LA Summer Project Energizes Antiracist Fightback

Los Angeles, July 28—What a way to end our summer project! We started with a rally in support of the anti-racist fighters who were arrested for fighting back against the KKK invasion of Pearson Park on February 27th. While the KKK scum who stabbed 4 people were let off, these 7 anti-racists were arrested and are being charged with combinations of misdemeanor assault, battery and resisting arrest. Before the hearing, a crowd of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and friends as well as anti-racists from various Unitarian Universalist churches rallied for an hour chanting: “The Cops, the Courts, the Ku Klux Klan: All a Part of the Bosses’ Plan!” We met many people including a lawyer who asked if he could work pro bono as a part of the Anaheim 7’s defense. Afterwards we went into the courtroom to show our support for the defendants. We made a united exit en masse when the hearing ended. Reducing the courtroom audience by half was a dramatic end to our summer project.
Our court action was the culmination of the 2016 PLP Los Angeles Summer Project. The project started with a fundraising party. The support from our friends was very uplifting. We spoke about the importance of struggling together against the government’s racism. During the project, members and friends participated in Challenge sales, study groups, rallies, a movie night, and a forum.
We struggled with each other to put together a sharp, clear forum on the elections. We met and practiced multiple times. The final presentation was humorous and clear on our line that elections are not the answer. Afterward we had discussions with our friends about the alternative to voting; fighting back on our jobs, in the schools, and in the streets.
We also had a demonstration outside LA County District Attorney Jackie Lacey’s office demanding that she take action against the police murders of Ezell Ford and Brendon Glenn (see photo). At this rally, everyone was asked to speak on the bullhorn.  This was great practice for our members who did a good job of highlighting the hypocrisy of the “justice system” that promotes racist police brutality and murder.
A two-part study group read and discussed “The Road Not Taken,” a PLP pamphlet (excerpted from The Shaping of Black America by Lerone Bennett Jr.) explaining how race and racism were created by the colonial ruling class to enforce slavery.  Many comrades and friends were amazed at the brazen way these colonial slave owners created laws to separate the previously united white indentured servants and Black slaves. We discussed how these rulers had to create laws prohibiting relations between Blacks and whites because these relations were the norm and the Black and white unity threatened the power of the colonial elite.  The colonial slave owners used the churches, the media and most of all force against both whites and Blacks for centuries before the ideas of race and racism became as accepted as they are today! This idea that racism had a starting point in history, the colonial period in the Americas, and therefore will have an ending point, communist revolution, was the powerful conclusion of our study groups.
At our movie night, we watched “Central Park 5”. It was about a group of young Black men in New York City who were falsely accused of raping a white woman.  We had a discussion about how the capitalist media demonized these young, Black men and how the bosses continue to do this today in order to separate workers. Past racist prosecutions such as this are similar to our current struggles against racist cops and the Klan. The entire “criminal injustice” system is guilty of racism. We need the courage to confront the law when necessary to protect our class brothers and sisters.
Overall our summer project was successful. We struggled to get our friends to come out to many events, and all of our members participated in most everything. The rally at court energized us to continue our fight against the prosecution of the anti-racist fighters who fought the KKK in Anaheim. Our fight against the racist system was given a jolt by this summer project and our understanding of the role of racism and police terror was deepened.  We look forward to another year of struggle, strengthened by our summer’s work.