The Masses Editorial Board is publishing the following eulogy from People’s Defense Northwest Indiana for their neighbor Kenneth Williams Sr. who was murdered by nine agents of the Old State in downtown Gary on Friday, August 28.
In Memory of Kenneth Williams Sr.
Gary, Indiana has weathered many storms. There was the storm of de-industrialization, the closing mills, disappearing jobs, and the disappearance of the circulation of wealth that generations of Gary workers built with their labor.
There was the storm of white flight, segregation, redlining, rezoning, disinvestment, abandoning of homes, neglecting infrastructure, shrinking public resources, and decades of being treated as a city to ostracize as well as punch down upon.
On August 11, severe weather tore through Northwest Indiana and knocked out power to more than 38,000 homes, businesses, schools, and churches in Gary. For most residents, the electricity was out for nearly two weeks. Families lost food. Stores became closed. Residents without cars or money to leave were left sitting in dark homes, confronting the reality of what happens when basic infrastructure is allowed to deteriorate for years. (NIPSCO being the culprit of this neglect)
Then there was the storm after the storm.
It was not rain…. It was not wind … It was not lightning.
The storm after the storm was the 100 bullets that took the life of Kenneth Williams Sr.
Kenneth Williams Sr. was 67 years old. He was working as a security guard near Gary’s transit center when he was approached by police which ended with him being shot and killed by 9 cops from both Lake County and Gary PD on August 28. Reports are saying that there was near 100 shots fired. His family is demanding answers. The circumstances surrounding his death demand scrutiny, transparency, and accountability. We refuse to treat this as an isolated tragedy. The people of Gary have been asked to survive one crisis after another. And now are expected to simply survive the loss of another Black man at the hands of armed state officers.
Gary’s suffering did not begin with the August storm, and it did not end when the power came back on.
The storm exposed what has been underneath the surface for decades: infrastructure that has been allowed to deteriorate, communities that have been economically abandoned, and working people who are expected to endure the consequences while corporations, politicians, and institutions point fingers at one another.
On September 3rd, We stood outside of the Gary Police Department on Polk Street. Standing in unity with Kenneth Williams Srs family, Black Lives Matter Grassroots, and members of the community.
We spoke our demands, while the Mayor never showed up, while cops walked past snickering or completely ignoring us. The lack of humanity from them spoke loudly. Their alliance to the police brotherhood over basic human decency. Though those badges said Gary on them, the message was clear. They do not stand on the side of the beautiful people of Gary Indiana. They stand on the side of decades of Storms and oppression. They stand on the side of racism and violence.
This is why People’s Defense Committee NWI stands with the people of Gary, and oppose the violent domestic occupying military of racist capitalism. Which is commonly called the police.
We stand with the family of Kenneth Williams Sr.
We demand a full, independent, and transparent investigation into his murder.
We demand accountability for every officer whose actions contributed to his killing.
We demand that the public receive the evidence necessary to understand what happened, not carefully managed narratives designed to close the book before the community has even been heard.
Let’s be clear, we don’t expect the pig to do anything but oink.
What we expect is the people of Gary to do is realize with their own observations and participation, that this decedent racist capitalist system is designed to serve and protect profits, private property and institutions that help reproduce said system. The people of Gary will realize that how no matter who you elect as mayor or Sheriff. This system does not represent their interests.
The people deserve the truth. And they deserve to have a voice in what happens to their neighborhoods.
We reject the idea that Gary is simply a forgotten city waiting for somebody else to come along and “save” it.
Gary is a community of loving families built by working people.
Not violent “ erratic “ animals that need to be tamed by police and surveillance.
Its steelworkers, laborers, families, Black migrants, immigrants, women, and generations of residents within this city that built this city while corporations took access to the means of production away and sent it overseas.
Now they are pushing vagrancy laws, gentrification and new developments to isolate the people whom endured the hardships that caused in Gary so they can over police them and funnel in new money to carve out real estate for wealthy doctors that want to live on Lake Michigan and have an easy drive to Chicago. Perhaps a Bears NFL stadium up the street so they can flip all the houses people are going to lose into AirBNBs
It’s no surprise that they are amping up on police aggression and it will not stop at the murder of Kennith Williams Sr.
This gives us more reason to Organize, resist, and create avenues to protect ourselves.
In conclusion:
As we are still recovering from the storm of August 11th …
We must realize that the real storm is this entire socio-economic political system.
The murder of Kenneth Williams Sr is a by-product of that system.
We mourn Kenneth Williams Sr.
We stand with his family.
We stand with the people of Gary.
And we say clearly:
We aren’t Powerless, the Power is in the people!
Enough is enough! Fists up!
Fight Back!
People’s Defense NWI
In solidarity with the family of Kenneth Williams Sr. and the people of Gary, Indiana.
