December 28, 2014
Reality Check
Protesters Must Be Mindful of Dirty Tricks
By A. Peter Bailey
(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Immediately after hearing about the killing of two New York City police officers by a seemingly mentally-deranged Black male, I called my 48-year-old son whose work often requires him to be in the city at night.
“Unless there is an emergency situation,” I told him, “it will be best to avoid being on city streets at night for the next couple of days. And spread the message to your friends who live in the city.”
This may sound like an overreaction to some but I was convinced that some revenge-seeking police officers or some of their supporters would strike out at any Black male they came across.
This attitude was based on lessons I learned from Brother Malcolm X in the early 1960s on tactics used by the police and other government agencies to go after Black males. When hearing some of the protesters chanting “What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it? Now!” I remembered Brother Malcolm warning his supporters in the Organization of Afro-American Unity to be very suspicious of anyone in attendance at one of our meetings or rallies who shouted out, “We should go bomb the subways.”
That person, he said, should be immediately removed from our gathering. Nine times out of 10, Brother Malcolm told us, that person is a plant working for either the police or other hostile government agencies. And if there is even the briefest discussion of his or her proposal everyone in the room could be charged with conspiracy.
Equally relevant are the events that occurred in Ferguson over the acquittal of the police officer who killed unarmed Michael Brown.
First, there was the announcing of the grand jury’s decision at 9 PM at night. In my nearly 50 years as a journalist I had never heard of such an explosive issue being publicly announced at 9 PM.
Then, there were the fires. For more than a week before the decision was announced, there was constant news reports about extensive preparations by the police and National Guard to prevent any expression of violence. Despite all those precautions, fires were set and allowed to burn. It is entirely possible, and to me probable, that those fires were set off by supporters of the police.
In both New York City and Ferguson press coverage and commentary focused almost exclusively on the chants and the fires, respectively, instead of the police misconduct which led to the deaths of two unarmed Black males.
The chants and fires were huge propaganda gifts for fearmongering haters such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, clever Bill O’Reilly and their cohorts throughout the country.
What all this means is that those who challenge racial and economic injustices must understand clearly that a few hundred or even a few thousand people chanting “No justice, no peace” and “Hands up, don’t shoot,” won’t do it in 2014 and beyond. They must become very knowledgeable about the true devious tactics of the defenders of those status quos and develop strategies to counteract their destructive agenda.
A. Peter Bailey, whose latest book is, Witnessing Brother Malcolm X, the Master Teacher, can be reached This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..