The Young, Gifted and Black Coalition kicked off its Black Lives Matter Speaker Series Friday with a talk on community influence over the police force given by Max Rameau, a campaign organizer and human rights activist.
Rameau began the talk by commending past social movements, like the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, for setting the stage and creating a political space where people of color can organize.
“It wasn’t that long ago that if a black person came to Wisconsin or anywhere else in this country and said, ‘We need to have control over the police,’ the speech would have ended early, and probably in a lynching,” Rameau said. “We’re here only because of a social movement that made it possible for us to be here.”
Throughout his talk Rameau compared the Black Lives Matter movement, a nationwide response to police brutality against black suspects, with the Civil Rights Movement. He emphasized that both involve many smaller actions across the country happening all at once, with various groups confronting diverse issues.
However, he said one significant difference between the movements is something called ideological clarity. In other words, the Civil Rights Movement was successful because its activists and organizers all agreed upon what the fundamental issue was, and the Black Lives Matter movement will fail unless a consensus can be made about what the core problem is, Rameau said.
The speaker said the “art and science” of building social movements requires that, once the main objective is clear, it is up to the people to craft an organized march in that direction, rather than rely on small urban rebellions.
“If bravery, creativity and just being all-around kickass people were to somehow lead directly to liberation, we wouldn’t be having all the problems we’re experiencing right now,” he said. “The real challenge we have is convincing people to engage in the struggle in a real way.”
Rameau said protesters face many threats in choosing to be a part of the movement, from standing in the cold to possible arrests, so it is important that they fully understand their demands and do not waste the struggle they endure.
“We have people willing to act, but we’re not yet sure what we’re acting for,” Rameau said. “We cannot, as an unorganized mob, end a system of oppression.”
“Subpar demands,” like police body cameras and more training for officers, are solutions to surface issues, but they fail to address the nature of the problem: that police are an occupying, colonial force in the black communities they should serve to protect, Rameau said.
Rameau suggested the movement must demand self-determination and consent of the governed, specifically by choosing citizens from each community to form committees that would make decisions about the police force in that area.
These community boards, according to Rameau, would control the police to ensure the people in that area are being served exactly how they want to be.
“We have an opportunity in this moment to fundamentally shift power in this country from communities that have all the power to those that have none,” Rameau said. “We cannot squander this moment. We have to rise up to its occasion.”
His words were put into action as the talk concluded and a crowd of more than 100 students and community members moved to the streets, eventually shutting down the 700 block of University Avenue.
The Madison Police Department knew about the protest and had time to prepare its reaction, MPD Lt. Kelly Donahue said. Officers watched over the protest and assisted the demonstrators in blocking traffic.
Young, Gifted and Black members led chants like, “build the people, not the jail” and listed their specific demands, including the release of 350 black prisoners from Dane County Jail and the end of solitary confinement.
UW-Madison alumna Eve Bertrand held a picket sign and joined the chants for an hour, saying it was worth it to be a part of a change despite the cold temperatures.
“I was born and raised in Madison,” Bertrand said. “We live in a very racist state, and I’m very passionate about doing my best to challenge that system of oppression.”
The speaker series will continue through the spring with five more scheduled talks.
