FERGUSON MISSOURI

We know that we live in a world inhuman in its poverty. We know that we are a colony, living under community imperialism. The U.S. that we see is not one of freedom, beauty, and wisdom, but of fear, terror, and hate. This is a nation of your laws, run by your police, and based on protecting your economic strength. 

                                     ——Afeni Shakur | Letter from Prison (Rat, 7-20 January 1970)

The politics in our communities are controlled from outside, the economics of our communities are controlled from outside, and we ourselves are controlled by the racist police who come into our communities from outside and occupy them, patrolling, terrorizing, and brutalizing our people like a foreign army in a conquered land. 

                                      ——Black Panther Leaflet (Brooklyn, c. 1969)