BROOKLYN, January 21—With the mounting attacks on Black and Latin working class students in NYC public schools, there’s no telling what will be the spark for students to fight back. For our school, one spark (out of the many over the years) was the removal of a special class. Student protests are inspiring and a great start on the long road to revolution.
Progressive Labor Party fights (PLP) for a communist society from each according to their commitment, to each according to their need, because that is the only way to truly get the schools that our children deserve.
Constant attacks
Working class public schools throughout the country, majority Black, Latin, and immigrant, are under attack from budget cuts. Many schools are forced into overcrowding to gain more funding while secretive admissions processes help maintain racist school segregation, which is growing more severe every day. The partnership between the Department of Education and the NYPD criminalizes our students and helps perpetuate the school to prison pipeline. Metal detectors further criminalize and traumatize our students.
A spark at our school
A very popular special class offering was taken away over a technicality by the liberal, tone-deaf school administration. These hypocritical school bosses say students have a voice, yet over and over again they shut the students’ voices down. Students see through the bosses’ politricks and continue to struggle for the school that they deserve.
Students were immediately upset when they heard that this class would be taken away. Furthering the students’ anger was a right-wing administrative henchman who lied and said that students weren’t bothered by the class cancelation.
Students quickly planned a protest. They left their classes, knocked on the doors of other classes to gather other students, mostly seniors, and chanted down the hallway to the assistant principal’s office before returning to class. The air was electric, and students were already planning their next action.
Students put antiracist solidarity before self
The next day, word spread that the racist henchman was pulling students individually to identify a leader and tamp down fightback. The administration interrogated one senior student for over an hour through his lunch period. She tried to silence him by appealing to Black nationalism, but he did not falter.
Later that day, that student leader was asked to join a meeting with the assistant principal (AP) to discuss his concerns. Word quickly spread, and seniors planned a sit-in outside the AP’s office in solidarity with that student being questioned. As the student walked down the hall to the AP’s office, he was greeted with “We’ve got your back, bro” and “You’re never alone.”
Almost the entire senior class held an hour-long sit-in outside. These seniors knew leaving class put them in danger to not finish projects they needed to graduate, but they also knew that solidarity was more important. The courage and compassion were palpable.
Another student was meeting with the student leader, and was convinced by the AP to go outside and tell the seniors sitting in to disperse. The seniors knew better, and continued their sit-in. The henchman and another bosses’ lackey tried to stop the protest with taunts and insults of “being stupid.”
The students didn’t falter, despite the bosses’ tricks. This student-led protest brought excitement and optimism throughout the entire school and gave others courage to stand up as well. Students who were not part of the protest asked how they could become involved, and the seniors regrouped to figure out their next plan of action.
Students can think & lead for themselves
Many lessons are being learned through this struggle. Students realized that planning and organization are important, as students who were unclear with the messaging were not as disciplined in their protest.
One school worker, a bosses’ lackey who only sometimes questions administration’s actions, blamed antiracist teachers for the protest. We will fight to win her to the anti-racist idea that Black and Latin kids are politically conscious enough to speak up against injustice and organize on their own.
Students aren’t brainwashed into action. The bosses’ system is full of bad ideas, and we as communists must win ourselves and our co-workers away from anti-worker sentiment.
We applaud these students, and are excited to see the next stage of their fightback. This small resistance is a good start, and we are inspired by their boldness. Making revolution means going beyond what the bosses want, and we as communists must try to find struggles and push their limits.