Oct 22 2013 On today’s Hard Knock Radio Show, we caught up with two individuals who belong to organizations that are on the front lines of dealing with police brutality. E Da Ref of the Black Riders Liberation Party and Carl Dix of the Revolutionary Communist Party..
Both gentlemen detailed the work they are doing from community patrols to education workshops to directly confronting the onslaught of police terrorism.. There’s an excellent in-depth article on the BRLP in a recent edition of the SF Bayview.. You can read about them HERE.
Carl Dix who is in the forefront of the fight to end Stop and Frisk toured the country with Dr Cornel West as part of his efforts.. Here’s some information about those efforts HERE
During our interview both talked about the need to take down the current system and replace it with one that is more accountable. They were realistic that such actions will not happen overnight , so they detailed the steps folks can take to help achieve that end.. E Da Ref talked at length about an array of strategies including Confrontation Politics.
Overall today brought forth an enlightening conversation given the fact that today marked the 18th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation.
John Reimann
Later in the show we spoke with long time union member and activist John Reimann who talked about the larger implications that will soon unfold as result of the recent BART strike. He laid out key steps unions must take in the future and urged them to take time to connect labor struggles with the struggles everyday people are enduring.
Although the BART strike was settled Reimann felt the unions missed some key opportunities. He also talked about how the unions were forced to strike by BART management who waged unyielding campaign to ‘race to the bottom’. He also addressed the accidental killing of two BART workers who were killed by a trainee who BART management were hoping to have as replacement for striking riders..
You can get more information about John Riemann at http://oaklandsocialist.com/
Right click the link below to download or stream the HKR Intv
HKR-10-22-13 Oct22 Resisting Police brutality |BART and Unions Whats the Next steps?