INDIANA, April 28—Members of the Progressive Labor Party in Indiana have been connecting with community members through collective fight back against deportations, arrests, and racist police murders.
On Tuesday, April 24, eight workers were arrested by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) while doing construction work on an apartment complex in Highland, Indiana. This vicious attack subjects workers and their families to the psychological terror that the police continue to inflict on working class communities.
Mothers Against Police Violence
After finding out about the police terror these workers experienced, members of Progressive Labor Party immediately met, got in contact with friends and coworkers, and together organized a response.
The day after the arrests, PL’ers held an event with an anti-racist campus organization and a local Black Lives Matter chapter. The event, titled “Mothers Against Police Violence”, prioritized the voices of two mothers who have also experienced racist police terror, when their sons were murdered by kkkops.
One mother noted that a third to a half of violent encounters with law enforcement involved people with disabilities. She shared stories about her son, who had autism spectrum disorder, and was murdered by kkkops in their own home while she was asleep.
Making connections
Discussions at the event connected kkkop murders with the eight workers arrested just the day before as well as the deportations that occur at the Gary International Airport, every Friday.
All point to a common enemy: a racist police state permitted only by kkkapitalism. Attendees of this event were invited to rally at the apartment complex along with other community members who organize against racist deportations out of Gary International Airport. They were called on to oppose the killer kkkops that killed fifteen-year-old KeMonte Cobbs in Gary and fifteen-year-old Stephon Watts in Calumet City.
Through collective action, the PL’ers and friends successfully united 30 community members, with militant chants denouncing racism and police terror in all forms. While one protester urged the community to vote out our oppressors, a PL’er stressed the importance of direct action, stating that we will only change this racist system when we come together as one: the international working class. Racist police terror is everywhere, and it only gets worse under capitalism.
The struggle to unite these struggles continues, and our Party will continue fighting to link them to our growing movement for communist revolution. Only communism can abolish the police state and provide true justice for our class. Join us!