PLP Leads Fight Against Racist Cop Terror

BROOKLYN, NY, July 13 — In the thirteen months since the New York Police Department murdered Shantel Davis, an unarmed, 23-year-old black woman, the Progressive Labor Party has brought communist leadership to the fightback by the working-class community here. Today, when the racist U.S. injustice system found Trayvon Martin guilty for being black, our sustained focus on fighting racist police murder allowed us to spread ou politics us in a mass way.
In the Flatbush neighborhood, we have helped build a group called “The Justice for Shantel Davis Committee,” which organized a youth basketball tournament at Tilden Park today. Hundreds of mainly black working-class youth showed up, along with some parents. In true pig fashion, the kkkops showed up at the park and demanded that the music be turned off by 4 p.m. But with the support of hundreds of workers behind us, we had the power to push back against the state-imposed limits. We kept the loudspeakers in full use until the tournament ended.
Everyone heard our communist politics as the announcer worked in an analysis of the sexist lyrics in a song played by the deejay. Hundreds of CHALLENGEs were readily accepted by the crowd. All around the park there were conversations about racist police violence and the need for communist revolution.
The Verdict: PL Responds
That night, after we learned that George Zimmerman had been found not guilty of murder of Trayvon Martin, a leaflet was written and a call for a protest in Flatbush was put out. Several comrades who had joined the Party during our recent communist school, along with some young leaders who were trained there, quickly pressed into action. The Party set up CHALLENGE sellers on several corners. Two young black men of Haitian descent brought drums to join the protest.
Once they’d learned about the Zimmerman verdict, an angry, multiracial crowd of mostly young people moved into the streets. As militant communist speeches blared from the loudspeaker and connected racism to capitalism, the anger in the community became a palpable force. PL’ ers distributed CHALLENGEs and the leaflet, and made sure to take the names of people interested in helping us. Many not only took the newspaper but agreed with the need for communism, a qualitatively different reaction than usual.
When the Party marched, several community members joined us in stopping traffic as we took over the street. A few members of the mass organization fully participated as well, illustrating the importance of mass work to our Party. As we stopped traffic and chanted about police murder and the need for communist revolution, many drivers beeped their horns and pumped their fists in solidarity.
Pushing the Limits
Leading into the march that began in Union Square in Manhattan, the Party had a bullhorn and quickly took the political lead. “No Justice, No Peace; No Racist Police” ignited the crowd. When a PL’ er declared that capitalism can’t meet workers’ needs, people cheered. When he said we needed a revolution, people cheered. But when he raised the need for communist revolution, there was mostly silence from the crowd and anger from the fake-left leaders of the march. This illustrated that many young people understand that capitalism isn’t meeting their needs, but they’re not yet ready for communism during this period of low level working class consciousness. To negate existing limits, our Party must sharpen its struggle to bring communist politics to the mass struggle and to push for the most left line possible.
The kkkops demanded that we move from the street to the sidewalk. After we continued to march in the street, they slammed a protestor on the hood of a car. But the kkkops were quickly surrounded by other angry protestors, and their target may have gotten away. Whenever the cops attacked one side of the march, we’d run behind them and swarm into the streets.
Saving the march from more police violence was a group of legal observers, who threw themselves bodily between the cops and the protestors. Several lawyers rammed their shoulders into the cops as the kkkops surged towards the masses. Outnumbered by the angry, multiracial crowd, the cops could not impose their authority as the march kept pushing through their barricades.
In a touching moment, a middle-aged black woman rolled down her cab window in tears as we swarmed through the traffic at Astor Place. She shouted that she was so happy to see people so angry about Trayvon. A young white male protestor hugged her through the cab window as she said thank you again and again. They were perfect strangers who shared a working-class moment, united in the struggle against racism.
Workers’ Power vs. Bosses’ Power
In Harlem, hundreds of angry workers and youth gathered in front of the state office building. The rally was led by black nationalists talking about black power (a/k/a black capitalism), but many honest workers were there as well. So was PLP, in force, with CHALLENGEs and leaflets (see page 5). People were hungry for our analysis. When the nationalists tried to denounce us, the crowd ignored them and continued to reach eagerly for our leaflets and our papers. Clearly the working class is craving unity over nationalist/racist division. The nationalists could only look on in frustration, as they have no base in the working class.
Afterwards, about thirty workers gathered in a nearby church to discuss next steps. With emotion and resolve, they discussed the need to channel our rage to build a multiracial movement to unite the working class. Zimmerman’s legalized racist crime is creating more working-class fighters ready to battle capitalism to the death — to become the bosses’ gravediggers.
The next day, the bosses’ media quoted politicians and celebrities urging nonviolence. The state wants to monopolize the use of force against the working class; the rulers want us to be peaceful while they’re free to use violence against us. Communists understand that the working class must use violence against the state’s agents and apparatus to free ourselves from capitalist exploitation.
In the wake of racist Zimmerman’s acquittal, we must be urgent in advancing our politics and building PLP. Although communist revolution is not right around the corner, we must advance our ideas and hasten the red dawn that will end this dark night with communist revolution.