Protests Sweep D.C.

Washington, DC — Since the racist murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri by racist killer cop Darren Wilson, workers and students in Washington have been on the move. Three hundred people, black and white, from many organizations attended a vigil on Thursday, August 14 at Malcolm X Park.
The PLP distributed dozens of CHALLENGES and over 150 flyers calling for a rally on Saturday to reach out further to the community to mobilize. The flyer was based on the lead article in CHALLENGE attacking racist police murders from Ferguson to New York City and noted that the murder of Miriam Carey in D.C. one year ago had not led to justice but to the exoneration of the police who killed her.
A PLP organizer at the rally reported that many participants were glad PLP was there. She told many people there how PLP cut its teeth on the Harlem Rebellion in 1964 against the killer cop, including distributing widely a Wanted for Murder — Gilligan the Cop flyer. People were impressed with the Party’s 50 years of fighting racism, capitalism and police brutality. One young man who is Latin and black talked about how he views things differently from someone who is only black. He has relatives in Mexico near the El Paso border. He thinks he might never see them again because of the border crackdown.
Meanwhile, over 300 students at Howard University held a vigil of their own, pledging to continue the struggle against police brutality.
On Saturday, August 16, the PLP organized leafleting and petitioning at the Columbia Heights Metro Station and at the Stoddert Terrace public housing development, gaining almost 100 signatures on a petition demanding the firing and indictment of cop Darren Wilson and the release without charges of all protesters arrested in Ferguson. Meanwhile, a friend of the Party in the Stoddert Terrace community posted a similar online petition that received over 5,000 signatures in a matter of hours. Community residents continue to circulate the petition at rallies and in the housing development.
The murder sparked discussion on jobs and schools throughout the area, including a vigorous discussion with new medical residents, who mainly come from countries other than the U.S., at Prince George’s Community Hospital about the overall history of police brutality, the recent murder of Miriam Carey, and the vicious Ferguson murder.
On Thursday, August 21, a Howard University student organized a rally of several hundred students at the Columbia Heights Metro Station. At the same time, 120 students gathered on campus with the student government leadership to develop longer-term plans for a movement using economic power to force changes in federal policy. A PL’er was invited as a guest speaker to describe the Boycott Wells Fargo campaign. He linked the murder of Mike Brown to the New Jim Crow described in Michelle Alexander’s book of the same name, pointing out that Wells Fargo profits enormously from its investments in private prisons like GEO corporation. They lobby for mandatory minimum sentences and 3-strike laws with life without parole to ensure a profitable flow of prisoners to their facilities. Racism is central to the entire capitalist system, and requires revolutionary, militant action to stop. During that meeting, 100 students signed the Justice for Mike Brown petition.
The Metropolitan Washington Public Health Association Disparities Committee had a meeting on August 21 at which Ferguson was discussed. A recent graduate of the University of Maryland who attended the meeting declared that she now really understood her African American History class! It all came together — the socioeconomics, the divisions created by racism and the need for militancy. 
On Saturday, August 23, at 7 pm, several hundred students and workers gathered at Mt. Vernon Square and marched to Gallery Place Metro Station at the Verizon Center, closing streets in this busy commercial area, and pledging to continue protesting until justice is achieved. PLP distributed dozens of CHALLENGES to participants at this event. The need for class analysis of society was quite clear, though, as one speaker declared that, among the police, there were “officers” who keep the community safe and there were “occupiers” who oppress the black population.
PLP knows, however, that the role of the police in a capitalist society is to enforce racist and anti-working class oppression, and that applies to them all —there is no “Officer Friendly”! Nevertheless, the tone of the demonstration was militant. Many young protestors now see what their parents and grandparents meant when they confronted the cops in the struggle for civil rights, in strikes, and in anti-war protests. The chant: “Michael Brown, Emmet Till, How many black boys will you kill?” at the rally showed this historical consciousness. While the pacifist, defeatist slogan “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” was still the most frequent chant, protestors are beginning to reverse this slogan to “Fists up, shoot back,” a slogan on a PL’ers sign.