revolutionary action movement (ram) - Michael Schwartz Library

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These interviews give an indication of the
intensity of struggle occurring
during the late 60's . The mood of black people shifted in the mid-
60's .
The mood of blacks became one of aggression as they watched their
brothers and sisters in the south being attacked by dogs and
police at non-violent demonstrations . Blacks perceived the
police as an occupational army whose purpose was not to protect
them, but to protect the property of white merchants, regardless
of the cost to our black people . This mood or consciousness of
the blacks was catalyst in setting off the outbreaks in the
northern cities in 1967 . 39
The assassination of Dr . Martin Luther King, which occurred in 1968,
brought a new wave of urban rebellions . Black people were angry . More
than 110 cities went up in flames as blacks struck back in retaliation .
The army was on alert and the country was in crisis . But the Black Liberation
Movement was on the defensive as right wing forces began an open
assault .
At this time, most of the rebellions took place in the southern cities .
Mao Tse Tung, chairmen of
the Communist Party of China, issued a statement
in regards to the assassination of Dr . Martin Luther King .
Some days agao, Martin Luther, the Afro-American Clergyman, was
suddenly assassinated by the U .S . Imperialist . Martin Luther
King was an exponent of non-violence . Nevertheless, the U .S .
Imperialist did not on that account show any tolerance towards
him, but used counter-revolutionary violence and killed him
in cold blood This has taught the broad masses of the black
people in the United States a profound lesson . It touched off
a new storm in their struggle against violent repression sweeping
well over a hundred cities in the United States, a storm
such as this has never taken place before in the history of that
country . It shows that an extremely powerful revolutionar force
is latent in the more than twenty million black Americans . 0
39Robert T . Ernest and Lawrence Hugg, Black America-Geographic Perspectives,
Anchor Press, 1976 .
40 Mao Tse Tung, Aril 16, 1968 Statement in Su ort of the Afro-American
Strug_gle (Peking : Foreign Languages Press, 1968), p . 1 .