By Malcolm X Commemoration Committee
“I have no mercy or compassion in me for a society that will crush people,
and then penalize them for not being able to stand under its weight…”
Malcolm X
January 22, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MXCC Remembers Fallen Freedom Fighter Viola Plummer
January 15th, the 95th birth anniversary of the immortal Dr Martin Luther King, saw the curtain fall on the proud long walk of beloved Brooklyn based freedom fighter, Viola Plummer, the longtime chairwoman for the December 12th Movement.
She was 86.
In the statement below, Viola is remembered for her empowering courage and her long time commitment to the lifting of the legacy of Malcolm X over the last 35 years.
“There has not been a major grassroots action in our reclaiming of Malcolm’s legacy over the last 35 years in New York City that does not happen without her,” says our own Zayid Muhammad, in his personal reflection.
He was referring to Viola’s leadership in key actions concerning Malcolm’s legacy, such as the Save The Audubon Campaign, the challenge to Spike Lee before his making of the epic Malcolm X movie, the launch of the annual shutdown of 125th Street in Harlem on May 19th, now known as The Commercial Moment of Silence for Malcolm, the engaging of the international community through the December 12th Movement International Secretariat, including powerful PanAfrican Solidarity and the call for Reparations that recently broke ground with Governor Hochul signing the NY Reparations Commission bill.
Ironically, just as Viola passed on Dr King’s birthday, she also shared a birthday with the unconquerable Huey P Newton. Viola was born on February 17, 1937. Huey was born on February 17, 1942.
Her Homegoing Service will be on Saturday, January 27th at The House of the Lord Church, 415 Atlantic Av, Brooklyn at 3pm…
A Misoso* Moment for Viola!
“If you command them, they will listen,” as Khallid Muhammad
would instruct young soldiers and young organizers on how to address our people.
Someone in Facebook land described her as ‘Queen Commander,’ and I love that sh*t!
Because she was indeed a force among us, and could command with fearless conviction, under any circumstances!
Whether it was a rally in a packed auditorium, or a panel of internationally decorated ‘experts,’ whatever they are, on the streets, under fire in the streets, even in a police precinct, she came as she was, and we rolled as we rolled, and we were proud and more than willing to roll with her as she was!
Shut’em down!…
Viola Plummer!
The bad bold chair of my beloved comrades of the December 12th Movement!…Has left us!…
From a Malcolm centered lens, there is not a doubt in my mind that he would have loved her!…
To illustrate…
It was on May 19th, 1992, I believe.
Malcolm’s bday.
We marched to the UN. On the question of our Human Rights!
We had a huge contingent too. Maybe a thousand easy!
Vi, as we called her, and Sonny, as in the unconquerable Sonny Carson, were on the point down front.
It was one of a number of occasions that I was tasked with securing her.
At some point as we got close to the UN, we decided to split forces to navigate the different way traffic ran in that part of town.
At some point, for reasons no one has ever explained to this day, the pigs vamped, or more properly put, the police attacked us with no warning or provocations.
As we were trying to get people out of the streets to minimize their frontal assault, one young brother got grabbed in the process.
So I’m trying to back the line up and keep Vi behind me so no one else would get snatched.
Vi, in a ferociously undisciplined moment, jumps out in front of me and ‘engages’ the two cops who jammed the young brother up.
I had to pull her back and shall we say ‘engage’ as well to the fullest. I knew I was gonna be captured, but so what! Soldiers get wounded. Soldiers get captured. Soldiers even get killed. Yet Under no circumstances were they going to touch Vi! Even if she did make it ‘royally’ difficult for me to secure her.
We have laughed about that for decades!…
That is not the only reason Malcolm would have loved her.
There has not been a major grassroots action in our reclaiming of Malcolm’s legacy over the last 35 years in New York City that does not happen without her.
The epic protracted battle to Save The Audubon.
Yall remember that?
She led us on those long marches to the Audubon and in some intense engagements with police there too as we created the conditions to reclaim that space.
Did you know, or can you believe, that our first ‘beloved’ AfricanAmerican mayor David Dinkins was going to give that historical landmark to Columbia University for $1?…
$1!…
For the space where Malcolm’s blood was shed!
Like hell, we said.
We should’ve called that campaign ‘The Political Education of David Dinkins’…
We need to go further, when the scepter of Spike Lee doing a film on Malcolm emerged, we turned up the heat because what Hollywood had in mind for Malcolm was a whole lot different than what Malcolm’s legacy really was.
We rallied at African Square on 125th. We created a petition of the well known and not so well known among us, and then of course we paid Spike a very public ‘visit.’
Who was down front?
Viola Plummer…
Right around the same time, we began shutting down 125th Street on ‘every’ May 19th for Malcolm…Every May 19th. That’s where the Commercial Moment of Silence comes front.
We’ve been doing it now for more than 30 years!
Front and center from its conception!…Viola Plummer!
As we sought to re-engage our struggle in international spaces such as the UN and UN related forums with the December 12th International Secretariat…All Malcolm’s line…Viola was outfront.
Whether it was PanAfrican Solidarity with Cuba, Haiti, Namibia, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Libya or Zimbabwe. Whether it was a fully loaded call for Reparations, Vi was outfront!
Our anchor. Our beacon of clarity and courage. Oya** shined and whirlwind strong!…
How grateful we should be to have had her for 86 north american winters!
Incredibly, in all these years, I didn’t even realize that she shared a birthday with Huey! Just as incredible that she was called to the Land of the Ancestors on Dr King’s birthday of all days because she was a lot of things…
Nonviolent wasn’t one of them.
“If a cracker spit on me, I will kill him on the spot,” she would say with the fullest conviction.
They couldn’t have rolled together in this realm.
May be she’s doing security for him in that realm.
I loved her fiercely…
Long live Viola Plummer!
Salute our warrior queens cradling our skies!
Carry on the tradition!
Shut’em down!
bro Zayid Muhammad
for the Malcolm X Comm Cmte-NYC
*Misoso… a West African word for ‘Once upon a time’… Viola Plummer Feb 17, 1937-Jan 15, 2024
**Oya, the powerful feminine Orisha of Storms…
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