Letters of December 24

Sit-In and Protest at Baltimore High School
Once the Ferguson grand jury decision was announced, with no charges at all being pressed against killer-cop Darren Wilson, many people went wild. Yet another life of a Black male had been taken prematurely by a cop. The outrage in Ferguson, Missouri spread to cities all over the country, and to other parts of the world too!
Here in Baltimore, Maryland, a student sit-in and protest was held at my high school. I was lucky enough to be able to take part.
On the day after the verdict was announced, school system officials did not acknowledge the case at all. If those officials wouldn’t give Michael Brown’s life the acknowledgement it deserves, then the students would!  We planned a sit-in to be held in the auditorium on the following day.
The administration heard of this protest plan, and tried to pacify us by coming up with an official assembly, giving us an hour to speak on the case. All they wanted to do was contain the high emotions of everyone and keep the student body under control.
If school system officials truly cared about developing our understanding about this major injustice, or if they truly wanted to help us become socially conscious fighters and learn how to struggle effectively against all the innocent lives being snuffed out by the kkkops, they would have taken the initiative. At the very least, they could have devoted some time during the previous day’s PA announcements to discuss the injustice of Michael Brown’s killer facing no consequences at all.
When that hour in the auditorium was up, we stayed in our seats and refused to leave. Myself and some other students took the lead at this event, and it was a beautiful thing to see. Powerful spoken-word pieces were performed; stories about experiences with police brutality were shared; and impassioned speeches were given.
We then left the building to hold a protest outside the school, picketing and chanting vigorously, even though it was snowing and cold. After protesting boldly, we went back inside to watch a documentary (videotaped by PLP members) about the protests in Ferguson. Then we had a lively, heartfelt discussion, with quite a few students speaking and expressing their views on racism, police brutality and related issues.
We also talked about the police murder of Baltimore’s Tyrone West who was unarmed and beaten to death in July of 2013 by a dozen cops, none of whom have faced any charges at all!  Several students at our school have participated in one or more of the weekly “West Wednesday” protests after Tyrone West’s sister came to our school and spoke at a meeting of one of our student clubs.
Everything during our amazing day of protest went well, and I saw that some people were genuinely passionate. However, a lot of people’s anger was limited to only their feelings about police brutality. But in reality, it’s this capitalist society that we need to be angry with. Under capitalism, police brutality will continue to be common.
One of the most important aspects of the day’s great activities is that those of us in Progressive Labor Party had a couple hundred flyers left from the citywide protests of the night before, where we had distributed 400. It explained why we need revolution and communism. By the end of our sit-in, picket line, and speak-out, we distributed every single one of the 200 remaining flyers!
After receiving and reading the leaflet and listening to how one’s socioeconomic status and “race” are connected to his/her mistreatment, students — of ages ranging from fourteen to eighteen — now know more about the corrupt society that they are brainwashed to love. The Progressive Labor Party is spreading knowledge and will be gaining more members.

Conscious High School Student Building Unity Through Struggle
On November 26, friends and I planned on walking out of class at 9 o’clock for a cause. Appalled by the decision to not indict Darren Wilson after he murdered Michael Brown, a senior came up with the idea to have a peaceful “sit-in” in the auditorium with students from our school and our neighboring school.
The idea was constructed the day before the sit-in was scheduled. Later that night, we caused an uproar on social media by  talking about the sit-in. That was the day after the racist decision was released by the grand jury in Ferguson.
Early the next morning, there were rumors that the media found out about it. So, it turns out that this got a lot bigger than what we had expected because the whole high school got involved, and the administration decided not to cause an escalation by opposing it. Instead, they chose to make it semi-official.
Juniors and seniors were set to meet in the auditorium first. Then, after an hour, we would be sent back to class, and the freshmen and sophomores would meet after us. However, the administrations’ plan to send us back to class didn’t fly with the seniors or some of the juniors. We were not willing to compromise in this situation because we were not willing to have our voices cut off. We decided not to go back to class!
The original objective of the sit-in was to raise awareness of the situation, express our solidarity, and show that we are not oblivious to what’s going on around us. Once the administration saw that we were not backing down from our beliefs, they tried to work with us, and gave us a say on something that we, honestly, were going to do, with or without approval.
We elected leaders and by that time, our communist teacher from last year, who we had invited appeared. With his ideas as well as those of my fellow classmates, we were able to make a difference and have our voices heard. We decided to march and chant outside the school, which many of us did, and then watch a documentary on the current events of Ferguson.
Following that, we gave ourselves the opportunity to finally express our viewpoints, one which is often very limited.
I’m very proud to say that this sit-in united my class, my school. As young Black women and men, along with white students and young people of other background, we’ll go down in history as “Young adults who were determined to have their voices heard.” I could not be more proud of my fellow students!
New Antiracist Activist

Solidarity in Merced
Recently I attended an action where college teachers, students, and many community people were demonstrating in Merced, CA against the disappearance of students in Ayotzinapa, Mexico, racist cop murders in the U.S., and the “drug wars” against Black and Latin youth in both countries. 
As part of the #USTIRED2 movement, Merced was one of 43 cities having such demonstrations, one for each student kidnapped and presumed murdered by the Mexican government. They demanded an end to Mérida Initiative (“Plan Mexico,” the billions of U.S. aid to Mexican security forces), and an end to the media blackout on narco-terror in Mexico.  Many posters read “Ayotzinapa, Ferguson, Gaza” and “State Repression.” 
Some of the same people are planning a “teach in” to follow up: there will be speakers on (1) Gaza and the U.S. funding of Israeli military, (2) Mike Brown, Eric Garner, and police militarization, and the Mexico and U.S. connection to War on Drugs.
Many people agreed that this was all about police and state terror against workers in both countries.  An older Latino man and I tried to figure out what has changed, why now there was a rapidly growing resistance even though mass incarceration, police murder, and state terror has stolen hundreds of thousands of lives in both countries for many years. After speculations, we realized there was a simple, yet profound truth: “everything has a breaking point.” 
In Mexico many are saying, “They have taken everything, even our fear.” In Ferguson the heroic Black youth have kept at it month after month and many are trying to figure out deeper questions about the bigger breaking point, when the “whole system has to go.”  It gave me a lot to think about on the long drive home, but suffice it to say there is real possibility and power in international working-class solidarity.
Bay Area Red