Report Back from Rally in Solidarity with Tortuguita and Tyre Nichols in So-Called Flagstaff, AZ

Report back on solidarity rally with Tortuguita and the movement to stop Cop City in so-called Flagstaff, Arizona. Originally posted to Indigenous Action.

Queer Indigenous femmes held down the Bank of America and surrounding downtown area in solidarity with @defendatlantaforest and @stopcopcity to avenge the murder of Tort and Tyre Nichols by the hands of the police.

Cars drove by blasting Fuck tha Police by N.W.A. The two bootlickers demonstrators encountered were quick to be protected by the cops but the pounding of hand drums and song were fiercely used to remind them who’s streets and who’s land they’re on.

Banners and signs spoke to the current issue of the ongoing legacy of Black and Indigenous genocide, “From Kinlani, Weelaunee Forest, to Tennessee, smash to colonial police state! Avenge Tortuguita. Avenge Tyre,” and “Stolen People, Stolen Land. Black and Native Solidarity.”

The ongoing genocide of Indigenous Peoples is evident in Flagstaff as at least one man died (that we know of) from exposure last week. Meanwhile, local police were recently involved in a supposed effort to identify victims of trafficking by coercing the supposed victims into giving them hand jobs…over 10 of them. The Flagstaff police chief told the media that, actually, these police officers were victims! “As soon as I got aroused, that’s when I immediately started asking about the money and how much.” Sure sounds like a victim to us!

“Flagstaff” has a 60% higher rate of police killings than the rest of the country. The presence of police in the town of about 80,000 specifically target Indigenous people and especially unsheltered Indigenous relatives, making it one of the meanest in the country to unsheltered people.

How many more Tyre Nicols or Tortuguitas will we tolerate until we burn their precincts, jails, prisons, and courts to the ground?

No amount of reform or “bad apples being held accountable” will stop police from murdering us in the streets or in the forests.

photos via Indigenous Action