BALTIMORE, December 14—Protesters gathered for a special “West Wednesday” rally and press conference, the 177th weekly demonstration demanding justice for Tyrone West, who was murdered three-and-a-half years ago by Baltimore and Morgan State University cops. A West Wednesday leader said it all: “The State’s Attorneys and whoever else stands by and watches all this senseless murder in our community every day. Then you got killer cops still walking the streets. I’m freaking pissed! I can’t stop crying!  Man, [expletive] this cruddy system flat out!”
This week we exposed the Medical Examiners’ lies. They falsely claimed that heart problems and dehydration probably caused Tyrone’s death. They ignored the testimony of multiple eyewitnesses. Those witnesses clearly described the tasing, repeated, full-face drenching with pepper spray, severe beatings with fists and batons, ruthless kicking, and finally being sat upon by an obese, coldblooded cop, while unarmed Tyrone gasped his last breath. The cops escalated a simple traffic stop into an execution.
Tawanda Jones, Tyrone’s sister, shared a never-before-seen photo, that she took five days after his murder. People gasped in horror and outrage at the cop-inflicted wounds, while Tyrone’s family could barely remain standing.
The family released a second autopsy from an independent, out of state pathologist. The cause of death determined by the outside pathologist, “positional asphyxiation,” differs night-and-day from the official Maryland autopsy. It was “strangulation-by-cop,” similar to Eric Garner, 43-year-old Black man killed by the cops in Staten Island in July 2014!
The cops and their buddies continue trying to intimidate the protesters. Time after time, Tawanda’s car tires have been slashed. West Wednesday fighters have often raised money for new tires. We will not be intimidated. We continue to advance under attack! The cops are doing what the capitalist system requires: intimidate and repress, while upholding racism. Expecting “better cops” is as crazy as hoping for an anti-racist Ku Klux Klan!
We all need to help build a revolutionary communist movement to destroy this system of racist police terror. Progressive Labor Party members have consistently joined the West Wednesday rallies and helped with leafleting, sound equipment, speeches and organizing. PL’ers have written for CHALLENGE, making this an international issue, and have distributed Challenge at the rallies. Speeches by PL’ers have stressed the need for communist revolution, have attacked the Department of Justice report as a dog-and-pony show, and have explained how racism is rooted in capitalism.
Over the past three years West Wednesday protesters have sent many appeals to government officials. These officials respond with meaningless form letters. They will not put the cops on trial. Many of these officials are Black, but like their white counterparts, they carry out the mission of the capitalists. As “300 Gangsters” – an organization active at West Wednesday – often says, “All Black ain’t Black, all white ain’t white. We all we got, we all we need.”
We must build this antiracist movement, not only on the street, but also on-the-job and at schools, like the progressive students from University of Maryland, who have brought sizeable groups to some rallies.
The fight to incarcerate killer cops is an important anti-racist struggle, but such reform struggles are limited. They won’t change the system. As the Ferguson rebels said, “It’s the whole damn system.” That means joining the Progressive Labor Party and building a revolutionary movement for communism. And when the U.S. capitalists become weak during their upcoming wars against their international rivals, we will take down this inhuman system once and for all.

HARLEM, December 10—A multiracial group of  over 30 people protested racist harassment of Black, Latin, and Muslim workers following Donald Trump’s election. Protesters included Columbia, CUNY, and Fordham students, members of the church sponsoring the action, neighborhood residents, and PLP members and friends. People are angry and afraid of the gutter racism, sexism, and fascism Trump has encouraged. We had a rally to show solidarity and give confidence to all workers that we can fight back against attacks. Our energetic chants electrified people on this cold wintry day and people eagerly took our fliers as we marched.
One PLP member took the bullhorn and angrily denounced racism’s effects: inferior schools, poor health care, no jobs, and inadequate or no housing. One member of Columbia’s Student Worker Solidarity (SWS) organization spoke about being arrested during a militant $15-minimum-wage action. Other SWS members spoke about their campaign against payroll lag time for student workers. CUNY students demanded NO tuition increases and NO budget cutbacks. Another speaker talked about the ongoing work to end police violence and to demand that no killer cop can remain anonymous. A PLP member led us in a song about  Ramarley Graham and Deborah Danner’s murders and  Eric Garner’s lynching.
It is no coincidence that police terror, tuition hikes, and other attacks are all happening now. As the bosses prepare for more wars in the Middle East and beyond, they need to terrorize workers to keep them in line. They also devote less money for education so that they can fund their wars. Whether we’re fighting for a living wage or against racist housing practices, we need to make the connections that these problems are all caused by capitalism.
Feet to the Ground
We then marched to the State Office Building (SOB) with energetic drum beats and militant chants. Neighbors noticed  us and one CD vendor even shut off his loud music so that we could be heard. Several people joined the march as they read our signs and heard our chants. With hands and feet frigid from the cold, we stood  before the SOB as  church choir members led us in a militant, anti-racist version of “Go Down Moses.”
We ended with a PLP speech where the comrade called for an end to the vicious attacks on our working-class brothers and sisters by the kkkops. She also spoke of the  murderous steam heat burning of two babies who died in a New York City apartment for the homeless  even though the building’s landlord is on a list of the city’s worst slumlords.
Given the bitter cold weather, we had a great turnout and made our demands heard. We were very heartened by the  church members and leaders who participated, including the pastor. Going forward, we must make the issue of racist police violence even stronger. As important as these actions are, we must not forget that as long as capitalism exists, we are not going to end racism and sexism. Only communism can end all of these capitalist-caused problems. With patience and boldness, we are finding more are open to revolutionary communist ideas. Stay tuned for more fightback!

Most mysteries’ main characters are either a police detective or a private eye who works with the cops or a citizen who works closely with the police. Author Timothy Sheard has created a viable mystery with little or no police involvement, thus concretely illustrating how the working class itself can solve society’s problems. That’s what we get with the latest Lenny Moss mystery, Someone Has to Die.
The protagonist Lenny Moss is a maintenance worker in a hospital in Philadelphia. He is a union steward in his workplace, and is very active in defending the workers against management’s harassment and callousness. His commitment to his co-workers is genuine and is returned with deep friendships and mutual aid off the job. His anti racist principles and militant hatred for the bosses cement the friendships with his coworkers. Lenny Moss is nominally the detective, but five or six characters pool their information and put together enough pieces of the puzzle to solve the mystery.
The workers are portrayed realistically. They have good hearts and burn with righteous anger over injustice, but are not without human faults and failings. There are times when Lenny wants to just give up and lead a quiet life, but his sense of duty to his co-workers keeps him going. Lenny’s firm principles, which include multiracial unity and service towards the workers he represents, as well as his refusal to be intimidated by management, earns his coworkers’ trust. He is not a communist and there is no discussion of overthrowing capitalism, but Lenny understands that loyalty to the working class trumps personal gain.
This mystery begins with a nurse falsely accused and fired by the bosses when a patient is found dead in the morning. Scapegoating a worker as cover to make the hospital administration look good rather than trying to understand what actually happened rings true for workers in medicine, transit and education. Meanwhile, the hospital management plans to slash pensions and health care for retirees as well as current workers. Lenny and his union co-workers and retirees creatively plan a rally against these cutbacks while the union leadership negotiates with management. Lenny has his hands full as he tries to find out why the patient died, support the fired nurse, and outwit management.
Sheard shows his understanding of hospital practice and the need for teamwork in caring for patients in a secondary issue where a friendly doctor refuses to follow the computer guidelines in managing a sick patient despite intimidation from a manager who is heavily invested in the new and expensive technology.
This is the fifth in a series featuring Lenny Moss. The best part of this mystery series is that it is grounded in the working class. Lenny cannot solve mysteries without the collective efforts of clerks, lab techs, and clinicians. Sheard himself worked as an Emergency Room nurse for forty years. Lenny is based on a real janitor who was his coworker in a Philadelphia hospital. Tim started Hardball Press after his regular publishers told him they could not make any money selling his books. You can purchase this mystery novel at http://amzn.to/2hNApv3.
It is important to support books about strong, antiracist workers and their struggles. Otherwise, the stories would not be told and workers would not be inspired to action.

BROOKLYN, December 17—On two consecutive Saturdays, plainclothes thugs of the NYPD descended on the apartment of a strong Brooklyn mother who refused to take their assault. Her son is wanted by the NYPD. In the style of imperialist and fascist forces across history, terrorizing the immediate family of sought-after individuals is official policy.

The mother is a student in a college classroom where communist ideas set some of the tone of discussion. She called on new friends to help her mobilize a campaign to resist the racist harassment from the cops. Visits and meetings will be building into a campaign that draws in neighbors, family, fellow students, friends and PLP members. It’s become clear that the cops who invaded her apartment have a long history of racist assaults on the homes of many in the public housing developments of this Brooklyn neighborhood. These are not “rogue” cops. They are essential to the performing the function of policing in a segregated, capitalist society.

While legal tactics, including filing reports and potentially a lawsuit, are a part of the response mobilizing our base. Picket the precinct and building on initial door-to-door efforts in the apartment is central to our response. This case is a new front in the battle against racist cop terror because PLP is on the scene and organizing not in response to cop murder but in response to the racist assaults that form the “business as usual” of daily life no matter who the president or mayor may be.
This proud mother’s resistance to the racist assault on her home is an inspiration and an opportunity for many more to stand against the terror that shapes daily life for our class brothers and sisters here and around the world. Stay tuned.