INDIANA—“Racism means we got to fight back!” This chant set the tone at the vigil and rally for the non-indictment of slain youth Tamir Rice and all victims of state violence.
In response to continuing racist, capitalist-created violence and government-sponsored terror, a communist-led Black Lives Matter group organized this fightback. Over 30 residents braved the below-freezing temperatures to stand in multiracial solidarity against police violence and the conditions that foster violence in our communities.
People lit candles and carried signs with the names and pictures of some of the countless victims of racist police terror across the country. Among the victims discussed was Vincent Smith Jr., a Black teenager in Gary, Indiana who was unarmed when police shot him in the head in 2006. Back then, PL’ers joined community protests to bring the cop to trial. After a sham trial, the murderer got away scot-free. Much like Tamir, Vincent was yet another Black child whose life was cut short by police terror with impunity. It’s a very old song that workers know by heart.
Planting Communist Ideas
PLP had put forth the political line that there will never be justice for working class people in a capitalist system that needs to exploit to survive. Comrades have been introducing CHALLENGE to members in Black Lives Matter and highlighting how KKKop murders, crimes, garbage school systems, etc. all have a common root: capitalism. We’ve used the pamphlet Smash Racism to show the history of how racism is used to oppress all people, while specifically strangling Black working class people, and how organizing as a party to fight racism and to end capitalism is the only way to win.
The people in our mass organization recognize the connection between capitalism and racist state violence. At the rally, people enthusiastically took CHALLENGE and initiated conversations about how the ruling class makes money from racism, poverty, and mass incarceration. Workers here in this mainly Black region are living the racist nightmare of poverty engineered by politicians and profiteers in a dead-end capitalist system. As we build in the local movement against police violence, protests like this one provide opportunities to bring the message of communism to the masses. It is also good training for bigger fightbacks!