by Kerry “Shakaboona” Marshall
The signs of protesters are telling. Their signs can be filled with messages of love, humor, guidance, warning, threat, or inspiration. The signs of protesters also can show the degree of social, political consciousness of the people, the temperament of people, and the direction a movement is heading.
In Ferguson, Missouri and in cities around the United States, the signs of protesters in Ferguson rebellion sparked by the August 9th brutal murder of unarmed Black teen, Michael Brown, by white police officers, speaks volumes to all who would just read the signs carried by the protesters. Michael Brown Sr. carried a sign, “Ferguson police just executed my unarmed son,” while the entire Ferguson community stood beside him in peaceful street protest with signs of their own that read, “Hands up, don’t shoot!” “Justice for Mike Brown!” “Police the police!” and “Jail killer cops.”
The Missouri political establishment responded to the peaceful assemblies with physical force, mass arrest, and military occupation. The signs of protesters then read, “Stop racist police terror,” “We won’t cease till Darren Wilson is charged” and “No National Guard, military occupation, curfew in Ferguson.” “We want justice now for Michael Brown.”
Signs carried by Black youth were straightforward messages that read, “Murder is murder, am I next?” and “Not one more, we want justice now!” Solidarity was also expressed by white, Latino, and Asian protesters in signs that read, “How long will white people keep trying to justify murdering Black people?” “Africans and La Raza unite against police brutality.” “Blackness is not a weapon for police brutality. Racial profiling and systemic racism is” and “End United States institutional racism against Black and Brown peoples.”
Ferguson protesters even demonstrated their awareness of the interrelation of foreign and domestic struggles against the neocolonial U.S. ruling class, in signs that boldly read, “We are Ferguson, we are Gaza, because we are one, because we are human,” “Resistance is justified from Ferguson to Gaza” and “Support the Ferguson rebellion.”
Despite the state government’s attempt at suppressing the Ferguson rebellion, the protesting continues. The signs of resistance continue, reading “We are all Michael Brown,” “The media. Open your eyes,” “#MikeBrown” and “We will survive.” But one sign that summed it all read, “The days of our silent obedience is over.”
I am Kerry “Shakaboona” Marshall, founding member of the Human Rights Coalition, Prison Radio correspondent, and can be reached at SCI Rockview Box A, #B7826, Bellefonte, PA 16823. Thank you for listening.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
