LOS ANGELES, CA January 8 – In response to the brutal murders of Valentina Orellana Peralta and Daniel Elena Lopez by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and friends attended a march to protest this racist capitalist system. The march began outside the clothing store where LAPD opened fire on innocent workers and murdered Daniel and Valentina on December 23 after Daniel was in the midst of a mental health crisis and hit a customer with a bike lock. The LAPD KKKop, William Dorsey Jones, fatally shot Daniel and then Valentina who was shopping for a quinceanera dress. The protest culminated in front of the LAPD North Hollywood station. Party members sought to bring to light that killer cop Jones, a Black cop who championed the fallacy of “good policing” is the ultimate symbol of liberal Big Fascist (see Glossary, page 6) reforms.
This case is a stark reminder of the futility of “reforming” the police in a capitalist system where the ruling class holds power at the point of a gun. Only with a communist revolution will the working class be able to truly live our lives free of terror and violence.
A revolutionary party
Since its founding in 1965, PLP has boldly championed the fight against racist police terror and murder. We have been actively involved in countless campaigns for justice with the families of the victims of this terror, who are disproportionately Black, Latin, indigenous and immigrant workers. We have repeatedly pointed out the role of the police in a capitalist society — they serve the bosses and protect their property, money and power in the face of potential rebellion by the working class. We have said that nothing less than a violent overthrow of this racist, murderous system and the establishment of a communist, antiracist workers’ dictatorship can destroy the bosses’ armed forces and end capitalism’s reign of terror.
The march was organized by several reformist and nationalist groups. The organizers handed out signs and buttons with pictures of Valentina, but none with Daniel’s picture, playing into the mainstream media’s criminalization of a worker in need. The march took the street and continued for several miles. The chanting was loud and continuous. About 60 people participated in the march and rally, 23 of whom took copies of CHALLENGE. The speakers at the rally mouthed the need for “revolution,” but did not explain that the police cannot be reformed because their job is to keep the ruling class in power. Copying the racist liberal media and politicians, who believe that police terror is justified, the speakers said not one word about the murder of Daniel Elena Lopez.
Rulers’ phony solutions for racist murder
Politicians and other reformist mouthpieces for the bosses’ lies have proposed various “solutions” to the problem of racist police terror and murder over the years. Here are some of them, and how these recent murders again prove that reforms can never benefit the working class:  
More Black, Latin and women cops. Jones, the killer cop who murdered both Daniel and Valentina, is Black.
Better training, including “de-escalation.” One month before the murders, Jones and all of his fellow LAPD thugs were given training instructing them to “consider their surroundings when firing their guns” “to minimize the risk of hitting innocent bystanders.” As was reported in the January 19, 2022 issue of CHALLENGE, the LAPD first claimed a 911 call identified Daniel as having a gun. But, as soon as they arrived, the cops were told by a store employee that Daniel had no gun. There were zero attempts by the cops to “de-escalate” the situation. Killer KKKop Jones ran into the store and just kept running until he saw Daniel and immediately opened fire with his rifle (LA Daily News, 1/11).  
Community-oriented policing In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and many others, Jones created his own non-profit, called “Officers for Change.” Its logo is a police cap with a red heart in the middle. Jones identified himself as a proud Black man who had been a “victim of racism.” The nonprofit's mission is to win Black and Latin working-class children to view the police in a positive light (Orange County Reg, 12/30/21).
Elect district attorneys who promise to prosecute killer cops. Recenty elected “progressive” LA County District Attorney George Gascon is still “investigating” whether Jones will be charged or not. Of the over 600 murders of workers by killer cops in LA County between 2012 and when he was elected in 2020, Gascon has stated that he will reopen the investigation of exactly four of them. None of the cops have yet been prosecuted by Gascon’s office.
But, the reality is that the murder machine goes on and on and on. Valentina Orellana Peralta and Daniel Elena Lopez are but its latest victims in Los Angeles.
Smash racist KKKops
 The worldwide 2020 mass uprisings of tens of millions against racist police terror taught us that  mass antiracist anger can temporarily force the capitalists to take actions to make it appear that their “justice” system can benefit the working class. But despite that bold upsurge, the capitalist-controlled media and other institutions are now promoting the need for more cops. Los Angeles is just one example of this trend. The liberal racist LA City Council voted for a 3 percent increase in LAPD funding in 2021-22 and the LA Police Commission is proposing a further 12 percent increase for 2022-23 (LA Daily News, 11/23/21).More blood money for cops means more racist terror. In 2021, the LAPD killed almost as many workers as in 2019 and 2020 combined (LA Times, 12/27/21).
There is no justice or peace for workers under capitalism. Only a communist revolution and the elimination of racism from the face of the earth will ever bring the justice and peace that the world’s workers deserve. PLP is committed to lead that fight.