“As we were radicalized, we must pass it on. So that another generation doesn´t know more about a 50 Cent than Huey P. Newton, so that young people will create a culture that doesn´t say Get Rich or Die Tryin', but get free or die trying” – Mumia Abu-Jamal
1. They Don’t Care About Us
Politicians tell us what we want to hear. Obama told us he’d bring the troops home after he got elected, but they’re still in Iraq and Obama sent even more to Afghanistan. The same thing happened with immigration. Obama promised Latinos that he would reform immigration if he got elected. Instead, Arizona hit us with racist laws like SB-1070. Other states are looking to pass similar laws. In Wake County, North Carolina, local politicians are trying to resegregate our schools.
The Civil Rights movement was fought to outlaw segregation. Forty years later, laws like SB-1070 and the effort in Wake County are trying to reintroduce segregation bit by bit!
2. Can I Live?
While politicians fool around and can’t pass any laws, we continue to suffer. Our schools are resegregated, or can’t afford new computers or even basic supplies like paper, pencils, soap in bathrooms or paper towels. The food in the cafeteria is straight up garbage – it is unhealthy, the meat is processed and nasty, the juice is pure sugar, and they serve us the same thing every day! We go to class hungry and can’t concentrate. Meanwhile Hillside New Tech, a charter school inside Hillside High, is stacked. Vending machines are fully stocked, and the students have brand new computers.
In our neighborhoods, homelessness and unemployment are huge problems. The cops harass us all the time. They patrol our neighborhoods four or more deep walking the streets tapping their batons and staring us down. Meanwhile, just up the road in the suburbs around the malls, you can hardly find any cops at all. Be honest with yourself – do you really feel protected by police?
What happens here locally also happens nationally and internationally. Laws like SB-1070 make hanging out with your undocumented friends illegal – this is an attack on freedom of assembly. In Raleigh, they try to intimidate leaders of the struggle against resegregation like Reverend Barber into silence – this is an attack on freedom of speech.
We can’t live like this. In our time, with oil spills destroying the environment, racist laws like SB-1070 being passed, and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that the government lies about, not being a revolutionary is a contradiction.
3. We Go Stupid Hard
We need to be fearless. A lot of people are afraid today because of all the stuff we just talked about. Cops in our hood, losing our jobs, and homelessness are all real problems we face. Other folks see politicians lying and lose interest in politics completely.
Both of these are understandable responses, but leaving things alone today is not an option.
We need to go hard if we’re gonna change our world. And we in Bull City Insurgent go stupid hard, because we are tired of living this way.
We are tired of seeing our brothers and sisters suffer because of the carelessness of the people that control our world. It’s our world. We need to take it back.
4. Brave not Stupid
Striking teachers in Oaxaca provide a good example of what it means to be brave but not stupid. During their fight for a democratic union, they occupied the toll booths on a highway in Oaxaca, letting drivers go through for free. At the same time, they asked for donations from drivers who supported their struggle. When the cops came, they told the striking teachers they had five minutes to leave or they were gonna start arresting people. The teachers held a meeting right there among all the teachers and decided what to do. They decided that they had made their point, they had challenged the authorities and gotten away with a lot, and decided to make a tactical retreat, chanting, “we’ll be back” as they went.
This is what we mean when we say we are brave but not stupid. We want to push the boundaries of what folks think is possible. We know that what seems impossible today is possible tomorrow when we fight together.
5. Get Free or Die Tryin’
A lot of people might ask why we do the things we do, why we protest against things they think we can’t change. We know we have to fight for the change we want, no matter what.
We take inspiration in our own struggle from struggles around the world against oppression. Palestinians in Gaza are fighting the state of Israel every day using whatever they can find. The Bolivian people successfully took control of their water from Western corporations with an attitude that they were gonna be free or die trying.
This is the kind of attitude we need here in the U.S., where ordinary people run their communities, schools, and neighborhoods themselves.
6. We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For
We know politicians ain’t gonna change the world. All they do is maintain things the way they are. And we know that ordinary people all over the world are putting their lives on the line to create a better world.
This means that if the world is gonna change, it’s up to us. Waiting for politicians is not an option. Inspired by the struggles of folks in Gaza, Bolivia, and our own struggles in Durham, we know that we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
We are hardworking people. We are fighters. We go stupid hard. We are Bull City Insurgent.
