Justice for Darius: BUILD AN ANTIRACIST WORLD WITH COMMUNISM

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, September 16—Workers around the world are continuing to show their power to fight back against the terrors of capitalism using anti-racist class unity. The murder-by-cop of George Floyd made racism an undeniable deadly reality for some. The complete lack of justice for Breonna Taylor’s death by the Louisville police and  authorities shows how broken the justice system is. Many more, particularly Black workers, saw this as an ongoing pattern of torture by kkkops and their bosses.
The international communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP) has helped build the fight around the murder-by-cop of Darius Washington, a Black worker in Chicago Heights, IL (See CHALLENGE, 8/7). Shot over 14 times, Darius’ friends and family took to the streets to expose the murder. Workers in the area banded together and demanded the attention of local authorities. PLP stood with our class from that first night of protest and continue in that fight now.
Tonight, we organized with workers in the community to continue that struggle. We demanded an end to ruling class terror, answers about our brother Darius’ murder, and PL’ers called for workers to join our Party in the fight to build a communist society -- the only solution for finally ending these ruling class murders!
Killer kkkapitalists, you can’t hide!
As local bosses have shut out the community with no answers about his murder, workers in the city, those close to Darius and PLP members, planned to take the fight to the local city council meeting.
PL’ers shared our line about how these ruling class mouthpieces have no intention of giving answers or holding back their goons. We all agreed that no one was under the delusion that these kkkops or politrickcians were truthful. We also agreed that our class had to unite in action, in addition to words, to hold these fascists accountable.
The Black worker-led, multiracial team planning this action proved that ruling class abuses have nothing on working class unity. Despite the lies of racism and sexism used to divide us, we knew that more banded us together as workers.  PLP members talked about how capitalist borders do not protect anyone from abuses by cops or capitalists. From schools designed to fail to the for-profit neglect of neighborhoods, these were more reasons why we must fight our class enemies together.
United in the fight for justice
The action started across the street from the Chicago Heights police station. Workers gathered for a reading of a statement of demands for justice; a call for the transparency and restructuring of cops and accountability to the family and community of Darius Washington.
We in PLP believe workers should demand justice, but not because we are under any delusion that they will be met. The demands show the dividing line between the interests of workers and the power-hungry ruling class. They represent what we know our class deserves: lives free from deadly inequalities and abuses that have and will always exist under capitalism.
Workers from the area spoke about long-standing abuses by cops. One person detailed her experiences starting in high school. Intimidation and assault by cops in schools with mostly Black, Latin and working class students that have continued to the present day. Others from neighboring cities spoke about the need to stand in solidarity in this fight.
We continued that sharing while we marched and chanted through the streets, “We demand justice, we demand answers!” and “The cops, the courts, the ku klux klan -- all are a part of the bosses plan!” rang out and drew attention and support from people driving and walking past.
After arriving at city hall, we found that the cowardly city administrators cancelled the council meeting rather than face those they claim to represent. Our group was met by kkkops who were combative, issued verbal threats, and attempted to waste our time. The justifiably irritated crowd drowned them out with chants of “Who shot Darius?!” After occupying the area and holding these capitalist watch-dogs accountable for their abuses, the crowd called their bluff. We marched to a busy highway and shut it down.
When workers arrived back at the cop station, some banged on the windows of the building, fearlessly demanding accountability for the oppression of their communities. This prompted a standoff between workers and the cops that ended with them making more empty promises about details of Darius’ murder. They may think they were getting themselves off the hook, but our group of multiracial fighters have no plan to ease off the pressure.
Front line lessons of class struggle
This action showed that members of the working class in Chicago Heights and surrounding areas absolutely have power. Life under capitalism purposefully drives workers to many destructive vices and methods of survival. Despite this reality, when our class unites in fightback, all that can be overcome. For PLP, continuing to build lasting relationships with other workers and pushing the limits of our political education and action is what it means to do this work.   
A PL member at the action said that our class can never trust the system to correct itself. A less racist, sexist, murderous version of capitalism does not exist; nothing short of a worker-led communist revolution will free us.  This is our Party’s message to workers and students and what we build toward. Nothing short of smashing capitalism and fighting for communism will win freedom for our class. We need all workers and students to join us!