social media that the Supreme Court narrowly ruled against Trump in relation to concealing his taxes from certain government entities. People were saying that the law came down on the side of the people, when in a very real way, “the law” was gathering in a lynchmob atmosphere with arguably the second most powerful person in the world, cementing their common interests.
If people do not confront this, the movement for Black lives, and every movement for justice will be crushed. It will not go back to normal, it will be even worse. We are not going to lie and tell people there is nothing to fear, but there is much more to fear if we lay down and hand the future over to these fascists, and in the immediate sense, there would be much less to fear if more people came together, put something on the line and showed up. Ultimately the great majority of people who knew about the protest against Pence, and who oppose what Pence and the FOP represent decided not to show up.
The rebellion of the last month has given millions of people a kind of hope that they haven’t allowed themselves in a long time. For some, this can turn into a feeling that change is inevitable while others may be already souring on it, feeling that nothing good can last. But in this moment, history is being made. Our choices and our actions, or inaction, can determine the future. Some of us seem to recognize that, but still too few.