A recent headline in the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw acknowledged that the tear-gassing of peaceful protesters was “unjustifiable.” Well, hello!!! Before I look at the background to this story, I think it is useful to give a brief history of the racist violence in the city of Philadelphia.
Billy Penn (1644-1718)
A statue of William “Billy” Penn sits atop of Philadelphia City Hall in the center of the downtown area. Penn’s father was Admiral Sir William Penn, who lived on land stolen from the Irish people. Because his son William Penn was a Quaker, he was placed on trial and served time in prison.
In the year 1670, the British authorities arrested Penn because he preached to a gathering in the street. This was a violation of the Conventicle Act. Penn wasn’t allowed to see the charges against him, and was not allowed to defend himself in court. However, the jury found him, “not guilty.”
Then, the judge demanded that the jury reverse their decision. When the jury refused to do this, the judge ordered the entire jury to be placed in prison. William Penn was finally released from prison because his dying father bailed him out.
However, while Penn came to Philadelphia to escape persecution, he worked to rob Native Americans of their land and brought chattel slavery to the city.
The Declaration of Independence
The United States became a nation with the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. Contained in that Declaration are the following words:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The author of this Declaration was Thomas Jefferson. The General of the revolutionary forces that battled against the British was George Washington. Both Jefferson and Washington became Presidents of the United States. They were also both slave owners who made it a routine practice of brutalizing the human beings they called slaves.
Clearly, the revolution of the thirteen colonies made important advances for the people who lived in this country. However, when we think of the horrendous crimes against Black people, and the genocide against Native Americans, we see another story. Most Black people and Native Americans supported the British in the battle against the revolutionary war of independence.
Octavius Cato (1839-1871)
There is another statue in Philadelphia of Octavius Cato. Cato, who was Black, was educated in the Institute for Colored Youth that was organized by the Quakers, the same religion as Billy Penn. Cato also taught at this school, where he argued for improving the education of Black students. Then, he joined with Frederick Douglass in the Recruitment Committee working to convince the federal government to allow Black soldiers to fight in the Civil War. After the war, Cato gave a speech where he made the following argument:
“De Tocqueville prophesied that if ever America underwent Revolution, it would be brought about by the presence of the black race, and would result from the inequality of their condition.”
Cato was also a leader of the movement to force the city to reverse the law preventing Black people from travelling on street cars. In this movement he a gained the support of Congressmen Thaddeus Stevens and William B. Kelly. The law was reversed after Cato’s fiancée was prevented from entering a streetcar. Cato also helped to win popular support for the 15th Amendment to the Constitution giving Black men the right to vote.
Just as William Penn came to Philadelphia to escape religious persecution in Britain, Irish people came to the city to escape famine in their homeland. As the author James Baldwin once argued, when Europeans came to this country there was a, “price of the ticket.” The price was to forget the struggles they had been a part of in Europe and become “white.” Being white has no meaning other than an expression of power.
So, while the reconstruction governments emerged in the South after the Civil War, and Black people began to vote in Philadelphia, Irish mobs mobilized in the Democratic Party of the city and worked to prevent Black people from voting.
Then, Frank Kelly murdered Octavius Cato while he was on his way to vote. Kelly was found “not guilty” by what was probably an all-white jury.
Today there is a memorial in Montgomery, Alabama of about 4,000 people who had been lynched in this country. The federal government rarely prosecuted the murders, and thereby became accomplices to those murders.
The struggle to allow Black students to attend Girard College
Stephen Girard was a capitalist living in this country who died in 1831. He founded Girard College and prevented Black people from attending.
Then, in the mid-1960s organizers began to mobilize to force the school to admit Black students. In the initial demonstration, about 800 police officers, under the command of Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo, mobilized to intimidate those who were demanding that the school be desegregated.
We might keep in mind that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution stated clearly that everyone living in this country was supposed to have “equal protection under the laws.” Yet, for decades the government decided to flagrantly violate the Constitution. This was why Black people weren’t allowed to go to Girard College for decades.
The struggle to allow Black students to go to Gerard College lasted for several years. During that time, many of those who were apart of those protests were brutalized by the police. However, after many years, the government forced the school to admit Black students. The government also outlawed the Jim Crow laws that legally stripped Black people of citizenship rights in this country.
Because of the recent demonstrations, a statue of Frank Rizzo was removed from the downtown area. A mural of Rizzo was also painted over.
Mumia Abu Jamal
Mumia Abu Jamal began opposing police brutality at the age of fourteen when he joined the Black Panther Party. He was and continues to be an eloquent speaker who has protested routine police brutality. Jamal used his skills to work as a journalist, and became the President of an organization of Black journalists in Philadelphia.
Because of his critical views of the police, Jamal found it difficult to find work and became a taxi driver to supplement his income. Then, in 1981, Jamal was driving his cab and saw that his brother was being brutalized by police officer Daniel Faulkner. This happened at 13th and Locust Streets, a neighborhood that was then known for drug dealing and prostitution. Jamal’s brother, William Cook, was stopped allegedly for a traffic violation. However, many people might argue that Cook was stopped for a DWB (Driving While Black).
When Jamal stopped his taxi and walked across the street to see what was happening, officer Faulkner shot him in the chest. Then, someone else apparently murdered officer Faulkner.
Mumia Abu Jamal has been in prison ever since he was framed for that murder. During those many years, he has become a leader of the struggle to end police brutality, as well as the liberation of Black people.
The Bombing of MOVE
Mumia Abu Jamal was a member of the organization MOVE. In the year 1985, the Philadelphia Police mobilized to surround a home where move members lived on Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia. The Police were accusing MOVE members of disturbing the peace and violating zoning ordinances.
To enforce the alleged violation of those laws, the Police fired 10,000 rounds of ammunition into the MOVE home. Then, the police dropped a bomb on the MOVE home. The Fire Commissioner, who was on the scene, ordered the fire fighters not to put out the ensuing fire. As a result, the police murdered eleven human beings, and three city blocks of homes were burned to the ground.
As with the 4,000 people who had been lynched in this country, no one was indicted or convicted of those murders.
The “unjustifiable” police attack on peaceful protesters
My opinion is that when we look at the recent firing of rubber bullets and tear gas on peaceful protesters in Philadelphia, we need to look at the entire history of the city. That is why I included a brief summary of that history in this blog.
On May 30, 2020 there were demonstrations in Philadelphia and all over the country protesting the police murder of George Floyd. I attended that demonstration.
The day before the demonstration Mayor Jim Kenney mouthed the words that he hoped for a peaceful demonstration. I learned that while Kenney mouthed those words, something else was going on.
I was at Broad and Vine Street during that demo. I witnessed the fact that the police were using their bicycles to separate peaceful demonstrators on one side of the street from peaceful demonstrators on the other side of the street. Then, I viewed 30 or 50 police officers dressed in Black marching in formation down Vine Street armed with clubs.
At this point I began to understand that Mayor Kenney was working to mobilize the police to provoke a demonstration against police brutality, while he mouthed words saying he wanted a peaceful demonstration. Then, when I viewed the television that evening, I saw how there were police provocations all over the country. Apparently, the police mobilization in Philadelphia was just a part of the national police mobilization to harass peaceful protesters.
In my opinion, the looting that happened after this demo was deliberately provoked by the police. As James Brown once said in his song: “Static, don’t start none, won’t be none.”
After this demonstration, a reporter working for the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote a column where she reported being arrested by the police. She was walking to her car after the demo with her press credentials visible. She was handcuffed and detained in a bus for two hours before a lawyer for the Inquirer arranged for her release.
Then, on the Monday after this demonstration there was another demonstration protesting police brutality on Rt. 676 in the center city area. The police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the demonstrators. The police then trapped the demonstrators against a fence where they needed to climb the tall fence in order to escape. There was a film of a police officer spraying tear gas into the faces of kneeling protesters.
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw issued a statement arguing: “While the SWAT officers were present, members of the crowd began throwing rocks at the officers from the north and south sides, and from the bridges above the officers.” Today, we know this statement was a bold-faced lie. A film released by the New York Times clearly showed that the protesters at no time threatened the police.
Then, on June 15, the Inquirer ran a front-page story titled: “Police brass rejected a plan for more police officers on the street that might have averted much of the violence and looting.” This story, in my opinion, was an attempt to justify the use of unnecessary police force used against peaceful protesters.
But something happened that the police and people who have power didn’t expect. On the Saturday after those demonstrations there was another demonstration against police brutality where 100,000 people might have attended. Demonstrations followed every day for a few weeks. There were also demonstrations in cities and towns all across the country and the world.
It was only after those demonstrations that the Police Commissioner acknowledged that her previous statement was a lie. A Deputy Commissioner would be demoted, and the SWAT officer who sprayed tear gas at protesters might be fired.
What are the lessons of this history?
When we look at the horrendous actions of the police using brutal force against peaceful protesters, we need to see this as a continuation of the racist and repressive force that has been used throughout the history of this country. When we look at the paltry concessions made by the police, it becomes clear that they have no real intention to make any meaningful change.
In Minneapolis, Minnesota the City Council voted unanimously to change the city charter to dismantle the Police Department. They propose a “Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention” That would prioritize a, “holistic public health-oriented approach.”
In my opinion, that proposal fails to look at the root of this problem. The national mobilization of the police to provoke demonstrations protesting murders by police officers sent a clear message. In this time of pandemic, with 40 to 50 million workers unemployed, and police using unrestrained violence, that mobilization made it clear that the police would continue to be used as a repressive force against people who are justifiably enraged by their actions.
The pandemic, the depression, and police violence aren’t going away. The recent demonstrations around the world demonstrate that we have the will and capacity to create a movement that will make real changes.
Throughout the history of this country, people who have had power have made it clear that in their opinion the lives of Black people don’t matter. In my opinion, the goals of the movement that is now erupting is to put in place a government that makes it clear that Black lives do matter.
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