On December 9, 2021, Denzel Draughn, an organizer with the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement in San Diego, California was found not guilty on all charges after a highly-profiled case of resistance to police terror.
Denzel faced eight felonies, two counts of pepper spraying a group of San Diego cops and six counts of preventing an arrest. Denzel faced as many as 11 years in prison and had been originally charged with almost 20 felonies. Denzel had testified that his actions were in defense of the protestors who had been brutalized by the San Diego Police Department, and the jury agreed in their unanimous decision.
With similar cases in the docket against organizers in San Diego, and around the United States, the case versus Denzel Draughn had important legal implications. The jury's acquittal represents the shaky foundation of colonial-capitalism, and the willingness of many to break with the culture of violence. The aggressiveness of the San Diego DA represents a hunkering down of the colonial state. We can see similar measures in Florida where Governor Rick DeSantis's House Bill 1 has attempted to criminalize protest with the possibility of up to 15 years in prison.
In this episode, we talk with Denzel Draughn and his partner Parrish Davis about their victory in court as well as the way forward. Denzel and Parrish are both organizers with the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement in San Diego, California. They have participated in many programs and campaigns in San Diego including the Black Power at the Border Working Group that brought material resources and political education to African migrants across the colonial border in Tijuana Mexico, the Uhuru Shule Virtual Freedom School for children during the Covid shutdown, and Beta Selam Academy. They are currently developing the Black Community Control of the Police Working Group in San Diego.
Black Power Talks is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Dexter Mlimwengu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #48: “Judas and the Black Messiah”, COINTELPRO and African martyrs, part2
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #47: "Judas and the Black Messiah", COINTELPRO and African martyrs, part 1
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #46: "How the streets were made", interview with Yelena Bailey
The People's War Radio show, Episode #45: African women organizing collective childcare and resisting the colonial state
The People's War radio show; Episode #44: African workers of the world unite and organize.
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #43: All eyes on Louisiana, Justice for Reverend Errol Victor
The People's War Radio Show, Episode#42: 60th anniversary of the assassination Congo's Patrice Lumumba
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #41: Celebrate Haitian Independence Day, Vive Ayiti!
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #40: 2020 year in review with Chairman Omali Yeshitela
The People's War radio show, Episode #39: Sinterklass & Zwarte Piet, Jim Crow minstrels, black face and falling statues
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #38: FBI war on today's black activists
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #37: 50 shots fired, 38 pierced the body of another black man killed by police in St. Petersburg, Florida
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #36: Give us the land! Hands off the Bethesda African Cemetery!
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #35: The "white people's State"- pilgrims, proud boys, police
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #34: Culture, the "war of ideas" and the Black Power movement
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #33: Philadelphia - democracy for who?
The People's War radio show, Episode #32: Land, water, police violence and Black Power in the French West Indies
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #31: #EndSARS: Necolonialism vs. a united socialist Africa
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #30: Video gaming, black representation and capitalist exploitation
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #29: Breonna Taylor, Mike Brown and the role of the grand jury in protecting the police
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free