‘Jobs, Not Jails!’ — Jobless Youth Confront State Power

BALTIMORE, July 8 — Today, young people learned an important lesson about state power during an angry and well-organized rally against massive cuts in summer jobs. Last Monday, about 9,000 students, who had registered months earlier with YouthWorks, were supposed to start working at their sites. However, at the last minute, approximately 3,000 of these students were informed that they had no job at all!

That Tuesday one of the youth organizations led a militant sit-in at YouthWorks headquarters, blocking the front doors for about two hours as supporters rallied and chanted. The head of YouthWorks, all of whose offices were essentially shut down for most of the morning, invited a couple of protest leaders to come upstairs to meet with her. Protesters refused, insisting that she come down and talk with the whole group.

Nervous and defensive, she finally did come down, claiming to have the students’ interests at heart, and said there’s no more money for any more jobs. She did agree to a small “concession,” that she would reconsider applications of students in the protesting group, and place some of them on a waiting list. They will then get jobs, she promised, if some students at other sites decide not to work for YouthWorks.

At today’s City Hall rally, students held their ground as they faced off with cops barring the doorway. For nearly two hours, student leaders maintained rock-solid courage, arguing face-to-face with the cops that they have no right to keep us out, and demanding to see Mayor Rawlings-Blake. At the same time, a larger group of students in the rally chanted “Are you angry! Yes!” and “We don’t want your pity! We want money for our city!” Another powerful chant was “Jobs yes! Jails no!” Maryland is spending $104 million to build a new youth jail in Baltimore City, but won’t spend just $3.6 million to employ the 3,000 youth who were denied summer jobs. The organization leading today’s protest has been fighting this school-to-prison pipeline all spring, and continued that struggle today.

Mayor Rawlings-Blake never came out, but City Council President Young did. He asked for two student leaders to come inside, go with him to his office, and represent the group. The students again refused, demanding that he stay outside and talk with everyone! He responded that it was too hot outside. What arrogance, after we’d already been in the 90-degree heat for two hours!

Finally, recognizing our unwillingness to be divided, he stayed outside and talked for a few minutes before walking off hurriedly to his limousine. He claimed to be on our side, to be working hard to fund youth jobs, and that he opposes the new juvenile jail. When asked what he’s doing right now to get jobs for the 3,000 young people who’ve been left out on the street, he angrily said it’s an unfair question; that he doesn’t have the power to make it happen.

One strong bit of truth emerged. Young said he had been trying, virtually begging, to get Johns Hopkins — Baltimore’s largest private employer — along with major businesses, to provide more summer jobs for youth. As a PL’er pointed out, speaking to the rally a few minutes later, there’s a profound lesson in Young’s remarks. It became clear that Baltimore’s big businesses are more powerful than the city government, because — even if just pretending to care about youth jobs — government officials have to go begging to big business. The capitalists are the top dogs who really hold power. The government is simply a tool of the bosses.

We also saw that the cops blocking the doors to City Hall, and all the other cops on the sidewalk who were ready to lock us up, are serving the needs of the bosses. Threatening to use the jails and the courts — if they had arrested us — would keep many of us jobless, but under control. This is called state power.

A PL’er at the rally pointed out that in school they teach us it’s a democracy, but that in reality, it’s a dictatorship of the capitalist class. They use their state power — the government, the cops, the jails, and the courts — to oppress our class, the working class. The PL’er also put forward that only a revolution for communism can create a world that is run by the working class and truly serves our needs, with jobs for all. Just about everybody gladly took copies of CHALLENGE, and some donated money. The vigorous fight for jobs will continue, and so will PLP’s fight for a world free of wage slavery!