BROOKLYN, NY, June 30 — Thirty marchers took to busy streets of Church Avenue today, chanting “Racist kkkops means you gotta fight back!” and “NYPD, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!” This was the third week PL’ers joined with family, friends and neighbors of Shantel Davis in angry protest against the June 14 racist murder of this young woman by an undercover NYPD detective. “Wanted” posters made from the front cover of CHALLENGE (7 /5) were held high throughout the march. When PL’ers brought them to the corner they were grabbed up quickly. Promises were made to bring many more next Saturday. Marchers also eagerly took CHALLENGES, and many came back for more to make sure their friends got them.
Previous marches to the local kkkop precinct travelled along quiet streets with few bystanders along the way. But this time the march along Church Avenue, a very busy commercial street, was greeted by workers in stores and people on the sidewalks joining in our chants and raising fists in the air in solidarity with the marchers. As we approached the precinct, we marched strong into the street, ignoring the kkkops’ attempt to push us into a barricaded pen.
Speeches from local politicians and church leaders asked only for an apology and recognition from NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly. But PLP was there to make it clear that it’s not just a few bad kkkops, that the problem is capitalism and that only fighting for communism can end racist police murder and a system that doesn’t provide jobs or education for the working class. People in the community see the connections between various attacks on the working class, notably to the demonstration held earlier this week at the nearby Downstate Hospital, facing cutbacks and layoffs. One friend of the Davis family, when talking with a PL’er, realized that if the “brotherhood” of kkkops is always protecting each other and covering for murder after murder, then “something much bigger has to change.” PLP will continue to participate in this fight against police attacks on the working class.
On Saturday, July 7, those who have been fighting against the Bronx police murder of Ramarley Graham will be joining the march in Flatbush. Join us.