NJ: No good mayors in a racist system

March 15, NEWARK, NJ - “No good mayors in a racist system,” shouted members of Progressive Labor Party  (PLP) alongside the family and friends of Justin Rodwell as we rallied for over an hour outside of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) at Newark Mayor Ras Baraka's annual State of the City.' This multiracial group of roughly two dozen people of all ages gathered in front of a line of snickering policemen to bravely demand the prison release of Justin, a young Black man whose family local cops targeted in June 2021. PLP and the Rodwell-Spivey Defense Committee (RSDC) refuse to abandon the “Free Justin Now” campaign, using this crisis to expose the danger that supposed cultural symbol Baraka represents for workers of color as the city ramps up for local elections. Workers in cities from Los Angeles to Guangzhou, Johannesburg to Chicago, and Newark are experiencing the intensification of capitalist displacement and gentrification which always requires government-backed force, the latter manifesting in police repression and harassment in the Rodwell-Spivey case. . As ruling class tensions all over the world increase the drive toward world war, political managers of capitalism like Baraka invariably utilize fascist measures for maintaining control over our class, and PLP is committed now more than ever to condemning capitalist politicians of every stripe and party.       
As Justin remains in jail without bail for nine months now, PLP and the RSDC have continued actively demanding that all charges be dropped and harassment against his family end. To add insult to injury, the very morning of the State of the City address, a Newark cop shot a 15-year old (PATCH, 3/15), providing yet another example to the hundreds of patrons who attended the annual propaganda ploy that the failures of liberal politicians are more relevant than ever.  CHALLENGE was disseminated to workers in the area and Rodwell-Spivey family members who were at the protest showcased on Instagram LIVE what militant workers’ power looks like while the Baraka administration displayed a sham video in the NJPAC theater touting “progress” around crime and police relations.     
Custodians of capitalism
Racist bail laws, useless body cameras, cynical social work partnerships, and ineffective civilian review boards are all that Newark’s “progressive” administration can point toward, reminiscent of past and current efforts of the notorious NYPD under Democratic leadership of first DeBlasio and now Adams. The Baraka administration boasted that “the City of Newark reallocated five percent of the police department’s budget to be able to develop violence prevention programs,” yet that funding hardly materialized where working-class people live. Instead, it goes toward lining the pockets of cynical consultants or advancing programs that force the homeless away from new high-end housing developments in Newark’s downtown financial center. Baraka, like former NYC Mayor DeBlasio, introduced 10 social workers to partner with Newark police in response to intercommunal violence (PATCH, 6/21). Now under the current NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, social workers are pairing with the police to harass homeless people and clear out their encampments in fast-gentrifying sections of the city.
While Baraka’s goons gloat about creating the first Civilian Complaint Review Board in NJ, PLP and the Rodwell-Spivey Defense Committee are speaking out on the failures of other police reforms that were created under their liberal administration. Justin Rodwell scored a low-risk point number on a scale that’s supposed to determine the risk of releasing someone from jail in lieu of gutter racist bail systems. Still Justin’s judge ‘went against his better judgment’ and left him in a jail cell. In 2014, the Newark Police Department signed a consent decree to train officers to behave better and wear body cameras, yet a Black worker, Carl Dorsey was killed by Newark kkkops in 2020.   
“You want to act like nothing’s going on in Newark? We’re suffering!” Monique Rodwell shouted to Baraka outside of the NJPAC doors. As she shouted, workers in Ukraine were under armed attack from capitalist war efforts between the Russian, U.S., NATO member imperialists. Under capitalism, workers are facing militarized terror all over. Not to mention global displacement that is fueled by competitive commodification of land and profits. When workers can’t afford to keep up with the cost of living, we are forced to work ourselves to death or be left for dead in the streets. Under communist leadership, quality housing and neighborhoods won’t be driven by profit and will be obtainable by the same people who help maintain it–the WORKERS.
Workers must strengthen the state of the working class on May Day
The most effective weapon that PLP has to terminate liberal misleaders selling our class out is to strengthen our credibility, friendships, and struggles with workers around issues like police terror and housing. We don’t just fight to “win” the case by having the charges dropped against Justin; PLP fights to deepen ties with the Rodwell-Spivey family around the need to overthrow this system for good, demonstrating to our class what real workers’ power means.
Self critically, we have to extend our comradery to countless City workers under the Baraka administration who need our analysis and commitment because they, too, suffer tremendously from poor working conditions and political corruption. May Day is PLP’s annual “state of the working class” celebration, a reminder to ourselves and fellow workers that the only way to correct the errors of capitalist misleaders is for our party to grow worldwide. We need workers inside of City Hall and in the streets of Newark to come with us to Brooklyn so that we can show the world what a ‘State of the Communists’ will look like on April 30th for May Day. From every corner of the world, join us!