West Wednesday Rally: Reform or Communism?

BALTIMORE, December 14—Protesters gathered for a special “West Wednesday” rally and press conference, the 177th weekly demonstration demanding justice for Tyrone West, who was murdered three-and-a-half years ago by Baltimore and Morgan State University cops. A West Wednesday leader said it all: “The State’s Attorneys and whoever else stands by and watches all this senseless murder in our community every day. Then you got killer cops still walking the streets. I’m freaking pissed! I can’t stop crying!  Man, [expletive] this cruddy system flat out!”
This week we exposed the Medical Examiners’ lies. They falsely claimed that heart problems and dehydration probably caused Tyrone’s death. They ignored the testimony of multiple eyewitnesses. Those witnesses clearly described the tasing, repeated, full-face drenching with pepper spray, severe beatings with fists and batons, ruthless kicking, and finally being sat upon by an obese, coldblooded cop, while unarmed Tyrone gasped his last breath. The cops escalated a simple traffic stop into an execution.
Tawanda Jones, Tyrone’s sister, shared a never-before-seen photo, that she took five days after his murder. People gasped in horror and outrage at the cop-inflicted wounds, while Tyrone’s family could barely remain standing.
The family released a second autopsy from an independent, out of state pathologist. The cause of death determined by the outside pathologist, “positional asphyxiation,” differs night-and-day from the official Maryland autopsy. It was “strangulation-by-cop,” similar to Eric Garner, 43-year-old Black man killed by the cops in Staten Island in July 2014!
The cops and their buddies continue trying to intimidate the protesters. Time after time, Tawanda’s car tires have been slashed. West Wednesday fighters have often raised money for new tires. We will not be intimidated. We continue to advance under attack! The cops are doing what the capitalist system requires: intimidate and repress, while upholding racism. Expecting “better cops” is as crazy as hoping for an anti-racist Ku Klux Klan!
We all need to help build a revolutionary communist movement to destroy this system of racist police terror. Progressive Labor Party members have consistently joined the West Wednesday rallies and helped with leafleting, sound equipment, speeches and organizing. PL’ers have written for CHALLENGE, making this an international issue, and have distributed Challenge at the rallies. Speeches by PL’ers have stressed the need for communist revolution, have attacked the Department of Justice report as a dog-and-pony show, and have explained how racism is rooted in capitalism.
Over the past three years West Wednesday protesters have sent many appeals to government officials. These officials respond with meaningless form letters. They will not put the cops on trial. Many of these officials are Black, but like their white counterparts, they carry out the mission of the capitalists. As “300 Gangsters” – an organization active at West Wednesday – often says, “All Black ain’t Black, all white ain’t white. We all we got, we all we need.”
We must build this antiracist movement, not only on the street, but also on-the-job and at schools, like the progressive students from University of Maryland, who have brought sizeable groups to some rallies.
The fight to incarcerate killer cops is an important anti-racist struggle, but such reform struggles are limited. They won’t change the system. As the Ferguson rebels said, “It’s the whole damn system.” That means joining the Progressive Labor Party and building a revolutionary movement for communism. And when the U.S. capitalists become weak during their upcoming wars against their international rivals, we will take down this inhuman system once and for all.