[Editor’s Note: The Partisan is re-publishing the following statement from the Revolutionary Student Union (RSU) that calls on revolutionaries to stand in solidarity with five activists who are being persecuted by the State and agents of US imperialism for their strong leadership in the struggle for demands among students at the historically Black university (HBCU) North Carolina Central University (NCCU). We stand in solidarity with these comrades, and call on our readers to support them through solidarity actions and spreading awareness locally, as well as by donating to their defense fund which can be found here. Credit to @ITSRAIL_ on Instagram for the photos of the action.]
If you would like to sign on to the RSU statement to support, fill out the Cryptpad form: HERE
The Revolutionary Student Union (RSU) stands in solidarity with students and community members of North Carolina Central University (NCCU), who on Wednesday, April 16th, were met with armed police in response to a public rally. This rally, called by the RSU member organization Student Panthers, was in response to the decaying, unmaintained, and insufficient housing for students on campus.
Several days before the rally, NCCU Vice Chancellor Angela Coleman sent a message threatening legal action and arrests against the organization and students at the university. In order to try and divert students from protesting, the student government organized a counter-event sanctioned by the university. Despite this attempt to co-opt and quell the righteous anger of the masses, the Student Panthers saw over a hundred students, community members, and faculty show out to demand adequate housing conditions.
Before the protest even began, a multi-department law enforcement effort was organized, and police surrounded the location of the protest. During the protest, police brutally tackled, handcuffed, and carried away five people. An NCCU spokesperson claimed that the demonstration was organized and attended by a “significant number of people who are not NCCU students”. Despite the clear attempts to sever students from their community, it’s clear the administration is scrambling to create a false narrative to cover up the fact hundreds of their students are enraged with their ineffectual responses.
Police deemed the rally a “riot”. This demonstrates the real face of NCCU, NCCU Police Department, and Durham County Police Department: that they consider a gathering of young Black students inherently violent. It is clear that white supremacy and national oppression is baked into the core of the UNC system. The 1789 Act, which established the state’s first university, was written almost entirely by slave owners, and Black students were banned from attending most UNC universities until the late 1950s.
This action against students comes during a long series of arrests, deportations, and other repression against mainly immigrant students. Repression against students, especially nationally oppressed, racially discriminated, and immigrant students, is only heightening nationwide. This increasing repression on the students is falling the most heavily on the working class and oppressed masses in the United States, and is part of the intensifying capitalist offensive both here and internationally. This demands organization in support and protection of those most at risk. We at RSU heed this demand seriously, and our comrades in Durham have displayed in an exemplary way what it means to organize the masses around their demands. It is important now more than ever to wage such campaigns of defense.
Rightfully demonstrating for adequate housing and for the demands of the masses is not a crime!
We call on all individuals and organizations to stand in solidarity with RSU and Student Panthers in our demand for NCCU to ensure academic immunity for those arrested, to drop any and all charges, and to heed the call for adequate housing!
DEFEND THE DURHAM 5!
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
Signed by:
Revolutionary Student Union
New Labor – Organizing Committee
People’s Defense Committee
Revolutionary Maoist Coalition
