No Justice, No Damn Peace (Speech during Minneapolis Uprising) by Tamika Mallory

THE BROTHERWISE DISPATCH, VOL.3, ISSUE#10, JUNE-AUGUST/2020

Tamika Mallory is a social justice advocate, political activist and community organizer. Mallory is co-founder of UNTIL FREEDOM, an intersectional social justice organization rooted in the leadership of diverse people of color to address systemic and racial injustice.
No justice, no peace. No justice, no peace. No justice, no peace. No justice, no peace. And if we don’t get no justice, there aint going to be no damn peace. That’s the bottom line.
Let me just start off by saying to you that Black people are in a state of emergency. We are in a state of emergency. Black folks in America. And those who support us need to understand the depth of the state of emergency. And it didn’t just start today, but it is at a critical point. We are at a point where folks grandmothers, all the way down to little babies are tired. People realize that this attack that we are under, I heard someone saying on TV today that it feels like every Black person in America is being hunted. That’s how we feel. And so that state of emergency is causing all types of things.
But out of the White House, last night we heard the President of the United States say that when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Which we know is a reference to another racist time in the history of America where police abused our people. That same president, he is the same man, that in 2018, at one of his speeches, Donald Trump said that he is a nationalist.
Now this is important for people to understand what we are dealing with here. So that you know when we say a state of emergency what we mean. He said he is a nationalist and is you understand the history of white nationalism in America, to have the President say that, we were in a state of emergency at that moment. He also went on at another press conference or another event, to say to police officers, don’t be so nice when you arrest them.
Y’all got to remember the history of the man who is in the White House. He said don’t be so nice to them, hit them in the head when you put them in the car. These were his words as the President of the United States.
This is not an isolated situation. These instances are not isolated. What is happening in America is that white nationalism ideology is running wild. And the reason why buildings are burning, is because this city, this state, would prefer preserving that white nationalism and that white supremacist mind set, over arresting, charging and helping to convict four officers who killed a Black man.
That is the reality of what we are dealing with. This is not just a few cops doing things across the country. This is not a good cop versus bad cop situation. This is Ahmaud Arbery being shot down by white men on the streets of Georgia. Breonna Taylor being killed in her home. This is in New York City where we were, UNTIL FREEDOM, we were just in New York, fighting the police officers who in the name of social distancing were damn near killing Black young people on our streets.
This is a coordinated activity happening across this nation. And so, we are in a state of emergency. Black people are dying in a state of emergency. We cannot look at this as an isolated incident. The reason why buildings are burning are not just for our brother George Floyd. They’re burning down because people here in Minnesota, are saying to people in New York, to people in California, to people in Memphis, to people all across this nation – enough is enough.
And we are not responsible for the mental illness that has been inflicted upon our people by the American government, institutions and those people who are in positions of power. I don’t give a damn if they burn down Target, because Target should be on the streets with us calling for the justice that our people deserve. Where was AutoZone at the time when Philando Castile was shot in a car, which is what they actually represent? Where were they?
So, if you are not coming to the people’s defense, then don’t challenge us when young people and other people who are frustrated and instigated by the people you pay — you are paying instigators to be among our people out there, throwing rocks, breaking windows and burning down buildings. And so young people are responding to that. They are enraged.
And there’s an easy way to stop it: Arrest the cops. Charge the cops. Charge all the cops, not just some of them, not just here in Minneapolis. Charge them in every city across America where our people are being murdered. Charge them everywhere. That’s the bottom line. Charge the cops. Do your job. Do what you say this country is supposed to be about — the land of the free for all. It has not been free for Black people, and we are tired.
Don’t talk to us about looting. Y’all are the looters. America has looted Black people. America looted the Native Americans when they first came here, so looting is what you do. We learned it from you. We learned violence from you. We learned violence from you. The violence was what we learned from you. So, if you want us to do better, then, damn it, you do better.
Transcribed by the Brotherwise Dispatch Editorial Cipher for The Brotherwise Dispatch from Tamika Mallory’s speech given during Stephen Jackson’s presser in Minneapolis, MN on 5-29-20 during the Minneapolis Uprising. Much respect to Trevor Campbell for originally editing together and posting the full speech on his youtube channel.