BRIDGEVIEW, ILLINOIS, August 6 – Communists from Progressive Labor Party (PLP) stood in bold solidarity today with dozens of angry multiracial workers at the traffic kkkourt hearing for racist killer, 27-year-old Leanne Cusack. She is the white woman charged with "failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident" after snuffing out the life of 28-year-old Arab worker, Murod Kurdi, on June 5th.
In Oak Lawn, the neighboring city to this Cook County kkkourthouse, he was run over as he opened the driver’s side of his parked car, then laid in critical condition as Leanne continued driving for a block and a half. She then called her lawyer with her four-year-old in her back seat, never calling 911 herself so an ambulance could give Murod a fighting chance. Once kkkops arrived, she refused to do a Breathalyzer test and was allowed to go home without further investigation.
The racist travesty continued in kkkourt, when she was escorted out the back door to "protect" her from the family of the man she killed. Workers fighting for justice for Murod were clearly agitated. This southwest suburb of Chicago has "an interesting way of dealing with the immigrant population," said one Arab worker when discussing how we learned about Murod while attending the monthly rally for assaulted teen Hadi Abuatelah (See CHALLENGE, 6/22).
This is another way to say, this capitalist state is racist to its core. It always has and always will be. It can never fundamentally reform itself to serve the needs of the working class; only a worker-led communist state can do that. As we fight for justice for Murod, Hadi, and so many others, we fight to win millions of workers to the task of building a mass international PLP for communist revolution and the end of capitalism!
Mass antiracist struggle carries on
Many in the crowd chanting, "Justice for Murod
Kurdi," have also been chanting, "Justice for Hadi," since last August. We were there helping continue a now year long commitment to the sustained antiracist fightback against the brutal police beating of 17-year-old Hadi. Of the three kkkops involved in the summer 2022 racist assault, only one has faced any disciplinary measures. Patrick O'Donnell has been charged with battery and misconduct but remains employed by the Oak Lawn police on administrative leave (aka paid vacation).
Mark Hollingsworth, who also took part in the brutal beating which left Hadi Abuatelah hospitalized with severe brain and spinal injuries, has been given more responsibility in the department. He was sent to manipulate Murod’s mother, showing her body camera footage of Cusack that supposedly demonstrated her sobriety. Murod's mother Fadia led the antiracist fightback, exclaiming in a speech "This could happen to anyone not just me!" to a crowd of supporters.
Seeing the KKKourts and KKKops reward some officers while slapping others on the wrist illustrates the dead end of reformism. The calls for us to hold politicians like Illinois Big Fascist liberal misleaders such as state's attorney Kim Foxx and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul have yielded, in the case of Hadi, deceptively dangerous, minimal and impermanent gains. We find ourselves in the same position with fatal results a year later, fighting again.
However, during the following August 2nd Oak Lawn Police and Fire Board meeting a few days before Cusack's court date, the militant tactics of the base of workers supporting the righteous protest was inspiring to behold. Workers interrupted the farcical proceedings of the unelected Police Board commissioners with a statement and chants of "Justice for Hadi" and "Justice for Murod.” The numerous police officers providing security demanded all Hadi/Murod supporters leave while allowing those part of a three-person Small Fascist, "back the blue" contingent to stay.
The Small Fascist commissioners leaned heavily on the rules for their meeting and reconvened the meeting after throwing us out. An organizer pointed out that they treat vehicular homicide and vicious beating of children with impunity but enforce the letter of their meeting rules. We continued chanting in front of the courthouse for the duration of the meeting. When the Small Fascist commissioners and their “back the blue” goons exited, we chanted, "Go home, racist" and "go home, fascist" as the gutter racists walked to their cars. The level of militancy of the outraged workers was high and inspired revolutionary optimism.
Communist politics are the antidote to deadly capitalist poison
At the actions of both Murod and Hadi the antiracist anger and militancy are always justifiably high, a testament to the power of a united working class. There is no doubt that this militancy will continue at the upcoming actions in September as we continue the struggle. Our task as always remains to play a key role in broadening the base of the mass working-class movement, sharpening the class struggle, and widely spreading communist politics as the antidote to the poisons of capitalism.