Letters of October 26

Student Distributes Challenge, Fights Cynicism
I just started my first year at an elite college on the west coast. I expected people to be fairly apathetic about racism and sexism. But already I have found so many who are open to hearing about communist politics. Just today, I gave CHALLENGE to two people! Here are a couple anecdotes:
I was watching Pulp Fiction with about ten people. One guy really loves Quentin Tarantino movies, like I do, so I struck up a conversation with him. I brought up that some people call Tarantino racist for using the n-word a lot. We talked about how it factors into capitalist culture. I introduced the idea of communism, and how we don’t need to reuse such terrible racist and sexist words. We can just get rid of them!
This small exchange sparked a two-hour conversation where we talked about everything from elections to internationalism to human nature. In the middle of our conversation, he stopped to tell me that coming here, he had a lot of ideas about how “white people are.” He thanked me for showing him that not all white people are the same, and that if I am antiracist, he knows there are other white people who are, too. After talking for such a long time, I gave him the paper. He said he would read it and tell me what he thought.
Another exchange I had today was at brunch. Someone brought up that they went to Brooklyn Tech high school. I asked if she was involved in the antisexist, antiracist dress-code protests. It turns out, she was and has seen CHALLENGE, and knows a comrade at the school! We talked for an hour and a half about what kind of society we fight for and some of the successes and failures of the Soviet Union. I’m going to give her the paper every issue now.
Coming here, not knowing anyone, I was worried about being so open with my communist politics. I thought people would reject them for various reasons. I feel so energized and excited to help wage the antiracist, antisexist fight out here. May those who read this feel emboldened to bring these ideas and CHALLENGE to their coworkers, classmates, and friends!
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APHA: Overcoming Racism One Button at a Time
On September 8, the Metropolitan Washington Public Health Association (MWPHA) held its annual conference. This year the focus was on Health Equity and Overcoming Racism. The all-day conference had about 80 students and young professionals who were excited that “Overcoming Racism” was the theme although there had been considerable debate about the theme prior to the conference. Two PLP communists raised issues of police violence, background checks and environmental justice.
During the conference, one PL’er spoke about the fight against racist white supremacy groups in California and mentioned the   protest against the KKK in Anaheim, CA in February. She explained that we were collecting $1 for the No Racism buttons for the Anaheim Legal Defense Fund and said that her son-in-law was beaten by the Anaheim cops.  After that, one woman donated $5 for the button and the Fund.
It is important to show the personal side of the political struggle. It helps folks focus on how capitalism affects individuals and how to help concretely. This is true more than ever; cops are still shooting unarmed Black and Latin men and women without consequences. People get overloaded and overwhelmed by the magnitude of the struggle and need to be able to contribute to building the movement.
The conference led to over 20 people signing up for our Health Equity Committee and we are making plans to expand our outreach and advocacy around HIV and Hepatitis C. There is also interest in issues of police violence and mass incarceration with a focus on elderly prisoners and returning residents from other countries.
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 No Revolution in the BeyHive
Don’t judge, but I attended the Beyoncé Formation concert. Bey has been getting credit for being “woke.” But, there’s no radical politics here—just fake liberation submerged in profit making and cult-making.  
In addition to her new album’s hits, Bey performed some throwback songs like “Bootylicious.”  During that song, she lifted her golden shirt to reveal her clothed backside. And the crowd was in an uproar.
This obsession with the buttocks is firmly grounded in scientific racism. At the beginning of the slave trade, “scientists” had used the posterior as one borderline between “savage” African women and “civilized” European women. The most famous example of this was Saartijie Baartman, a khoisan woman stolen from South Africa who was paraded as a freak show exhibition throughout Europe for her body. She would come out of a grass hut and dance and sing for the audience. Many in the audience would grab her behind. For many, Baartman today represents imperialist exploitation and racism. The bosses’ media and culture make racism and exploitation normal by sexualizing it—forcing us to internalize these racist and sexist images.
Empowerment for Bey is still about selling capitalism through Black female bodies and sex—that’s nothing new. As I witnessed her toned legs in a Victorian leotard, I thought, “Is this supposed to be empowering?”
Communists have a different standard for young beauty and women’s leadership. Our role is to speak up against racism and sexism in our schools. We derive confidence from fighting back, and from our contribution to the working class—not from slayin’ while dressed in antebellum Southern regalia.
In fact, Bey’s true role as a ruling-class instrument is apparent in the song “Formation.” She sings, “I’m a Black Bill Gates in the making…always stay gracious, best revenge is your paper.” Tools of polite politics and competition to get to the top belong to the bosses.
By using images of Black mothers who lost their children to police terror, of the environmental racism unleashed in the form of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, Bey appropriates working-class culture for her own agenda—churning images of rage into ones of Black capitalist success. (Beyoncé and Jay Z’s combined network is $1 billion (CNN Money, 2/8).
But, Beyoncé, in addition to feeding into an industry that lives off the shaming of women’s bodies, profits directly off of sexism. I found out about her new clothing line at the concert. The stated goal of her label Ivy Park with the British company Topshop is, “Celebrate every woman and the body she’s in while always striving to be better.” Of course that motto didn’t include the women in Sri Lanka making 64 cents per hour for a company with a net worth of $6.7 billion (Huffington Post, 5/26). So much for female empowerment.
But I’m not for female empowerment either. Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, and I are not in the same class. I’m part of the class that works, and my empowerment is through liberating my class’s labour from bondage.
Beyoncé is thriving because she is the best capitalism can offer young women, especially Black, Latin, and South Asian women. At a time of such low class struggle, is Bey the best working-class women can hope for? Not at all! Music is an expression of the human experience. When class struggle rages again, when communists have an international influence over the masses, the rhythm of human experience will be melodious, liberating. Don’t believe me? Listen to Nina Simone—the content and form of her music will make you woke. No slayin’ required. Hopefully that will inspire us to create music that voices the working-class struggle and fightback.
So for anyone part of the Beyhive, next time you hear “6 Inch Heels,” just remember, “She works for the money.” Beyoncé is no sister of mine. And I ain’t sorry to admit that.
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