PL’ers Spark Anti-Racist Protest Against Trayvon Verdict

FORT WORTH, TX  August 1 — Following the George Zimmerman not guilty verdict, we have increased the anti-racist fight back in our area. While anti-racist demonstrations around the country erupted in the days following the verdict, the response in our area was almost non-existent.
To get the ball rolling, several PL’ ers descended upon a local mall armed with leaflets condemning the racist killing of Trayvon Martin and blaming the capitalist profit system for letting Zimmerman go. The leaflet linked the racist killing to those of black and Latino youth by police around the county. We also pointed out how capitalism profits from this racist terror through the mass unemployment and a low-wage workforce that mass incarceration and police attacks help perpetuate. Our leaflet was well-received, especially by many black and Latino students.
Over the next few days we took our leaflets, signs and bullhorn to busy street corners around town. We received a wonderful response from the community. Our multiracial crew handed out hundreds of leaflets to passersby and held signs promoting multiracial unity in order to fight back against the bosses’ racist terror.
The city’s “official” black leadership eventually got wind of our actions and began organizing a rally to put forward pacifism and voting as the only acceptable responses to the daily racist outrages. By the weekend, church leaders and the Democratic Party had organized a “peaceful” prayer vigil downtown. Hundreds of black workers attended and each one received our leaflet.
During a speech by the representative for the Democratic Party, a black worker interrupted and demanded that the community be allowed to speak. He boldly pointed out that only “official” leaders were cleared to speak and that the community was being shut out. Church leaders led the crowd in a series of prayers, subduing some of the anti-racist anger.
The final message was for workers to go vote and then to go home. But as soon as the vigil ended, PL and  our friends in the crowd started a chant, “What do we want, justice! When do we want it, now!” and “Trayvon Martin Means We’ve Got to Fight Back!”  Hundreds in the crowd joined in. The anti-racist message shook the streets and showed the potential and desire for more militant fightback.
After an intense, week-long series of anti-racist actions, we had distributed over 2,000 leaflets and met several new anti-racist fighters. And while the city’s “official” misleaders have told people to pray and go home, we have been creating more opportunities to bring people out and spread the message of anti-racist fightback.
We recently went with a group who participated in the Trayvon events to go see Fruitvale Station — a movie  that depicts racist profiling and  a day in the life of Oscar Grant before Bay Area police murdered him (see review, page 7.) We met for coffee afterward and continued the discussion about Trayvon. It ranged from fighting back against racist cutbacks on our jobs to organizing against racist police terror by making a banner with images of all the black and Latino youth killed recently by police and vigilantes.  We also made plans for future anti-racist movie nights.
These past few weeks have shown that armed with PL’s line on fighting racism, small changes can quickly lead to bigger ones. Racist terror is how most black and Latino workers experience capitalism on a day-to-day basis, and many want the opportunity to participate in anti-racist struggle. By creating opportunities in our area, we helped put hundreds of people in motion against racism. We will continue to create opportunities for anti-racist struggle and to put forward PL’s politics in the mass movement.