Olympia, WA: March in Solidarity with Milwaukee Uprising

Submitted to It’s Going Down 

On Sunday night, anarchists in Olympia marched in solidarity with rioters and rebels in Milwaukee. After Sylville Smith was gunned down by the police in Milwaukee on Saturday, residents rose up and fought the police, burning down buildings and destroying police cruisers. We are saddened that another person lost his life to the police and white supremacy, but we are also inspired by the response in Milwaukee. We took to the streets to amplify their struggle, to make sure that the names of those murdered by the police are heard by all, and to remind Olympia that the struggle against the police is ongoing and everywhere.

A crowd of around forty took to the streets just before 11 PM, chanting “All Cops Are Bastards! ACAB!” People handed out spray paint, wheat-paste, and posters, and soon 4th Avenue was covered in posters declaring “War Against the Racist Police State” and anti-police graffiti. Many onlookers joined the march, and many more were supportive and appreciative. We marched up and down 4th Ave covering walls, windows, and poles with our messages of rebellion and resistance. People took advantage of the opportunity to sabotage parking meters as well, and covered the new condo on 4th with graffiti and wheat-paste. The parking meters, new condos, and downtown development are all part of an attempt to gentrify downtown and to exclude houseless people and other “undesirables” so that yuppies feel safe shopping. We hope the vandalism makes them feel a little less safe, and we hope some people get free parking tomorrow.

The cop shop also got a visit and a makeover, with some cracked windows and a new paint job. We expect that some pigs will be demoralized tomorrow when they show up for work and see our hatred writ large across their walls.

The march continued for about 30 minutes, complete with flares, roman candles, and mortars, and then everyone safely dispersed into surrounding alleys downtown. By the time the police mobilized a response everyone had disappeared, leaving behind a downtown covered with paint and posters. We hope this small gesture warms hearts in Milwaukee, and that rebels there and elsewhere know that they aren’t alone. We also hope that others in the Northwest and across the country take actions against the police on their own terms. The police are not omnipotent, and they are not an indivisible force; they have names and addresses, cars and offices, fueling stations and warehouses. It only takes a friend and a plan to put up some posters or to slash some tires, and for each cruiser that can’t drive that’s one less cop on the streets waiting to harass, arrest, beat, or kill someone.

As the quartersheet handed out to bystanders proposed:

“When the police kill, let us turn the cities into burial pyres for the dead.”

REST IN POWER, SYLVILLE SMITH.

FUCK THE POLICE, FROM OLY TO MKE.

-a few uncontrollables