It was a Rebellion, not a Riot

Don’t let images of burning police cars fool you – there was no riot in Toronto during the G20 banker’s summit last weekend. The majority of the 10,000 or so people who filled the streets were peaceful, despite consistent provocation by police.

Those looking for a riot should attend an NHL playoff game in Montreal, where apparently you can smash and loot with reckless abandon, and not get arrested.

Rather than deal with a few hooligans bent on vandalism and destruction, the police at the Toronto G20 Summit sat by and watched as windows were smashed and police cruisers (which were deliberately abandoned and left in the path of the march) were set ablaze. This gave the police (and their political task-masters) the pretext they needed to shutdown all dissent for the rest of the weekend – and that is precisely what they tried to do.

In the largest mass arrest in Canadian history, more than 1,000 people were rounded up, largely for “Breach of Peace” for doing nothing more than being on the streets of Toronto. Most were released without further charges, but having been processed by the Integrated Security Unit (ISU), these people are now marked by the state as trouble makers. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), Toronto Police Services (TPS), the military, and god knows who else, now know who these people are. Innocence of actual crimes no longer matters. If you have ever been detained at the border, you know where I am going with this: Have you ever been arrested?

Despite the suspension of civil liberties, threats, tear gas, plastic bullets, smoke bombs, sound cannons, pepper spray, tasers, beatings, and lengthy detentions in crowded, ill-equipped, and poorly organized facilities, people continued to pour into the streets demanding justice. Many of these were not traditional protestors, but people who came out to voice their opposition to the police repression they saw on TV – like the crowd that gathered at Queen and Spadina, now famous for being arrested for singing the national anthem.

Several media were rounded up in mass arrests or else were prevented from covering police brutality during the summit. Steve Paikin, a well-known journalist for TV Ontario (TVO) exclaimed, “I saw police brutality tonight. It was unnecessary.” The police “asked me to leave the site or they would arrest me. I told them I was dong my job.”

While the rest of the world goes back about its business, Torontonians are coming together to fight this trial run of a police state, calling for an inquiry, with some calling for the resignation of Toronto Police Chief, Bill Blair. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has received so many complaints that they are considering a class action lawsuit against the police.

What Torontonians (and people everywhere) need is some serious community-building activities. The forces of oppression rely heavily upon divide and conquer techniques to keep the masses under control. As Jello Biafra once put it, “Questions are the number one enemy of progress.” Progress of course, being narrowly defined by the powers that rule over us and make decisions that affect our lives without ever consulting us in a genuine or meaningful way. Our “hearts and minds” are managed by thought control techniques, and when those fail, a show of force is necessary.

But the people are not as dumb as some of our contemptuous leaders would like to believe. We cannot all be fooled all the time. Some of us know that the banking “reforms” of the G20 are not about true progress, but about keeping the global banking order alive.

Turn, turn any corner.
Hear, you must hear what the people say.
You know there’s something that’s goin’ on around here,
that surely, surely, surely won’t stand the light of day.

Speak out, you got to speak out against the madness,
you got to speak your mind, if you dare.
But don’t no don’t now try to get yourself elected
If you do you had better cut your hair.

Milton Friedman’s neoliberal policies of “moneterism” (which led to the privatization of money creation, and thus the privatization of social services) in America in the 1970s created the base upon which the globalization of the 1990s was built. The economic crisis that started in 2007 is merely a continuance of this path and the recent G20 Summit in Toronto was organized to further this agenda – to rescue the corrupt global banking system (much like it was rescued the regulatory reforms during the 1930s), so that it can continue to rule over us. The people who came into the streets were part of a rebellion, not a riot. They came out to demonstrate against a monetary system which is destroying the real economy and the planet itself. This form of entropy is leading us to ruin.

Thinking about all of this reminded me that I had put together a post on the story of The Watts Prophets back in February, but I never got around to publishing it – so here it is.

The Watts Prophets – When The 90’s Came

Back in February, while picking up some groceries during a snow storm, I decided to catch up on what was happening in the world by tuning in to CBC radio dispatches on 25 February 2010. L.A. correspondent Jennifer Westaway was interviewing Emily Weir and Margaret Williams, two elderly women from Jordan Downs—a Watts housing project which is part of the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, California.

Although being poor themselves, these two women started a community program to provide financial aid to students back in the 1960s. It was nothing much really, just a small monthly cheque to help them get by. But every little bit helps. More importantly, it helps to know that even the poorest in your community are there standing behind you, with you, to help you succeed.

The people of South Central know plenty about the struggle to build and maintain community in an often cold and indifferent world. In the aftermath of the Watts Rebellion of 1965, many businesses fled the area, and economic investment fell to an all-time low. Many who had the opportunity to leave did just that, but others, determined to make Watts and South Central into a better place, persevered.

The Watts Prophets remember Watts. They lived through the worst of the oppression, violence and the 1965 rebellion that turned so ugly. When these progenitors of west coast hip-hop got their start with Budd Schulberg (Academy Award-wining screenwriter for On the Waterfront) and his Watts Writer’s Workshop back in 1965, Watts had already birthed several jazz legends out of the small clubs and theatres along Central Avenue, including Ornette Coleman, Charlie Mingus, and Don Cherry.

Their name came from an inspired fan who – after a performance of one of their poems at a local talent show – shouted, “They must be the Watts Prophets!” As told in the biography by Steve Huey, “They won second place in an inner-city talent show, which led to a residency at John Daniels’ Maverick’s Flat club in South Central L.A.; they also performed at fundraisers, in prisons, and around their community whenever possible. In 1969, Watts Prophets debuted with The Black Voices: On the Streets in Watts. Two years later, the group released Rappin’ Black in a White World on ALA, with lyrics and vocals provided by former Motown songwriter Dee Dee McNeil.”

In their own words, The Watts Prophets said, “Things that we said on Rappin’ Black frightened a lot of people. We were regarded as militants. Song titles like ‘There’s a Difference Between a Black Man and a Nigger’ and ‘I’ll Stop Calling You Nigger When You Start Acting Like a Black Man’ even put off members of the African-American community. In the early ’70s, when President Kennedy was lauded as a saint, the Prophets mocked one of his most famous speeches on Rappin’ Black by announcing: ‘Ask not what you can do for your country, ’cause what the fuck has it done for you?’

“As one club owner put it ‘You guys are going to make a lot of money. But not in this club.’ Such was the mixture of praise and rejection that would come to characterize the group’s career. Excitement from record companies and near-recording contracts spiraled into missed opportunities, most notably a deal with Bob Marley’s Tuff Gong label; Marley died before the scheduled recording.”

The Watts Prophets believed that the government was behind their demise – something that was given credence when Darthard Perry, the resident videographer for the Watts Writers Workshop, admitted his work as an FBI informant in a Mother Jones article.

When the police who beat Rodney King were acquitted in 1992, violence erupted in Watts again, and South Central Los Angeles started to look hopeless once more.

A group of urban gardeners came together to help heal South Central by creating a fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda – the largest of its kind in the United States. Organizers saw this as a way to bring productivity and joy to one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community. For 14 years these people toiled to build their green miracle, until a back room political deal sent in the bulldozers in 2006. Even with their gardens destroyed, the South Central Farmers are more determined than ever. Check out the documentary film: The Garden to learn more on this ongoing saga.

It’s been a year since the L.A. Times announced: L.A. officials envision revitalization for Jordan Downs housing project in Watts. Is this just more gentrification, or real hope for the poor people of South Central? Only time will tell.

The rise of hip-hop in the 1990s led to a resurgence of African-American poetics and The Watts Prophets were rediscovered. When the 90s Came was released on Payday records in 1997.

Track Listing:

1) When The ’90s Came – 3:41
2) Hey, World – 5:22
3) The Law/Doin’ Every Day The Hard Way – 4:33
4) Me Today, You Tomorrow – 4:10
5) Everybody Watches – 4:23
6) Breed What You Need – 4:53
7) Trippin’ – 3:57
Searchin’ – 4:36
9) Nothin’ New – 4:36
10) I Remember Watts – 4:26
11) Family Nest – 3:42
12) Free Geronimo – 0:43
13) Public Enemy Number One – 4:06
14) I’ll Stop Callin’ You Niggaz – 1:10
15) While Growing Up – 2:23
16) Freedom Flame – 2:35
17) Hungry For Your Love – 4:07
18) In Pain I View – 1:40
19) Vanity – 4:01
20) When The ’90s Came (A Cappella) – 2:57

The Watts Prophets are Richard Dedeux, Amde Hamilton and Otis O’Solomon.

Amde Anthony Hamilton

Upon joining the Watts Writer’s Worshop under Budd Schulberg (What Makes Sammy Run, Oscar for On The Waterfront), Mr. Hamilton entered into a new phase in his life and emerged as one of The Watts Prophets. Success was fleeting and more emotionally satisfying than financially remunerative. After the first flush, Mr. Hamilton spent a year teaching poetry at San Francisco State, but quickly came back to his roots in Watts doing social work with the Brotherhood Crusade, then in various capacities in numerous programs – e.g., Coodinator of special programs at Drew Postgraduate Medical School, Associate Director of Black Commission on Alcoholism, then as president of Classic Cut (contractors) and as a youth counselor.

Otis O’Solomon

Mr. O’Solomon, too, became one of The Watts Prophets after the Watts Writer’s Worshop. Once the initial success had passed Mr. O’Solomon embarked on a career in the arts, editing and designing a book of original poetry from The Watts Prophets work and other poets, writing for the Los Angeles Times, producing poetry exhibitions and contests under the banner of his company, Artistic Heart; and presenting programs on Black History for Xerox, TRW, Rockwell, and Hughes Aircraft. He wrote the commentary material for song books on Quincy Jones, Marvin Hamlisch, Cannonball Adderly, and worked in television, film and the music world.

Richard Anthony Dedeaux

After first few years as one of The Watts Prophets, Mr. Dedeaux started working as a free lance producer for KCET, KNBC and other stations. He had a stint as a Creative Writing Instructor for the Los Angeles City Schools, the Mafundi Institute in Watts, and at the Pasadena Community Center. He has acted with the Irish Repertoire Theater and other organizations and toured the country reading poetry, and appearing opposite Richard Pryor, Marvin Gaye, Minnie Riperton, Stevie Wonder.