STATEN ISLAND, NY August 23 — The ripple effect of the 10-day Ferguson rebellion over the murder of Michael Brown reached Staten Island today, both in good ways and bad. In fact, it was more like there were two rallies today, one inspired by the rebellion, and the other determined to make sure the rebellion will not be repeated.
The vast majority of the 4,000 workers, students and youth, women and men of all colors came inspired by, and in solidarity with the Ferguson rebellion. This was evident as thousands put their hands in the air and chanted, “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot,” the rallying cry of Ferguson.
They came because racist police terror is out of control across the U.S., as the bosses try to terrorize black and Latin youth into accepting a future of poverty and war. Reacting to the NYPD’s racist murder of black worker Eric Garner, PL’ers were able to lead chants such as “How do you spell racist? N.Y.P.D.; How do you spell murderer? N.Y.P.D.”
The bodies are piling up while the prisons, police precincts and unemployment offices are overflowing. Young unarmed black men were murdered by the police in St. Louis and Los Angeles while the Ferguson rebellion was still raging.
Marchers came from unions and schools, churches and community organizations, in cars and buses and by the Staten Island ferry. In true sellout mode, Sharpton negotiated with the cops and transit bosses to stop all local S.I. buses from going to the rally site, in the hopes of keeping the most angry and militant workers and youth away from the march. A marshal from 1199 SEIU said his union brought 30 buses to the rally (the mothers of murder victims Sean Bell and Ramarley Graham are both members of 1199), and there was a notable turnout of transit workers (Eric Garner’s sister is a bus operator) in spite of the fact that the Transport Workers Union and Amalgamated Transit Union leadership did not mobilize for the rally. PLP tried to mobilize our co-workers and students from around the city and distributed more than 1,200 CHALLENGES and several thousand flyers, reflecting mass support for the Ferguson rebellion.
But as much as the majority of marchers embraced the rebellion, that’s how much the bosses fear it. So they called out their chief ambulance chaser, MSNBC talk show host and FBI informant Al Sharpton to put out the fire.
Surrounded by a rogues’ gallery of preachers and pastors, imams and union hacks, with the Nation of Islam providing security (for the cops and Sharpton), the message from the stage was clear. “We are not against the police, we are for the police! We want to get rid of the bad apples,” Sharpton said. He spent more time attacking the idea of fighting back than he did police terror. “If you’re not for non-violence, organize your own march! This one is mine! Don’t piss in my pot,” he said. And the union leaders backed him up. SEIU had many signs that read “Support NYPD — Stop Police Brutality.”
The point they were making was that they know how to keep a lid on things. And the fact is one thing that made Ferguson possible was that there was no established mis-leadership in place to snuff out the rebellion.
We will continue to dig in where we are and build a mass base for revolutionary violence against racist terror, and for communist revolution. Our strategy is to answer racist cop killings with walkouts at schools and campuses and bus barns and hospitals. When masses of workers and students walk out and converge on police headquarters under the leadership of PLP, those hundreds will begin to lead tens of thousands. Then the lid will be off and the struggle  for state power will be on.