Have you tried fire part two

Khyre’ Edwards
10 min readJun 13, 2020

Alternatives

You know how in Harry Potter you can only destroy a Horcrux by making it impossible to repair by magical means — which I point out is challenged by the existence of the Elder wand, did Voldemort even try to repair any of the objects to see if they were truly destroyed? I mean Phoenix tears saved Harry/Voldemort in the Chamber. Anyway only after destroying all of them can you kill the super magical Nazi, this is the only way to destroy white supremacy.

You have to actively seek it out, uproot it and destroy it beyond repair, and when possible set it on fire.

Riots are effective, they are a big heavy stick. A tree branch wildly swinging in the wind near a glass house, every gust bringing it closer and closer near misses and glancing blows leave cracks. Terrifying everyone inside the glass house into considering that maybe they should change something — they of course will try to cut down the branch, but then they will still have to worry about the tree and then one day a rock will fall on them punishing them for their stupidity because really who would build a glass house ? There is a carrot too, love and equality and living in harmony is pretty nice.

Tangible changes of ending white supremacy, and specific to this article neutering its most powerful tool (the police) would also include:

  • Reduction in gun violence.
  • No more court case backlogs preventing us from getting quick justice.
  • Reduction in the prison population which would reduce costs and raise tax revenue.
  • No more cash bail. (No need without overcrowded prisons and years long wait for a trial).
  • More money for education, mental health services, healthcare, and public works.

Arson and seemingly random acts of property destruction are by no means the only thing we could do.

These are a few of the things more long lasting than the flames:

Jury nullification. Juries have a lot of power, including the ability to ignore the judges instructions and let those they believe are guilty free. Dangerous right? Well isn’t that what white juries have been doing since the founding of America? Personally I think things like murder and rape should be punished if the juries are convinced the defendant is guilty, but this is an illustration of systemic breakdown by force. We could show up each time we get a juries summons. We could try to get on the jury, even if that means lying. We could loudly protest every trial that has an all white jury casting doubt on each verdict. Pressuring defense attorneys to question why a prosecutor got rid of all of the black people on the jury. If this were widespread wouldn’t more people take their chances with a trial? People may feel more comfortable doing the things that scare you now, the arson, the vandalism, the attacks on police officers. The easiest cases to disrupt would capital cases due to most states requiring unanimous consent to convict in capital cases, so one holdout can force a not guilty. With the racial breakdowns of capital punishment. Isn’t dismantling white supremacy more appealing?

Sue. We could sue over a variety of things including lawsuits over court cases that have a lack of diversity. Many cases have a White Judge, A White Defense attorney a White Bailiff, A White Prosecutor an all White Jury, White journalist and a Black defendant. It could be argued that in those cases it is impossible to get a fair trial, so they should sue. The defendant should sue over a violation of their civil rights. Black workers could sue corporations for creating hostile work environments every time a our managers makes an offhand racist comment. We could sue for malpractice every time a doctor ignores our pain and it ends in a miscarriage. We could sue every time we are in a restaurant that refuses to let us sit where we want, putting us in the back away from the door so we cannot run out. We could sue every time the school guidance counselors points our children towards gym courses instead of preparing them for college. Slow, unwieldy and expensive, this is not fun but we could force racial compliance if we cannot get equality.

Crash the market. I’m not an expert on financial markets, but Wallstreet seems pretty weak. Stock manipulation seems to be difficult for individuals and for organizations to do without repercussions. But millions of Black Americans all deciding to sink an industry or boycott a company like Disney or Amazon would be easy enough.What would be really easy is to withdraw all of our money from racist institutions like Chase and Bank of America all at once. Would they be able to handle this shock with so little cash on hand ? Setting the banks on fire might be a bit more straightforward and satisfying but maybe not as damaging long term .

Image used for Home Health Aide on Department of Labor

Health care disruption — black women make up a very large share of the healthcare industry, specifically home health aide and nursing homes. A nationwide strike in this industry is already past due- with the low pay, poor working conditions and few worker protections. Forcing America to confront the ramifications of the vast mistreatment of Black Americans at the same time they have to find a spare room for their loved ones will impact much of the country. The point of any demonstration is to make it impossible for people to ignore an issue and disrupting the 5th largest industry in the country is a great way to do that.

What happens if we decided to stay home every election? Now this one hurts my soul. We fought so hard to gain the right to vote, shouldn’t we vote in every election? I suggest we make it clear that we will only vote in elections where either a black person is on the ballot or a candidate that is fighting for policies that loudly and boldly purports to improve the lives of Black America. The barrier to entry should be low enough to give candidates a chance if they go through the motions if their opponent is actively working to kill us -as in Biden Vs Trump. But the barrier should be high enough to not fall for a black face over racist polices ( Secretary Carson, Senator Scott of S. Carolina). Things can change but as it stands the Republican party seems beyond saving and should not have your consideration for a vote, but isn’t it time to demand that the Democratic party make some show of solidarity ? Senate, House, The Supreme Court, The Executive we are painfully underrepresented. If so inclined we could kill the two party system and grind governing to a halt.

Refuse to enlist. What if we stopped enlisting in the Armed services? Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and even the coast guard? Currently there is not a single recruiting office in the country that is able to meet its quota’s. Piss us off enough and we can make it impossible. A draft could be instituted sure, but we can boycott that too. After all if this country won’t protect us at home why should we kill for them abroad? How much legitimacy would A U.S. military have if we were not a part of it? What if those who are already enlisted went on strike? Even if this were not widespread it would cost the Pentagon precious time and resources trying to figure out the scale of the problem, a process that if done ham handily could spark more protest.

Guns. I don’t think this one is a great idea, but many other Black people are talking abut it. Charlemagne Tha God Host of the Breakfast club regularly urges us to legally and responsibly arm ourselves and to use out firearms to defend ourselves and take our chances in court. Friends and relatives of mine agree. I (and they) know that this will create some problems for us, mainly even more excused shootings by the police and increased gun deaths in the Black community (particularly accidental shootings of children). The rewards however are a reduction in the George Zimmerman's, Gregory McMichael’s, and Travis McMichael’s. Others point out that officers may be convinced not to over police Black neighborhoods out of a fear of violent enforcement of our civil rights. I doubt it, many police departments excuse all of their racist actions by pointing to the belief that the suspect (often victim) had a gun. Think about it any time an officer yells “He’s got a gun” does anyone pause to ask if it is legal before they light them up? Philando Castile would say they do not. Malcolm X’s “Ballot or the Bullet” is a stark reminder that America always has a choice in how we arrive at progress, peaceful acquiescence to equality or total war for self preservation.

Music Break, seems like a good place to put this video.

“Icecube will swarm on any mothafucker in a blue uniform” — NWA Fuck the police

Anyway this is not something that would leave White America (and police in particular) unwounded and perhaps it would force real gun control laws through congress. Why? I think you know but look to Reagans actions as governor of the then conservative California. I don’t think the black NRA will be able to lobby for cop killer bullets no matter how much we bribe our politicians. You know what though? At some point if this continues the risks will not seem as big.

Transportation shutdowns. Every time I march in the streets into traffic at a protest I marvel at how absurdly easy it is to stop traffic, the laws and norms of society prevent the impulse of most people from just driving through the crowd. I’ve never marched on a highway, but I have sat in Traffic for hours only to pass by a single lane blocked by a car with a flat tire that. I’ve been on buses that the drivers pulled over and had to wait until a new bus came. How many times has your flight been delayed or cancelled? Seems easy to disrupt transportation all over the nation. Civil rights leaders did this with bus boycotts (and black bodies are still the most likely to fill those seats), and marches ( they were not exactly marching single file on the the sidewalks). Boat docks and train stations are not safe either. At anytime and place of our choosing we could shut down much of the traffic in the U.S.

https://globalnews.ca/news/2922540/black-lives-matter-protesters-disrupt-flights-at-london-city-airport/

Photo Credit: SCOTT HEINS / GOTHAMIST

Targeted Arson. The article is about fire metaphorical and real. We could set the Governors mansion on fire. The police chief lives in a building just as flammable as a department store. Police cars on fire to me is a very jarring sight to see (hence the multiple pictures of them on this article), but it would be more damaging to set the city garage that houses these vehicles on fire. Wallstreet has a lot of targets ripe for destruction- that’s why people keep trying to attack them. Politicians usually can avoid change by just hunkering down and ignoring the chaos because it rarely comes close to them. This would change that. With flames licking their heels and ash caking their perfectly pressed suits it would be apparent to every Mayor that maybe firing a few police officers is a small price to pay for peace. All of those giant Confederate flags any car with A Make America Great Again bumper sticker would become a target. Jails, juvenile facilities, and the police precinct sure. But what about Golf courses? The Yacht Club? Or whatever your towns version of a whites only club?

Fire is still an option.

National labor strike, Renters strikes, Prison riots all around the country, Postal Blockades, Food service disruptions.

This is not an exhaustive list. I also did not spell out the most dangerous aspects of these strategies, some of which are fairly obvious ( I mean what would people do with all those guns if needed? ) since I didn’t think I needed to and I think it should be you the reader who reflects on whether you would be happier with masses of Black people in the street setting things on fire or destroying America industry by industry from the safety of our homes.

“If you go to jail so what? If you are Black you were born in Jail.” Malcom X

One more

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