Unite Against Racist Murders

Brooklyn, May 21—Today marked the 22nd monthly anniversary of Kyam Livingston’s death while held in a Brooklyn holding cell and denied medical attention. Led by her mother, neighbors, friends and PL’ers, demonstrations against the racist murder of Kyam at the hands of her NYPD jailers have been held every month since.
In this struggle, as well as in the campaigns for justice for Shantel Davis, Kiki Gray and too many more, our message has been consistent. We have called for working-class unity — for men and women, Black, Latin and white — to join this fight against racist police terror. We have brought this message into unions, churches, schools and other organizations, securing support for the struggle and bringing out members of those organizations to participate in the demonstrations and other activities. Our message that we all have a stake and obligation to fight back has been well received.
We have explained that racist murders by the police are not the actions of “a few bad apples” but are caused by the capitalist system’s need to terrorize working-class communities and dampen fightback against the exploitation all workers face. This occurs most often in Black, Latin and immigrant neighborhoods. The systemic nature of this violence is shown by numerous cases where no charges are brought against the kkkops, or they are simply let off by a judge.
We’ve drawn two lessons: capitalism must be overthrown with communist revolution if we want to end this police terror, and we must build working-class fighting unity to do this. At the rallies, hundreds of Challenges are distributed to workers on their way home and or those stopping to listen to the speeches. Our 2015 May Day March through the heart of this Flatbush neighborhood was well received, as thousands of CHALLENGEs were distributed and thousands saluted our march and joined in our chants.
But even within a positive struggle, bad ideas can surface. Today’s rally was attended by a group from “Black Women’s Lives Matter.” They argued that white men shouldn’t have spoken at this rally, and that they benefit from their white skin and gender. They also said that fighting sexism is more important than fighting racism. In fact, they spent more time attacking the white male committee members than they did attacking Kyam’s murderers. The “identity politics” of this group divides the working class. After they spoke, Kyam’s mother spoke, saying she was heartened by support, but felt the need to name and thank the members of the Justice for Kyam Committee after the verbal attack by this group.
Many people are drawn to the fight against police terror. This is a good thing. Each brings their understanding of the world to this fight. PLP and CHALLENGE have been fighting this issue since our birth, 50 years ago. “Police War on Harlem” was the headline of our first edition! Our members walked the walk and talked the talk in the Harlem Rebellion, as we have in countless struggles since. We welcome the exchange of ideas. Communist revolutionaries have long said we have nothing to lose but our chains, we have a world to win!