CHICAGO, April 7—Progressive Labor Party (PLP) joined forces with over one hundred antiracist workers for a caravan protest outside of Cook County Jail. Workers are demanding that the Democrat bosses of Chicago free incarcerated workers who are being exposed to COVID-19 at an alarming rate. The liberal misleadership of Chicago now has the blood of three incarcerated workers who have died from COVID-19 at Cook County Jail on their hands.
The disgusting and racist conditions inside of the jail, where incarcerated workers can’t physically distance themselves in the overcrowded facility, have turned it into the number one hotspot in the country for the spread of Covid-19. The population of the jail, mostly Black and Latin workers—many detained for non-violent offenses or being unable to make bail—is the direct result of decades of racist policy by the city’s liberal bosses, and the racist nature of incarceration and capitalism overall.
Capitalism’s only answer for billions of the world’s workers is to lock us up and let many of us die. The liberal capitalist bosses will never solve the problems they created. As they lie, incarcerate and look after their businesses, it is workers everywhere that are putting their lives at risk for each other. That’s a glimpse of a communist society and workers’ power, the only way we can gain any real safety from racist incarceration and deadly pandemics.
Antiracists in a caravan
An hour before the caravan was scheduled to begin, we met in a nearby grocery store parking lot to prepare. Along with members of a pro-working class organization, we collectively made a plan on the route we would take and who would be contact persons if our vehicles got separated or if the racist cops started to make any arrests.We also decorated our vehicles with antiracist signs and revolutionary messages in English and Spanish, such as “Racism Means Fight Back!” and “Communism is the Cure.” We distributed surgical and N95 masks to those who needed them, while others provided water. Most importantly, we distributed out CHALLENGE to arm our class about the racist nature of the pandemic and the importance of a fighting back.
When we arrived in front of the jail, there were already dozens of vehicles with fighters from other organizations, circling in front of the racist concentration camp. Everyone was blowing their horns, and some were giving speeches from megaphones inside their cars. Others even braved to get on foot to wave antiracist signs to workers and get out fliers.
The cops were caught off guard and unable to stop the flow of workers’ power and block our message. We must keep finding creative ways like this physically distant protest to put the bosses on blast in front of other workers. This makes it harder and harder for them to keep hiding the racist time bomb of infection that exists right now in all jails.
Liberal bosses filled jails, won’t empty them
The racist, unhealthy conditions at Cook County Jail have been long in the making. The jail is the largest single-site jail in the United States, keeping anywhere from 4000 to 5000 workers locked up daily. It is also one of the largest mental health facilities in the country, with at least a third of the incarcerated workers diagnosed with a mental illness (Mother Jones, 1/8/19). Many of these workers were incarcerated after former Mayor Rahm Emanuel (formerly Obama’s Chief of Staff) led the charge to close half the city’s mental health clinics in 2012.
With at least 350 cases of Covid-19 traced back to the jail, it’s the largest known source of infections in the U.S. (NYT, 4/8). Currently at least 300 incarcerated workers and over 200 jail staff have tested positive, with at least three confirmed deaths (NBC Chicago, 4/12). Even worse, the city just filed a suit to actively block steps toward decarceration that would save lives (chicagobond.org).
Many well-intentioned organizers in the city got behind Black State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in her campaign to get elected on a platform of criminal justice reform, but predictably she has done little. She is following new racist Mayor Lori Lightfoot claiming to represent “change” in the city but in fact representing the same liberal status quo that is guaranteeing Black and Latin workers suffer most during this pandemic.
Abolish racist incarceration with communism
Capitalism can never provide for all of the world’s workers, so it has to resort to incarceration for social control and a way to super-exploit workers for labor. These attacks fall hardest on Black and Latin workers, who make up the majority of the two million-plus inmates locked up in this racist country.
As communists, our goal is to smash this profit system and racist incarceration completely. Workers around the world will be rehabilitated, not incarcerated, and we will prioritize the public health of the masses at all costs. A communist future is the healthiest future to fight for! Join PLP!