BROOKLYN, July 21—On a crowded hot Saturday, sixty antiracists took over the corner of Church and East 18th Street in commemoration of the five-year fightback for justice for Kyam Livingston.
In what was a powerful message against this racist system, three families of victims of police murder, along with antiracists, united to indict the New York Police Department. The working class needs more examples of Black women leadership like these. Progressive Labor Party fights for the ultimate justice for our class: communism.
This is what solidarity looks like
Students, teachers, local families, workers, youth and elders—Black and white—rallied together. We distributed flyers and CHALLENGEs. The loudspeaker was in constant use by people speaking about Kyam’s life, Kyam’s death, and the horrors of racism and capitalism. Anita Neal, Kyam’s mother, as usual, brought tears to people’s eyes when she spoke of how her daughter died in that filthy police holding cell.
Among the speakers was the sister of Shantel Davis, a 23-year-old woman murdered in 2012 by Black kkkop Phillip Atkins, known by the neighborhood as “Bad Boy Atkins” for his infamous brutal treatment of residents. The father of Saheed Vassell was also present. Saheed, 34 and mentally ill, was murdered by the police just this past April.
This level of long-term solidarity is a threat to the ruling class. When the racist thugs in blue murder our sisters and brothers, they are also unwittingly connecting a constellation of families ready to fight back and expose this system. When the next killing happens, that family will have a growing network of Black women-led fightback to turn to.
A speaker talked about how the system is unequal, particularly for Black and Latin workers. Some of the speakers connected gross injustices here in the U.S. to those in Israel-Palestine, Syria, Turkey, and South Africa. These inequities are caused by the drive for profit, while racism and sexism divide workers to maximize it.
Passersby stopped to listen, thank the crowd for fighting back, take literature, and even join the rally, including one person who felt particularly upset by his arrest and abuse at the hands of the police.
Take the streets for Kyam
The rally went on for about two hours and then we engaged in direct action in the form of chanting, “If we don’t get it – shut it down!” We went out into the middle of the intersection and stopped the traffic while continuing to chant. Anita said she misses her daughter and thinks of her every day. We then released balloons into the wind.
They drifted up first against the buildings and then up and up into the sky. There were a few
coppers across the street. They didn’t dare to stop our rally or our takeover of the intersection. Why? Support for the continuing struggle against racist police murders in this neighborhood allows us to push the limits of what the police will allow.
It was a hot day. Still, the angry crowd gathered to remember Kyam and to call for justice for her and for all those who suffer under the system of police violence in U.S. capitalism.
This is just one struggle in the battle to end racism, sexism, and capitalism. Only a communist system, that needs all workers involved in building a world for each other instead of separating workers to maximize capitalist profits, can really end these oppressions.
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Killed by racism
Kyam Livingston was a 37-year-old Black woman who was killed in a crowded cell at the Central Bookings jail on July 21, 2013. She had been arrested after a family dispute and became gravely ill as she was waiting to be arraigned.
Kyam, and the other women in the cell with her, cried for medical attention for 7 hours only to be disregarded and told to shut the f*** up. The arrested people were threatened, “Shut up before we lose your paper work and you won’t be seen by a judge.”
She was killed by racist medical neglect and cruelty inherent in this “land of freedom” for the rich. The NYPD robbed the family of a loved one. Kyam’s then-21-year-old son Alex will not know justice under this system. He said, “It’s not right for somebody to beg and plead for hours to get help. Who knows how much pain she was going through.”
This was the fifth anniversary of her death. Kyam’s mother Anita Neal and antiracists in the committee held rallies on the 21st day of each month for the four years after Kyam’s murder.
To date, Anita has set up a small scholarship fund in her daughter’s name to fight for social justice at a local junior high school.
We are also calling for a sign in Kyam’s name to be put up on the corner of Church Avenue and E. 18th Street to honor this woman who became another victim of the racist violence inherent in capitalism.