Above photo: WUSA 9.
Let’s bring Washington, DC to a grinding halt on June 19th—Juneteenth, the annual celebration of the end of slavery in the United States.
We are calling for disruptive actions aimed at shutting down the city: Strikes, sick-outs, blockades, occupations, and spontaneous marches.
We’ve watched a wave of grieving and rebellion take hold of the nation, and we say it’s about time. We seek justice for Terrence Sterling, Jeffery Price, D’Quann Young, Marquees Alston, Miriam Carey, and Ralphael Briscoe, as well as the many hundreds of Black people who have been killed by MPD, ICE, or other white men with badges and guns.
We remember families separated by prison walls and by state borders. We mourn all the community members we’ve lost doing sex work, defending sacred land, crossing borders, and the rebels we’ve already lost from the Ferguson uprising.
For four months, we’ve seen Black, Brown, Indigenous, trans, and working-class people sacrifice their lives as essential workers while the wealthy remain safely indoors.
Breonna Taylor, a Black emergency medical technician, was killed when the police raided her apartment in Louisville, Ky. Her status as a front-line medical worker did not protect her—just as Amazon does not protect their warehouse workers from COVID-19.
Police arrested thousands during the pandemic, potentially exposing them to COVID-19 while activists risked their lives to make sure people had enough resources to stay home. Police have access to military grade weapons while doctors still use garbage bags as personal shielding against Covid-19.
We have to put an end to capitalism, white supremacy, and the belief that any person’s life or labor is expendable.
We Shut Things Down On June 19th.
If you’re in DC:
1. Organize a protest on June 19th, email us at strikeforblacklives@riseup.net.
Have your crew, friends, or family organize a demo during the day. Send us a Facebook event and graphic and we will help you get people there.
In the early morning, we ask you to organize with your friends to shut down the basic elements of the city. Join a protest, organize direct action, sick out of work, and skip class. Shut down high traffic intersections, block highway onramps, and police stations.
From 5 pm onwards, we will converge from our neighborhoods into downtown. Note: we are only promoting actions that center the demands of BLM DC.
2. If you own a business pay your workers, put up a Black Lives Matter poster, shut down from 9am – 7pm and let us know. We need everyone to show their solidarity and be in the streets that day.
3. If you’re unable to protest, bring people water, support your friends in the streets that day, support anyone at the jails, and donate to the movement.
If you’re outside of DC:
1. Organize a solidarity Demo
2. Blockade a highway, metro station, or commuter rail.
3. Occupy a police precinct
4. Disrupt a gentrifying space
If you’re outside the United States:
Organize a demonstration at the embassy, military base, or consulate.
Signed,
Black Lives Matter DC
Black Lives Matter Lousiville, KY
Anarchist Agency
Burgerville Workers Union
CISPES DC
Crew Joe’s Union
Crimethinc
DC Freedom Fighters
Philly Drivers Union
PNW Youth Liberation Front
Sunrise Movement DC
Sanctuary DMV
Shipt Shoppers
Shut Down DC
Whole Worker