LOS ANGELES—Progressive Labor Party led 16 healthcare workers and friends from the community in a rally outside our clinic against racist police murder. The mother, grandmother, and three siblings of Ezell Ford, who was murdered by the police, also joined our small but spirited contingent.
At the start, a few workers were concerned about marching and doing militant chants like “Rise up, Resist, need no killer cops, no jails, The whole damn system is guilty as hell” and “Racist cops you can’t hide, We charge you with genocide.” However once we got started, we received overwhelming support from cars and people passing by. One neighborhood woman whose cousin was murdered by LAPD joined us and stayed the entire time. She gave us her contact and said that next time, she would invite all of her family and friends. The overwhelming support from the community emboldened us and erased any initial fears. This was our first rally, but it will definitely not be our last!
We held our rally to commemorate the two-year anniversary of Ezell Ford’s murder, whose family we have ties with. To make matters worse, the LAPD murdered 14-year-old Jesse Romero two days ago. Hundreds marched in response and PLP will be participating in continued vigils and demonstrations around both Ezell and Jesse’s killings.
These murders are added proof that we need to smash capitalism. As workers get angrier over these killings, the bosses respond with fake solutions to calm us down. They talk about diversifying police forces, but LAPD shows us that this will not erase the inherent racism in capitalism. LAPD not only boasts the most diverse police force but also boasts the most people killed by police this year, mostly Black and Latin youth. Clearly more “police of color” is not a solution to systematic racism. No reforms can fix the police because the police aren’t broken; they’re working exactly as they were set up to do serve the interest of the ruling class. They terrorize Black and Latin workers to keep the working class from fighting back and ultimately to allow capitalists to keep exploiting us to make super profits.
As capitalism deteriorates, workers get angrier and police terror increases. More workers than ever are disillusioned, with record numbers seeing politicians as misleaders and refusing to vote. Workers see that capitalism cannot provide a good life and rebellions are flaring up all over the world. The ruling class is preparing for wider rebellions: under Obama local police departments have increased militarization more than 24-fold and 2016 is on pace to have record numbers of murder-by-kkkop.
Being revolutionary communists, it is our job to expose the police and turn the sparks of rebellions into the fire of revolution. In LA, we are doing just that. A few more co-workers at the healthcare clinic are now receiving CHALLENGE. One co-worker and student came to a sermon that a comrade gave at his church on the origins of racism and police terror this past weekend. The next step will be developing a study group with hopes of building a small healthcare club.
The mostly Black and Latin workers of this clinic and surrounding neighborhood represent the future of our movement. If we can continue to organize in our work places and mass organizations and connect them with the class-struggle, we will have a chance of growing our Party and building a movement that will one day smash this racist profit system once and for all.