By Nadrat Siddique
It was an unusual and thought-provoking day at Baltimore’s MLK Day Parade. As much of the crowd jumped and pranced as if at a football game, an adhoc group of activists, calling themselves the "No More Jim Crow Justice" Contingent, brought attention to critical issues in Baltimore. It was one of the first times that parade-participants and attendees alike were challenged to consider the cynicism of holding a parade in the name of a man who fought for race and class equality--in a city where neither exists. The activists carried signs bearing messages such as "NO—to Baltimore’s System of Jim Crow Justice” and “King Had a Dream?? Tell That to Baltimore Killer Cops.”
The parade start was announced, and the procession slowly began, led by
the Governor, the Mayor, and the States Attorney. Suddenly, one of the protestors, David
Anthony Wiggins, shouted through a megaphone at the smug trio “You have blood
on your hands!” He demanded justice for Maurice Johnson, Anthony Anderson,
Tyrone West, and other Black men murdered in cold blood by racist police in
Baltimore. Wiggins, who is a senior fellow at the Baltimore Black Think Tank
and considering a run for Baltimore City Sheriff, told the trio “You have the
power to stop police brutality.” His previous run for Sheriff propounded a
platform emphasizing accountability for public servants, including police.
Float after feel-good float passed, only to be challenged by the band
of committed activists, who were strategically located near the Master of
Ceremonies booth.
Planned Parenthood—known for its racist roots—was challenged for its complicity
in population control. More recently, the organization pushed for Norplant, Depo-Provera,
and similar birth control devices amongst Baltimore’s Black population on a
scale unparalleled in other populations here. White Supremacist organizations,
often-times in cahoots with the government have a history of similar practices
on Native American reservations, where vast numbers of indigenous women have
been sterilized against their will.
The primarily Black drivers of a fleet of corvettes were tossed questions
on the infrequently discussed topic of D.W.B. (Driving While Black). The
Jerusalem Temple No. 24 Prince Hall masons (Freemasons) were challenged for
their grab of world markets. A Black
Motorcycle riders club was asked to "Ride Against Police Brutality."
In a sign that officials are aware that Baltimore—rife with corruption,
social inequality, and massive disenfranchisement of the majority Black
population—is a pressure cooker, and that failure to allow some dissent might
result in a broad scale unrest, a limited number of progressive groups were
permitted official participation in the parade. The Workers and Peoples
Assembly and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union--both protesting
abuses against drivers by Veola; Healthcare
Now; Veterans for Peace; Community
Mediation; and others proudly marched in the parade. The Women in Black, an
anti-war group active against the Iraq War since its inception, with its eye-catching
props of women in hijab, drew a great deal of attention from the crowd. One of
its members carried a sign de-crying the use of drones.
Nearing the end of the parade, a phalanx of police marched down the
parade route. Before they could reach the MC’s booth, Wiggins, followed by the growing
group of activists, walked up on them. “No more killer cops! Justice for
Maurice Johnson! Justice for Anthony Anderson! Justice for Tyrone West,” he shouted
via megaphone at the Boys in Blue. Some of the police twittered. Wiggins waxed
didactical. “I know you’re not all bad cops,” he said. “If you’re not a bad
cop, turn in the bad cops.”
It seemed the phalanx was surprised. With the cushion of a (Zionist)
attorney general, Greg Bernstein, ready to exculpate any officer accused of
wrongdoing on the wrong side of the railroad tracks, they seemed unaccustomed
to any organized challenge.
Activists, whose near and dear ones had been murdered by police, loudly
shamed the police contingent, which was now at a standstill. A female activist,
whose boyfriend was murdered by police, took the megaphone to chastise them for
crimes against the population they ostensibly served. Some of the police
appeared embarrassed or chagrined, while others were in denial. A lone Black
woman supporter of the police, carrying a placard bearing an American flag, approached
the scene, commending the police on their work in the community. Interestingly,
as the police phalanx bore down the parade route, the primarily Black crowd thinned,
until the few who were left ran off. It was clear they did not view the police
as their friend. And—in yet another indication of the deeply compromised state
of the local corporate media—Fifth Branch of the Government, some would opine—a
major challenge to government officials and police earned scarcely a passing
reference, not even for the purpose of selling papers with news of the highly
unprecedented action.
In another groundbreaking development, members of Masjid Jamaat
al-Muslimeen, a small grassroots mosque in the Govans area of Baltimore’s West
Side, attended the parade in force. Clearly identifying themselves as Muslim,
and operating on the principles of amr bil mauroof (enjoining the good) and
nahi unal munkari (forbidding the evil), mosque members offered strong support
to the protestors calling for an end to police brutality. Masjid members held
signs saying “Muslims Honor Dr. King” and “Islam Advocated Racial Equality 1400
Years Ago.”
