Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Detroit Police Put BLM Leader in a Chokehold, Call It a “Two-Hand Restraint”

The Detroit Police put protest leader Nakia Wallace in a chokehold. They are now calling it a “two-hand restraint.” This whitewashing is part of a broader attack on the movement in Detroit. 

Tristan Taylor

December 7, 2020
Facebook Twitter Share
Image: Adam Dewey

In a widely circulated tweet, Nakia Wallace, a co-founder and organizer of Detroit Will Breathe (DWB), called out the latest attempt of the Detroit Police Department’s (DPD) to whitewash their brutalization of protestors. They placed her in a chokehold.

Nakia was doing an interview about the City of Detroit filing a countersuit against protestors — a suit the ACLU said is an attempt to suppress free speech — and learned that the DPD claims that the image of her in a chokehold was not a chokehold, but a “two-hand restraint” used by a DPD officer who “slipped.” Nakia pointed not only out how ridiculous DPD’s claims are, but also that their attacks on protesters express exactly “how much they value Black life.”

To make matters worse, Mayor Duggan’s Corporation Counsel, the lawyer who represents the City of Detroit, is “requesting $200,000 dollars in taxpayer money … to further punish us for exercising our constitutional right to protest,” Nakia tweeted. DWB activists mobilized and gave public comment during the last session of City Council on November 23 to speak out against the countersuit against protestors, demanding that City Council reject the $200,000 request for the countersuit. So far, the Internal Operations Committee for Detroit City Council declined to vote on the contract as the result of opposition from activists and City Councilmember Raquel Castañeda-López.

Nakia’s tweet has been retweeted over 85,000 times, and has elicited condemnation of the police as well as the reaffirmation of the demand to Defund the Police. Even Democratic Party member Rashida Talib retweeted Nakia’s statement, saying, “[w]hile folks are worried about slogans, this government-funded abuse and violence goes unchecked.” One person tweeted, “Hey @BarackObama what ‘slogan’ do you think is needed to fix this?” Another person simply tweeted, “See… hell naw. Defund them bitches.” This is not only an expression of the movement’s massive support and defense of its principle demand, but a rebuke of the Democratic Party’s attempt to silence the militancy of the movement. Nakia herself tweeted that “we must fight for justice, we must take our freedom. It will not be given to us, we won’t negotiate it with the lesser of two evils, no saviors here.”

DWB, like other organizations that have led demonstrations against police brutality since this summer, has been constantly attacked by various police departments (including federal agencies), centrist Democratic Party politicians, and “community” misleaders who have ties with the police and the Democratic Party. DWB has ensured that efforts to defend the movement against attacks are utilized as opportunities to continue to mobilize and call out the hypocritical, racist, and oppressive practices of the police and the capitalist system as a whole. An important step for the movement will be the construction of a grassroots, politically independent, national organization that allows for more coordination and connection between the various local movements. If the movement is to succeed, it has to be just as coordinated between the different organizations and geographical locations as the police departments and politicians are.

Indeed, this lack of national organization is one of the greatest weaknesses of the BLM movement to date as it limits the movement’s ability to share experiences and have genuine, serious conversations about the most pressing issues facing the movement. Left Voice seeks to be that space for the revolutionary and radical Left, and asks for readers engaged in the BLM struggle to share their stories and experiences participating in the movement.

Ultimately, the experience of the BLM movement speaks to the need for an independent political party of and for the workers and the specially oppressed (marginalized communities like women, LGBTQ and non-binary folx, immigrants, BIPOC folx, etc). This political party does not have to merely revolve around elections, especially because it would be a political party that recognizes that change comes from the struggles in workplaces and in the streets.

An example of such a party is the PTS of Argentina. They fight in offices, in the streets, within unions, and throughout social movements as an alternative to corporate and career politicians, union bureaucrats that have to protect the interests of the management, and misleaders of social movements. Of course, any revolutionary party in the United States will have to reflect the particular conditions and burning social and political questions we face, but our connection to international organizations and the international struggle will be key for this task to be done dynamically and successfully.

Facebook Twitter Share

United States

What “The Daily” Gets Right and Wrong about Oregon’s Move to Recriminalize Drugs

A doctor at an overdose-prevention center responds to The Daily, a podcast produced by the New York Times, on the recriminalization of drugs in Oregon. What are the true causes of the addiction crisis, and how can we solve it?

Mike Pappas

March 22, 2024
Former president Donald Trump standing at a podium in front of American flags.

To Stop Trump, We Need Much More Democracy, Not Less

Democrats have been trying to kick Trump off the ballot as an "insurrectionist." Liberals say we have to restrict democracy in order to save it. As socialists, we think they have it backwards: to beat the Far Right, we need a mass movement fighting for radical democracy.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 18, 2024

New Jersey Democrats Attack the Public’s Right to Government Records

The New Jersey state assembly, led by the Democratic Party, just tried to fast-track a bill that would have gutted the Open Public Records Act. This is a reminder that their party is an obstacle, not an ally, in the fight to preserve democracy.

Samuel Karlin

March 15, 2024
President Biden giving his State of the Union speech at a podium in March, 2024.

Biden’s State of the Union: Hyper-Nationalism and Eroding Legitimacy

President Biden’s hyper-nationalistic State of the Union speech focused on selling himself as a defender of democracy at home and abroad. But it’s not enough to solve his — and the whole U.S. regime’s — crisis of legitimacy.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

March 14, 2024

MOST RECENT

A square in Argentina is full of protesters holding red banners

48 Years After the Military Coup, Tens of Thousands in Argentina Take to the Streets Against Denialism and the Far Right

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Argentina on March 24 to demand justice for the victims of the state and the military dictatorship of 1976. This year, the annual march had renewed significance, defying the far-right government’s denialism and attacks against the working class and poor.

Madeleine Freeman

March 25, 2024

The Convulsive Interregnum of the International Situation

The capitalist world is in a "permacrisis" — a prolonged period of instability which may lead to catastrophic events. The ongoing struggles for hegemony could lead to open military conflicts.

Claudia Cinatti

March 22, 2024

Berlin’s Mayor Loves Antisemites

Kai Wegner denounces the “antisemitism” of left-wing Jews — while he embraces the most high-profile antisemitic conspiracy theorist in the world.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 22, 2024

Lord Balfour Was an Imperialist Warmonger 

We should give our full solidarity to the Palestine Action comrade who defaced a portrait of Arthur Balfour at Cambridge University. But the problem for everyone who opposes the genocide against Gaza is how to massify and politically equip the movement.

Daniel Nath

March 21, 2024