NEW YORK CITY, August 10—While the ruling class laments the departure of  their darling “top cop” William Bratton, the working class knows better! Under his first watch (1994-1996)  many Black and Latin workers and youth were murdered in cold bood by the NYPD, including  Anthony Baez, Hilton Vega, Anthony Rosario, Nicholas Hayward Jr.—and under his second watch ( 2013-2016) Shantel Davis, Kimani Gray, Ramarley Graham, Akai Gurley, Eric Garner, Kyam Livingston —and countless others. According to a report by Amnesty International, for instance, there was a 34 percent increase in people fatally shot by NYPD in Bratton’s first year as Police Commissioner alone.
Under Bratton’s Watch
Bratton helped to make the NYPD even more of an occupying force with his policies of  “Stop and Frisk,” “Broken Windows,” racist quotas, the “quality of life initiative,” and “zero tolerance.” Under his watch, the NYPD became equipped with more firepower, semi-automatic weapons, drones, a new anti-protest unit and more surveillance units. Bratton’s legacy leaves policies that strip Black and Latin workers of civil rights under the guise of promoting public safety. One of his stated goals was to rid the subway of homeless people. Under the “Broken Windows” policy, racist cops killed Eric Garner for the “crime” of selling loose cigarettes. This modern day lynching was caught on videotape and was met with militant and multi-racial demonstrations all over the country. Bratton ‘s reign in Los Angeles saw the mass displacement of  homeless and the mentally ill. As LAPD Chief (Los Angeles Police Department) numerous trips were organized to Israel to observe and train with their security forces.
Bratton holds up Israel as a model for law enforcement worldwide (Intifada, 5/29/14). He has cultivated close ties to Israel, giving the keynote address at Israel’s National Conference on Personal Security in Jerusalem.. Its no wonder that the violent and brutal repression practiced by Israeli forces has become a staple of U.S. law enforcement. In Bratton’s words, his visits to Israel were “so we can learn from eachother” (Intifada). So, Bratton will continue to have blood on his hands as an international enemy of the working class.
De Blasio and Bratton, Birds of a Feather
“If he is bringing back Bratton, he can’t be any good”. This was the sentiment of parents whose family members were killed by the NYPD in the 1990’s. Iris Baez, mother of Anthony Baez who was killed in a choke-hold in front of his house) explains in the film Every Mothers Son how Bratton targeted her family after her son’s murder to intimidate and stop the growing movement. Despite the liberal talk of Mayor De Blasio in his bid for election, his challenging of “Stop and Frisk” and talk about fighting racism, it became clear that De Blasio had no intention of real change when he appointed Bratton in 2013. After two officers were killed in Brooklyn in December of 2014, De Blasio called for suspending all protests. In defiance, the Progressive Labor Party and other groups called demonstrations and took to the streets.
Crime and Capitalism
While Bratton blames the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement for the rise in crime (Intifada) he also credits himself and former Mayor Guiliani for the decrease in crime in the 1990’s. Christian Parenti, author of Lockdown America, details how the NYPD went after young Black and Latin workers with a vengeance from everything to playing loud music to truancy during those years, incarcerating masses of these youth, while police brutality complaints jumped by 50%. While there is no empirical proof that Broken Windows was responsible for the drop in crime (Intifada)-similar reductions in crime occurred in major U.S. cities at the same time, the drop in crime coincides with the end of the deadly crack epidemic in New York (New York Times, 10/27/97), which left working class communities ravaged with the influx of drugs.
Bratton Goes to the Clintons, Names Replacement
Bratton has accepted a job with Teneo Holdings, a consulting group linked closely to the Clinton political machine, as well as the Israeli bosses. Teneo was founded by Douglas Band, a close advisor to former President Clinton.
Bratton and De Blasio’s hand picked successor, James O’Neill, will continue the policies that the rulers need. A student of Bratton’s Broken Windows philosophy for 30 years, O’Neill has been “instrumental to developing community policing” (NYT 8/3/16). In 2015, Bratton himself said there was no difference between community policing and Broken Windows. The argument that any new form of policing will be any better is itself an illusion. The role of police ever since their origins as a colonial occupation force in Great Britain and fugitive slave patrols in the U.S. is to protect capitalist property, and divide and control the working class through racist terror.
The Fight Back Goes  On!
  Workers and families of those murdered by the cops have stood up against the NYPD with courage since Day 1. Probably most notable is Iris Baez, whose son Anthony was murdered outside her home in the Bronx. Mrs Baez and other parents led huge rallies and marches and became personal targets of Bratton. They united with other families in the Bronx and staged huge events that were multi-racial and militant. City wide protests have erupted in the past few months and involved actions such as closing down bridges, streets and highways. Thousands have protested in the street with groups such as Black Lives Matter and various coalitions. Progressive Labor Party has been involved and where possible, given leadership to this fight in Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Manhattan. As we stand shoulder to shoulder with the families of Shantel Davis, Kimani Gray, Eric Garner, Ramarley Graham, Sean Bell, Akai Gurley and  Kyam Livingston, we have fought hard for our line that only multiracial unity can defeat racist police terror, and only a mass PLP  fighting for communist revolution can end the capitalist system that relies on it.

Washington, DC, July 30—Union misleaders of the Metro transit system are working around the clock to derail the fight back efforts of over 500 transit workers who rallied today against racist attacks on wages, pensions, inadequate safety provisions and management abuse. Yet, transit workers and PLP members are eager to take militant actions to end these racist attacks.
Transit workers came to the rally hoping that union leaders would lay out a plan for launching a serious fight that would smash the racist attacks. Instead, they found themselves being the receivers of empty words by union leaders, local politicians and management officials.
The union president Jackie L. Jeter, the first Black woman to lead this local, pushed workers to support management’s call of cutbacks that would generate funding for construction and maintenance needs of the transit system. Not surprisingly, she did not permit any speakers proposing an alternative plan like making a union strike ready rather than relying on the politicians and/or partnering with management. She did invite Paul Wiedefeld, the General Manager and Chief Executive Office of Metro, to “hear” the workers and speak to them and he agreed, but then demonstrated his contempt for the workers by conveniently cancelling his appearance.
In addition, Jeter invited Jack Evans, the chairman of the Metro Board and servant to local bosses and developers as a member of the D.C. City Council since 1991, to speak. Evans has publicly called for cutting workers’ pensions, privatizing jobs, and cutting other benefits, a plainly racist attack on the 90 percent Black labor force.
Metro Bosses Derail Workers
Evans promised to get $300 million to cover the current budget deficit from the federal government, similar to the appropriations received from other area jurisdictions. This was a lie! President Bill Clinton’s 1995 budget prohibited the federal government from giving Metro money for operating costs, a ban still which is still in effect.  Evans then promised to get $18 billion to cover long-term construction and maintenance needs of the transit system. He proposed a sales tax on working people to help raise the money, as if the working class isn’t already burdened by taxes!
Confronted with a skeptical crowd and some boos, Evans spoke as a “friend of labor.” He did receive applause from some misled workers. But in reality, Evans threatens the livelihood of workers, one of whom declared at the rally that he gave his youth, skills and commitment to Metro because he thought that the company would take care of him in retirement. Evans and management, with the collaboration of the union leadership, are threatening that possibility.
These capitalist lackeys are also threatening the possibility of turning workers anger and frustration against these racist attacks into a militant fight back against the system of capitalism itself. That is their job—to offer temporary and reformist solutions that allow the bosses to continue reaping their billions of profits.
No Safety on the Job
Little attention was paid to workers who spoke at the rally about the work they do, the safety hazards they face and the skills they have. Many expressed concerns about safety on the transit system, where nearly two dozen workers and passengers have been killed in the past decade with little remorse from the union leaders and the invited politicians. They told stories about not being given bathroom breaks, and not having the parts and support they need to fix equipment properly. Workers have had to resort to picking parts in order to “make it work,” the slogan of the day. The mass slogan should have been to fight back and make a union workers strike-ready!
PL’er Call out Evan’s Attack
PLP wasted no time in calling out union leaders and politicians on the lies they spew. A PL’er confronted racist Evans on his proposed regressive tax on the working class in the region. The PL’er insisted the money should come from the businesses and developers in the region who are making huge profits as a result of the access the transit system provides for their customers. Evans brushed aside this suggestion as “unrealistic,” unsurprisingly, since those bosses and developers contribute regularly to his re-election campaigns and would prefer to soak the workers rather than give up one dollar of their profits.
PL’er were and will continue to help make the latter slogan of fightback a reality, and to let the transit workers know that there is another alternative: communism. The transit workers don’t need much convincing: after the rally over 100 of them enthusiastically took copies of CHALLENGE and spoke with PLP members of the need to be more aggressive in making the union strike ready. The task that lies ahead is to become bolder in disrupting union collaboration with management as we prepare the workers for the intense struggle that lays ahead for a communist world. Our ultimate goal is to put the working class in the driver’s seat of society.

LOS ANGELES, July 23—The Orange County, California District Attorney re-filed charges against seven of the antiracist fighters who fought the Ku Klux Klan scum earlier this year (see CHALLENGE 3/23). The original charges against the antiracists were dropped, after the DA’s office kept most of the antiracists in jail for three days, including four who sustained serious injuries from the Klan. They were released with a warning that the charges could be re-filed up to four years later, under California state law.
These charges came days after antiracists beat Nazi scum of the white supremacist group, Traditionalist Worker Party, in Sacramento (see CHALLENGE, 7/13). White supremacists had attempted to rally at the State House and were immobilized by antiracist protesters with organized working-class violence, but not before the Klan stabbed 7 people. None of the KKK cockroaches were arrested. Unlike the confrontation in Anaheim, the cops stood back and watched.
The charges are various misdemeanors ranging from assault, to a vehicle code violation to resisting or delaying an officer. These charges carry between one-two years in jail and up to $13,000 in fines. Meanwhile the KKK scumbag who stabbed multiple protesters is free; according to the criminal injustice system, he acted in self-defense.
The capitalists and their armed servants of their state, the police, use many tactics to try terrorizing and intimidating the working class into submission. Sometimes, the bosses unleash police terror. Other times, they use the courts of their injustice system as a legal cover for punishing and jailing antiracist fighters, while murderous racists walk free.
Racist State Terror Rises, Struggle Continues
Emboldened, the Klan just flyered in Brea, a city near Anaheim. The kkk thugs called for white workers to fight the threat of Black Lives Matter and the Black Panthers who they claim are behind the recent cop killings in Texas and Baton Rouge.
We know whose side the cops are on. They always protect racists who come out to terrorize workers. Now the cops not only protect them but also allow them to come armed and attack counter protesters with impunity. Then the cops finish the job by brutalizing protesters physically and legally. We will not let them—the Klan in white, and the Klan in blue—scare us into silence. The working class must continue to stand up to racism.
Charge the Bosses
with Genocide
The Progressive Labor Party is conducting a summer project around the fight against the KKK and the cops, which includes defending the antiracists with charges (more next issue). The dictatorship of the ruling class exposed itself yet again by charging the antiracists. The working class charges the U.S. with genocide—240 years of oppression from slavery, near extinction of the indigenous working class, to Jim Crow and modern day lynching of Black and Latin workers.    
The only way to end racism, fascism and hate groups is by getting rid of capitalism. As long as we have a dictatorship of the capitalist class, we will have racist police and hate groups terrorizing workers. Communism is the dictatorship of the working class where workers will run the world without racism, sexism, nationalism and fascism. Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains! Individual violence serves only the bosses! The Progressive Labor Party has been significant in fighting the Klan at the Anaheim rally and countless others in our fifty-year history. We call for revolutionary violence—action that is embedded and organized in the masses. We call for death to the whole system, not individual ruling-class servants. Meanwhile, a local faith group is raising funds for these antiracists. Support the fight against racism by raising this issue in the unions, campuses and jobs, and pledge our mass organizations to donate to the antiracists’ legal defense at http://bit.ly/2bcOn76.

FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA July 28—A multiracial group of students in the Social Justice Club at J.E.B. Stuart High School are leading a fight to change their school’s shameful racist name. J.E.B. Stuart was a Confederate general who fought and died to preserve slavery. The school mascot was a Confederate cavalryman, a raider, flying a Confederate battle flag. Recognizing the Confederate flag’s offensiveness, school officials shaded out the flag in 2001 so it looks like a solid blue pennant. But everyone knows they simply painted over a flagrant symbol of racism and that the raider was still fighting to preserve slavery. Today’s students have made a video declaring they are not raiders! (http://bit.ly/2aSPchz)
The students have pressed the issue in the school and community, among alumni and at the meetings of the Fairfax County School Board (FCSB). Today, the FCSB voted 10-2, after a year of debate and community meetings including one that involved 150 participants, to establish a working group to study the issue further. The compromise was necessary because there were insufficient votes among FCSB members to agree to a name change now. One student leader declared of this meeting, “There were many supporters, representing alumni, local organizations, and parents. That aspect was wonderful to witness. However, it was a painful meeting in many ways because most of the school board clearly does not feel that changing the name is important.”
The students and their supporters are determined to carry this struggle forward in the coming year.
Members of the Progressive Labor Party have been engaged in school board events and community meetings where they have presented antiracist arguments to change the name, and met with faculty fighters, community residents, and students to build the struggle and link it to the broader fight against racism and capitalism. PLP members also engaged in discussions with older white classmates at the 50th reunion of the Class of 1966, in a challenging but important attempt to win old friends to antiracism. Not all alumni were prepared to bury the school’s racist namesake, but many others wanted to see the name changed and were excited to learn more of the history in order to argue more effectively.
Virginia’s Racist History
The school was opened in 1959 during the Massive Resistance movement in Virginia. Massive Resistance, led by Governor Harry F. Byrd, fought to preserve racial segregation in Virginia schools in defiance of the 1954 Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education, that mandated desegregation throughout the nation. The all-white FCSB and the superintendent resisted desegregation as long as possible, despite another court decision that hammered Virginia’s refusal to desegregate. Only a handful of Black students were able to enter J.E.B. Stuart High School between 1961 and 1965.
Meanwhile, the school bosses named J.E.B. Stuart High School, the FCSB also renamed Franconia High School for another Confederate general, Robert E. Lee.  These namings are reflective of Fairfax County’s active racist campaign against integration that lasted until 1965.
Confederate Generals Lee and Stuart fought in the U.S. Civil War to preserve the enslavement of four million Black people. Before the Civil War, Stuart served in the U.S. Army and beat and arrested John Brown, a militant fighter against slavery, at Harper’s Ferry. When the Civil War began, Stuart resigned his commission in the U.S. Army and joined the Confederacy in order to fight for the “Virginia way of life”, aka slavery, a system so brutal that many slave-owners calculated they could maximize profits if they worked an adult male slave to death in seven years. During the war, Stuart led a raid into Chestertown, Pennsylvania, where he captured eight free Black workers and re-enslaved them in Virginia.
Racist Symbols Lead to Racist Actions
Confederate flags and symbols of racism are unacceptable. Honoring a racist history promotes racism today. Dylann Roof, who murdered nine Black people in a church in South Carolina, proudly displayed the Confederate battle flag and other white supremacist imagery on the internet. KKK marches and rallies lead to increased anti-Black and anti-immigrant racist violence. Racist words and symbols encourage racist actions, so fighting to remove racist symbols is part of the broader antiracist and anticapitalist fight. When government agencies insist on honoring the Confederacy, it shows that capitalist governments do not want to end racism. They support racism to help maintain capitalism.
J.E.B. Stuart High School Today
Today, J.E.B. Stuart is the most diverse high school in Fairfax County: 51 percent Latin, 25 white, 10 Black, 14 Asian. Students here are, through their determined advocacy, following the leadership of fighters from such places as Baltimore, Ferguson, and Baton Rouge. They brought the antiracist fight to their school and to the FCSB when they launched a campaign over a year ago to change the name of the school.  Allied alumni in turn gathered nearly 35,000 signatures on an online petition to change the school’s name.
The Struggle Ahead
The key measure of success in this battle, beyond the change in the school’s name itself, is whether the multiracial group of youth leading this fight link racist oppression and ideology to its roots in capitalism. PLP will continue to struggle with them to broaden the fight to include action against police brutality, mass incarceration, and violent white supremacist groups like the Klan and neo-Nazis. Hopefully, this struggle will create lifelong fighters for a society that values equality and not racism. That society will banish the ghosts of a brutal Confederacy to the dustbin of history. Instead, it will honor the antiracists in Virginia who confronted slavery and later Jim Crow segregation, often paying with their lives: Gabriel Prosser, who attempted to lead a revolution against slavery in Richmond in 1800; Nat Turner, who led a major slave rebellion in Southampton in 1831; John Brown and Osbourne Anderson, who led the raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859; and E. B. Henderson and Jacob Tinner, who founded the first rural chapter of the NAACP in Falls Church in 1915. It was the courage, conviction, and sacrifice of these unsung heroes that paved the way for today’s struggle. It is the job of members and friends of PLP to enlist a new generation of courageous antiracist fighters!