Uhuru Video

A march and vigil was held for Lovelle Mixon on March 26, 2009.

The International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) calls on all progressive-minded people to stand against the brutal, long-standing, publicly-supported policies of police containment that keep the African community under the grip of a colonial occupation for which the Oakland Police Department (OPD) is the front line of assault.

We call for support for the African community demands for genuine economic development and social justice for the African community.

The deaths of four members of the OPD on March 21, 2009, were the result of these relentless policies, which are manifested daily in the cold-blooded police murders, brutality and harassment of African men and women, youth and elderly by the heavily armed, military style Oakland police force;

In draconian laws such as Three Strikes that discriminatorily lock up tens of thousands of African people for life in the multi-billion dollar California prison industry;

In the hostile, substandard education system that profiles African male children as young as six years old as criminals and super-predators, and feeds the shameful juvenile prison industry that violates every principle of international law;

In the highly-documented government-imposed illegal drug trade which is often the only last-ditch source of employment in a community whose own economic infrastructure has been destroyed by urban renewal and gentrification;

In the specific targeting of African homeowners for predatory subprime mortgages, thousands of which are now in foreclosure;

In the cruel foster care system that turns African babies and children, victimized by this system, into profitable commodities for the lucrative white foster-care industry.

It was the historic brutality of the Oakland Police Department that gave rise to the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in the 1960s.

We have to demand a policy of genuine economic development for the African community—development that truly benefits and uplifts the deeply impoverished African working class of this city, and is not just another cover for gentrification and dispersal of the oppressed.

We appreciate your continued support of the Uhuru Movement and urge you to take an active stand in transforming Oakland into a model city of shared prosperity and true social justice.

Come to African Liberation Day 2009 in Washington, DC to join in the international struggle to liberate and unite Africa and her dispersed people.