STATEN ISLAND, NY, July 18 — “We are going to continue to fight to build a mass struggle around the issues of racism and police brutality, the only way we can bring any change. Electing politicians won’t change anything!” This declaration of defiance was made today by two dozen workers on the steps to the office of Staten Island Congressman Dan Donovan.
The rally was called to commemorate Eric Garner’s murder and condemn this racist politician. Donovan made sure that the grand jury didn’t indict Garner’s murderer, killer kkkop Daniel Pantaleo, or anybody else for Eric Garner’s murder. He even had the courageous Ramsay Orta, who took the video of Pantaleo’s choke hold, arrested and indicted three times!
Students, campus workers, professors and the local community responded to the urgency of forming a multiracial, anti-racist organization at the College of Staten Island: Staten Island Against Racism and Police Brutality. One group member stated that New York’s “broken windows” policing is the problem, and that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio his appointed police commissioner, William Bratton, are directly responsible for Eric Garner’s murder. As another worker noted, if Pantaleo couldn’t be indicted, a cop will never beheld accountable for killing a Black man.
The Progressive Labor Party salutes the bold community members taking this anti-racist struggle forward! PLP is building a mass, international anti-racist movement of millions to destroy the root of racism—capitalism—with armed communist revolution. We invite these bold fighters in Staten Island to share their lessons and struggles with us, and help us forge a future without racist police terror.
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I was invited to a vigil for Sandra Bland this weekend in Brooklyn by a group of college student activists. Bland, who died in jail in Texas on July 13, is one of the latest victims of racist police terror. There has been a lot of discussion about whether Bland committed suicide or was murdered, but one of the participants at the vigil summed it up: “Sandra would be alive today if she had never encountered that police officer.”
The vigil was poignant and well organized. Everyone had a chance to speak and share their thoughts. Two participants spoke of revolution. Many young women spoke of how Sandra’s death hit home. People agreed that having marches and vigils in working-class communities was better than organizing rallies in the downtown area.
The group of mostly young women marched through Prospect Park and leaflets were given to onlookers. A few people joined, including a young Russian student who spoke of the racism faced by African workers there.
PLP has been saying that we must not “get used” to all the injustices of capitalism and that we should take every opportunity to fight back. These young women, including two students in my class, did a great job of making a statement. Let’s keep fighting back—every day, in every way!