Santa Monica, Sept 10—A multiracial group of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and friends joined hundreds of antiracists to shut down Nazi disrupters at the Committee for Racial Justice (CRJ) in Santa Monica. This was an opportunity to fight racism.
The CRJ, established in 2010 after a racist incident in Santa Monica High School, is a multiracial organization committed to fight racism. They have organized vigils for the murders of Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown and they also fight for equity and justice for Black parents in the Santa Monica school system.
Recently CRJ was come under siege by a collection of fascists known as the Proud Boys, Red Elephants and Da Goyim Know. These groups of white men armed with bandanas over their faces and baseball caps have interrupted the CRJ meetings with racist, anti-Semitic filth and even denounced one of the white co-leaders of the CRJ as a Jewish agitator, and chanted, “Blue lives matter.” The racists were preventing CRJ from functioning.
Since the racists vowed to return with bigger numbers, we began to mobilize. We called our friends and co-workers. Fighting racism is an essential part of fighting for a communist future, so we saw this as a serious opportunity to do both. Armed with knowledge and experience of driving racists out of San Francisco and Berkeley in Northern California (see CHALLENGE, 9/13), we were ready to take on the racists in LA.
Insight with Other Groups
In an effrot to protect the 124 members in the building, CRJ had a closed meeting. Some of the PL contingent were inside and some were outside.
Trump’s presidency has emboldened the racists and is creating a base for a mass racist movement in the U.S., but many antiracist groups have emerged to fight back. There are lots of groups and individuals with whom we can dig in and build long term relationships. Through the class struggle and building political relationships, we can make in-roads with our communist ideas.
Those of us outside talked members of one group in particular called Redneck Revolt. They are a predominantly white, but multiracial (and usually armed), community organization against racism. The group claims back the word and history of “Redneck,” originally synonymous with armed working-class fightback. The mineworkers tied red bandanas around their necks during the Battle of Blair Mountain, a two week long armed multi-racial revolt in coalfields of West Virginia, earning them the lable “redneck.”.
Through conversations it was clear that the group is mainly reactionary, but the group’s existence shows that some white workers indeed know the history of working-class fightback and choose the side against capitalism and racism.
One Fight Won
Those who went into the meeting have been part of CRJ for a while. Through this mass organization, they are making connections with the community and pushing to sharpen the anti-racist fight back in the neighborhood and schools.
The meeting was able to continue as planned. The racists did not show up, but we have to be on guard for future events in this organization. They flaked out because of the huge antiracist crowd ready to take them on if need be.
The anarchists and Redneck Revolt provided “security”, but the biggest “protection” was the Santa Monica Police Department. Therein lies a big contradiction. While the CRJ is committed to standing up against racist police murder, the struggle still continues to understand the nature of the police and capitalism. We must show up in bigger masses to wage this struggle and ensure the Nazi creeps don’t show their faces again.