–The place was martiallawville two thousand and one
and everywhere I looked I saw people with guns
standing on the corner in uniforms
full of torture devices for if you stray from the norm
they’ll stop you over here and they’ll stop you over there
they’ll stop you anywhere and they won’t even care
as they shake you down and throw you on the ground
put their foot on you and then kick you around
they’ll punch you and they’ll beat you till you’re almost dead
I couldn’t take it no more and so I said
No Police State. yeah, that’s right, no policy state.
I screamed No Police State. No Police State.
And so, I left the street and then I went to the store
but as I walked through the metal detector
I could not get through because this man at the door
in a uniform called security
with a criminal record worser than you and me
he took my bags and my belongings too
and he said the words we are surveiling you
with plain clothes spies and close circuit cameras
inspection devices and ten way mirrors
and so I started shopping from aisle to aisle
but I could hear them all the while
they murmured, they whispered and then they said
come with us your time is at hand
to be mocked, scourged, tried, tempted and afflicted
and crucified and persecuted in this wilderness
I said to them deliver me I did not do a thing
they said I did and that was it and so I screamed
No Police State. yeah, that’s right, no policy state
I screamed No Police State. No Police State.
And so, I went home and I felt secure
until the evil knocked at my door
it was a legion of men it was an army
and they called themselves the authority
who were concerned for my safety
so they said to me can we see some ID
to use against you as you will see
our king he owns the land and he even owns you
so this is what we’re gonna do
they trashed my place, they tore it upside down
they took everything and then they threw it around
then they wanted to put me under their care
cause it looked like I could not take care of my affairs
so I took no further thought for what I was gonna say
cause they were gonna search and seize me anyway
and so I screamed, No Police State yeah that’s right, no policy state
I screamed No Police State. No Police State.
TWENTY EIGHT YEARS AGO
The environment in NYC, and especially AlphaBet City and surrounding areas, was drastically different. The city had made it clear, its underclasses were to be disowned. Tent Cities had sprung up in local parks. Warehoused and abandoned buildings were siezed and turned into squats by neighborhood residents who had had enough with the empty myth of Upward Mobility and Trickledown Economics. People carved out livings for themselves, however spartan, to a degree and scope that today would be seen as unfathomable.
It was “necessary,” then, for the city to at once save face, and to punish such outright acts of autonomy. And so, after a “mini riot” staged by the NYPD in order to gauge public opinion, the full force of the Men in Blue was let loose on denizens of Tompkins Square Park, who had commited the unforgivable crime of having nowhere else to go, and, by default, on every human being found out past an arbitrary midnight curfew.
The tidal wave of subsequent complaints against the 9th Precinct, who had conscripted personnel from other precincts throughout the city, pale in comparison the the actual bloodshed of that long, hot night. Police on foot, on horseback, and in helicopters descended on the homeless, on visitors to the area, and on those who had just stepped out for some fresh air, Batons were swung, bones were broken, and many were bloodied by individuals who feared no reprisals for their actions, because their badges and identification had been blacked out. Imagine a sea of faceless blue berserkers, issued a simple order to use whatever force deemed necessary to cleanse the late night city streets, and you will only come close to the reality.
The Tompkins Square Park Police Riots were but one in a series of falling dominoes in a process of econimic and cultural whitewashing, which continues, in earnest, to this day. The shortsighted will say, what else is new; neighborhoods always change. But this change is far from organic. When an invading “culture” displaces the life’s blood of a formerly vibrant, inclusive and diverse community, it is nothing short of an act of War.
COME ON DOWN to Tompkins Square Park on August 6th and 7th, and shake hands with the ghosts of those who bled on these streets, and with those who STILL will not be moved.
PERFORMANCES BY
August 6: Saturday (2:00-7:00pm)
> Simon Chardet
> The Coffin Daggers:
> ISM
> Iconicide
> Nihilistics
August 7: Sunday (1:00-6:00pm)
> Jennifer Blowdryer Punk Soul
> Rockaway Bitch
> Love Pirates
> Sewage
> Hammerbrain
Brought to you by The SHADOW, Chris Iconicide, the undying spirit of Uncle Don Yippie and…. THOSE FUCKING ANARCHISTS!!
No Police State 