Richmond, VA: Banner Drop In Memory of Marcus-David Peters

The following report and photo was sent anonymously to It’s Going Down.

During the morning rush hour of May 24th, we dropped a banner reading “Marcus-David Peters/Fuck 12” over the 195 Downtown Expressway.

This is a gesture of solidarity, a gesture of sorrow. A small and ultimately inadequate gesture in a world that continues to murder black people, “mentally ill” people, and others who are deemed undesirable by the current social order.

Our message is clear: the minute that the state and their henchmen, the police, find you inconvenient, you deserve a cage or death. In this reality, it is almost impossible to not feel overwhelmed, desperate, and at a loss as to how any of us could possibly find a way out of this hell.

Nonetheless, there are those of us who want to try.

A singular gesture such as this can appear too small to matter, but we also know that small gestures together make movement, and even small acts can unexpectedly resonate in ways we could have never predicted. With this message, we hope to speak to different folks in different ways.

To the Peters Family and others who cared for Marcus:

We are so fucking sorry. We sat in sorrow, disgust and rage as we first began to hear the reports as things were unfolding. In addition to the obvious, it is disturbing to us that we may have known about what happened to your loved one before you ever did; apparently the cops saw fit to lead you to believe that Marcus had just been in a car accident when you were initially contacted about his condition in the ICU. Undoubtedly, this was an intentional move by the Richmond Police  Department, to jump on top of the media narrative before you even had a chance to respond. At the very least, we want to keep Marcus’s name in our memory, and never forget what happened to him. Our hearts yearn for a better world than this.

To the Richmond Police Department, Chief Durham, Levar Stoney, and the rest of those in power who scramble to make excuses:

We are watching. We remember Marcus’s name. We want to make sure you can’t forget either. This city is alarmingly adept at keeping its social ills out of sight, we’ll grant you that. But there is something brewing in the River City. You got a taste of it when people from all over the city came together to shut down the racist, gentrifier dream project of the Shockoe Stadium. You got a taste of it when VCU’s hands were finally forced to release the historic African Burial Ground, where  the slave rebel Gabriel was hung. There are some people here who have always known who you really are, but our numbers are growing each and every day. The world you maintain is crumbling, and of this we are certain.

To the many people and communities of Richmond:

Some of you know this all too well, and don’t need to be told shit. Some of you are in the dark about the true nature of the former capitol of the Confederacy. Some of you deliberately choose to ignore it, because breweries, condos, art walks, and fancy coffee shops are the Richmond you’ve always known and wanted. The Richmond you call “RVA”.

We are speaking to those who’ve known, and those in shock until now because they didn’t know. The police are the guard dogs of the gentrifying class that wants to see this city ethnically and culturally cleansed of everything that once made it unique and truly beautiful to live in. If these words speak to you in any way, do something about it. Some of you know better than us what needs to be done. Gather friends and act. Speak the names of others who have suffered at the hands of the Richmond Police Department. Or the VCU Police. Or the Virginia State Police. Those who have suffered, and even died, inside of Richmond’s jail and youth detention center. These institutions that repeatedly set people up for failure, and reap the benefits. Lets chart paths to better worlds

together, and never forget the name Marcus-David Peters.

– a few of us who want out of hell.