So apparently, a young man who was handcuffed in the back of a police car was shot and killed. The police are claiming that he committed suicide. Folks all across the country are openly wondering what it will take to stop the slaughter by law enforcement. It’s always instructive to turn to history at times like this. The unjust murder of people of color in particular by the police is not new (as I have written countless times on this blog). Today, my twitter feed has a lot of discussion about whether we might need to meet violence with violence to end these incidents. Let me say that this has been tried in the past. In fact, over and over again throughout our history, community uprisings (sometimes called riots) have been catalyzed by instances of police violence. Such was the case in Harlem in 1964. I wrote a pamphlet about Resistance to Police Violence in Harlem. Below is an excerpt that addresses the Harlem Riots of 1964.

Read more »

The following two poems are written by Norma Stafford who was a prisoner. I find them incredibly moving because they speak to the profound sense of loneliness that most prisoners experience.

[may i touch you?]
By Norma Stafford

may i touch you?
that is what I have missed
more than anything else
a warm human touch.
i will not touch you hard.

[tonight loneliness is my bed partner]
By Norma Stafford

tonight loneliness is my bed partner
he has been every night for five years
as steel bars wrapped in blackness
take over my life
when the guard turns out my light.