The Iowa City Police Department attacked the people it is sworn to protect and serve. People were gassed and flashbanged. Videos were recorded and uploaded. Social media lit up.

Some online reactions used the word “ashamed.” At the time, I didn’t quite get it. In my head, “ashamed” is a more acute, soul-level embarrassment. We’re not embarrassed by something that was all but inevitable — infuriated, terrified, and concerned for our people’s safety, but not ashamed — because this is what The System does.

But ashamedness is not misguided and it must be placed on our elected leaders. If you haven’t understood The Screaming yet, I hope you can now.

Ain’t no power

The police kill people. The police attack people. The police trap people. That’s why an oversized force of the Iowa State Patrol was called to prevent a few dozen protesters from the interstate in Coralville. That’s why Iowa City protest leader Mazin Mohamedali is in jail right now. That’s why we see intimidation and violence toward protesters from police across the country.

In the eyes of the police state, we must all be stopped. We must be shaken until broken, or provoked until hostile. There is no escaping what Paul Butler recognizes as an allegorical and literal chokehold in his book, Chokehold: Policing Black Men, writing:

“The crisis in law and order in the United States stems from police work itself.”

We are living in The System. It takes self-selected men, arms them to the teeth, scares the hell out of them, and shields them from consequences when they inevitably kill people.

That’s fascism, and — in case it’s not clear — that’s bad. It’s even worse because the people being suffocated can’t defend themselves. We won’t be saved by assimilation to the police state via reform; what is required is proactive and vigilant antifascism.

All we have is The Screaming. Take to the street, march and chant, hold signs and sign petitions. We don’t need a First Amendment for us to know what to do. This is why we are ashamed.

We’re ashamed of our government. We’re ashamed of our leaders. We’re ashamed of our so-called representatives we elected with our so-called democracy to pursue and fight for our collective interest. We’re ashamed that after Everything, we still have so little progress.

We are witnessing countless failures from under-accountable leadership moving on with minimal effort. In a democracy, the people have the power. And right now, we have no democracy.

Or as one protester spray painted on Gilbert Street:

“Direct action gets the goods.”

The power of the people

“Antiracism” as a term has become a new “systemic racism” in that it’s something anyone can say to show they’re aware of the progressive nomenclature. (How do you do, fellow revolutionaries?)

Even one of our city councilors, Laura Bergus, knew the magic words in Tuesday’s special session to discuss demands from our local protest group, the Iowa Freedom Riders.

“Start at the end,” Bergus said. “And the end is to confront systemic racism with antiracist policy from the City of Iowa City. And I believe we are committed to that.”

That “commitment” predominantly seems to be a city-sponsored commission to come up with community-led recommendations to enhance social harmony — or whatever. Is that antiracism? Is that attacking the roots of legitimized bigotry and injustice? Is just a symbolic delegation that doesn’t change anything but looks like it’s doing Something Important?

The councilors are taking their people-given power and responsibility and pushing it away from themselves. (Not what Spider-Man had in mind.)

Knowing buzzwords is just a sentiment. Now, sentiment is good and necessary. Sentiment can get unengaged bystanders into the street because even the brunchiest brunch liberals can see There’s Something Happening Here.

But sentiment isn’t real progress, nor is it change.

In sports, they say a good athlete lets their play do the talking. Leftists call it praxis. The Epistle of James says faith without works is dead.

If our representatives want to be antiracist, they must bring it into existence. Change isn’t a universal force; it can be created and it can definitely be destroyed.

We have pushed authority up to our well-connected and well-funded leaders in hopes of swift and effective justice, but we’ve only found shame.

The Democratic Party, ostensibly on the side of persecuted people, has little more to offer than some ill-advised kneeling and some tough talking points — ashamed. Gov. Kim Reynolds supports curfews and militarized suppression while rushing to reopen the Hawkeye State to the pandemic — ashamed. Our state legislature passes police reforms not revolutions — not ashamed, but not satisfied.

Of course, our state government’s efforts are so much better than nothing. Anything moving in the direction of accountability and justice is better than the status quo. If the Black Lives Matter group in Des Moines is dancing, I’m dancing too.

But fighters in Iowa’s capital know we’re not done yet. This cannot and will not be the end of the movement.

And all we get in Iowa City is a wokely worded commission. Other actions, such as dropping charges against protesters, is up to the Johnson County Attorney’s Office, yet another jurisdiction working against the people.

It’s no wonder people are in the streets instead of sitting around until November to vote for the guy who lies about his (non)involvement in the Civil Right Movement and isn’t sure what Juneteenth celebrates.

We’ve seen what happens when the state is given power. The state kills people it claims to protect and protects the killers from the people left standing. We hope to make a more perfect union of, by, and for the people, but our efforts are met with violence without the consent of the governed.

Again from Butler in Chokehold: “Legal violence by our own government poses a greater threat to the future of this country — and certainly to individual black men — than illegal violence by terrorists.”

And at least according to our most central leader, the terrorists are actually the antifascists. We only have The Screaming because The System taketh away our collective right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.

Or as one protester said to Mayor Bruce Teague on Friday night:

“We have power, but not as much as you.”

Don’t stop

The Iowa Freedom Riders know their history — kudos to whoever pitched the name in the group chat — and they know their demands won’t be met in full. They’ve pledged to maintain The Screaming until they’re satisfied.

This has to keep going. Our leaders have abandoned us. Our government has abandoned us. We get gassed. We get flashbanged. We get punished for daring to oppose injustice.

I say “we,” but, really, the state-sponsored terrorism is for nonwhite people. Allies just get caught in the crossfire, and the bravest make sure to put their bodies in front of targeted Black protesters. (“Allies in front” and “medics in front” is our own barricade.)

And it’s not just the police. It’s The System that created the police. It’s not a coincidence the IFR wrote multiple fair-housing provisions on their demand list. It’s not a mistake their diverse-staffing demand is for every Iowa City department, not just the ICPD. It’s why there’s chants such as “money for health care, not police.”

It’s why Black Trans Lives Matter isn’t about a Pride Month niche; it’s about their damn survival. And even after All This, the presidential administration revoked LGBTQ protections for medical services on the anniversary of the Orlando nightclub massacre. They’re after all of us.

Fascism prioritizes American obedience and not American life. That’s why you’ll hear variations of “No lives matter until Black lives matter” on the Pentacrest.

We have to cripple fascism, imperialism, and capitalism. We have to abolish police, prison, and the perspective that makes such injustices agreeable to so many human beings. (When we say we want a revolution —)

It’s the whole thing, and we must dismantle it. This is The System at work in “systemic racism.” It isn’t broken; it’s working precisely as it’s intended. Justice will not be found inside The System that was built with the oppression of Black people and the extraction of their labor.

The change has to start with direct action. I’m just a white guy at a publication carrying a less-than-stellar record on racial issues. More than that, The Daily Iowan has made mistakes covering and protecting protesters whose movement our Editorial Board has called on Iowans to support. All I can do is add my voice to The Screaming until we’re done. And we’re not done yet.

We will know peace only when we know justice. Power to these people.

Columns reflect the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board, The Daily Iowan, or other organizations in which the authors may be involved.