For Duprey: To end police murder, smash capitalism

THE BRONX, August 23—Killer KKKop Erik Duran threw a 40-pound cooler point-blank at 30-year-old father Eric Duprey while he was on a motorbike, murdering him within minutes. While the bosses’ media has been quick to do anything they can to smear Eric Duprey’s character, his family knew him as a loving father who enjoyed doing tricks on his motorbike.

On August 26, dozens of workers protested at the site of Eric’s murder, and demanded justice. A sign at his street vigil reads, “NYPD is the Blue Klux Klan.”  Another reads, “Only we can keep us safe.” A march to the 52nd precinct was called on September 1.

We too want justice for Eric Duprey. Sadly, there will be no justice under capitalism, a system designed to kill and terrorize the working class with impunity. Workers need a system where racism is outlawed, where killer kkkops will no longer prowl the streets looking for victims, and where all workers will be able to live in dignity. This system is communism, and Progressive Labor Party (PLP) fights for it every day. Join us!

On August 28, members of PLP visited the vigil and spoke with Eric’s wife and some of his friends. One of Eric’s friends explained that other cops saw what Duran was doing, but none of them tried to stop him. Eric’s wife said that she knew Raymond Chalusiant, an 18-year-old Latin teen who killer kop Dion Middleton killed last summer for playing with a water gun. Raymond lived only a 10 minute walk from where Erik Duran murdered Eric Duprey this week. This exposes the reformist lies that there are merely a “few bad apples” within the police force. The police exist to keep the working class in check, particularly by terrorizing Black and Latin working class communities. The cops, the courts, the Ku Klux Klan: All are part of the bosses’ plan!

Black cop, white cop, all the same: racist terror is the name of the game!
The Big Fascists, the liberal main wing of the U.S. ruling class, are trying to win workers to the idea that multiracial capitalism is the answer to these racist police murders. No amount of diversity initiatives or Black or Latin cops will end police murder. Dion Middleton, a Black correctional officer, murdered Raymond Chalusiant. Erik Duran, a Latin Narcotics Sergeant, murdered Eric Duprey. These Black and Latin KKKops enforce the same racist, murderous system as their white counterparts, all under the administration of Black ex-cop Eric Adams and Black Attorney General Letitia James.

Assassin Sergeant Erik Duran had already been named in two lawsuits and had 17 prior complaints, 15 of which were for “abuse of authority” and one for the use of “physical force.” But he is just one player in the ruling class’ ramp up of racist police terror in an era of expanding fascist control. In 2022, the New York Police Department (NYPD) conducted more stop-and-frisks than any year since 2015 (ACLU of New York, 2023). 

Adams’ latest racist plan is to use drones to monitor the backyard parties of mostly West Indian Brooklyn residents during the annual J’ouvert celebration. And the policing doesn’t end in the streets. Black NYC Education department Chancellor David Banks just announced that elementary school principals will be holding regular zoom meetings with local police precincts. We cannot be fooled: While the bosses try to trick workers into supporting these initiatives out of concern for their “safety,” they are really trying to expand social control as part of the path to fascism. The Big Fascists need workers to obediently fall in line when they throw us into world war with their imperialist rivals.

No justice under a capitalist system
Erik Duran has been suspended without pay, but so far has not been arrested or charged with murder. We say, “NYPD–you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!” Even in the very unlikely chance that Erik Duran ends up charged or even convicted with murder, no amount of jail time will bring Eric Duprey back from the dead or end racist police murder.

The ruling class depends on their killer cop army to prevent revolution and maintain social control. The cops use racist murder and violence as their primary tactic. No amount of reform or training will fix these issues. Only under communism can we end police murder and smash racism once and for all. Communism will remove the material conditions required for racism. The international working class will make sure that everyone’s material needs are met and focus on building community rather than tearing it down. Join the Progressive Labor Party!