GARY, IN, March 31 — No question about it; the racist U.S. court system does not serve the working class. Levi Randolph, a Gary cop, was acquitted of reckless homicide charges by the Lake Superior Court. In January 2006, Randolph murdered Vincent Smith Jr., a 16-year-old black youth, by shooting him in the back of the head as the teen fled his cousin’s house.
Randolph claimed he was shooting in self-defense, but as stated, Smith was running away and only had a cell phone in his possession. The truth is that the working class must always be on the defensive when dealing with police. Cops are the bosses’ thugs carrying out their dirty work, terrorizing black and Latino neighborhoods. This is done to keep workers scared as racist attacks on the working class worsen.
Following Smith’s murder, PLP and community groups led protests, speeches, and vigils, demanding that Randolph be taken off the streets and charged with murder. In March 2007, when Randolph was finally indicted for “reckless homicide,” many people who were involved in this battle felt relieved that “something was finally being done” in this struggle. Unfortunately they believed the liberal lie that the bosses’ courts will solve the workers’ problems. However, Vincent Smith’s murder was not a “reckless homicide.” It was the callous execution of an unarmed young black man, which is common for police.
The trial was scheduled for November 2008. PLP led protesters gathered around the courthouse calling for Randolph’s head. The judge then declared a mistrial, saying that jurors had been compromised by the action outside.
In March 2010, Randolph’s trial finally took place. Randolph was defended in court by Scott King, the crooked former mayor of Gary. He charmed the jury and perpetuated the lie that Randolph shot Smith in self-defense. The prosecuting attorney made little effort to argue her case, even referring to Smith as the “figure in the black hoodie.” It is not a surprise that the prosecutor would throw away a case that involved the police murder of a black youth.
Throughout the four-year campaign there were many lessons learned from this struggle. But none rang louder than the fact that the cops and courts work hand-in-fist to oppress the working class. Justice cannot be found in the bosses’ courts, and the cops are their thugs.
Racism cannot be fought by relying on the bosses. Yet, the best thing to come out of the campaign was the anti-racist, working-class unity that brought people together to fight against this police murder.
Only through this unity and communist politics from Progressive Labor Party can we end the bosses’ rule and the police terror they use to oppress the whole working class. J
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PL’er Exposes U.S. Racism, DREAM Act Scam at Prayer Vigil
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- 11 June 2010 797 hits
CHICAGO, May 15 — Today, a multi-racial group of workers converged on the office of a national politician in an effort to expose and protest his indifference to the plight of workers currently suffering racist terror in Arizona. The reform group we have been working in planned a prayer vigil and press conference in the parking lot just outside his doors. While we, as members of the PLP, know that electoral politics and faith in religion ultimately betray the working class, we attended this demonstration and supported our friends who organized it. In addition, we saw this as an opportunity to inject a communist analysis to the event.
While many spoke of reform and the power of prayer, some gave strong historical, economic and working-class analyses. They spoke about how racism is at the core of SB-1070, the new Arizona law, and how black, Latino and white workers need to unite instead of letting superficial differences keep us divided.
While a lot of the day was good, it had its weaknesses. The purpose of the event was to “pray” for a reform. The leadership’s goal is to further the DREAM Act and have Obama pass comprehensive immigration reform. This faith in the system and Obama is a death sentence for the working class. The DREAM Act would use the promise of “legalization” to trick these youth into giving eight years and maybe their lives to the military. Any reform passed will not have our best interest at heart; rather, it would be a vehicle for perpetuating our exploitation.
A Party member spoke and exposed the racist history of the United States. She also spoke to the importance of having faith in our fellow workers, and not politicians or even a “god.” She also exposed the racist link between the current financial crisis and the scapegoating of Latino workers, falsely blaming them for “taking away” the jobs of citizens. Lastly she stressed the importance of militant political action. Her analysis was well-received, and many wanted to hear more.
The purpose of working in these groups is not to win the reform; but to grow as communists and build ties with other workers. This is the only way to build the fight for communism, an anti-racist society where all workers would work together for our common needs. Lenin once said, “Unions are schools for communism.” Groups like this are similar to unions, because they give us the opportunity to fight the bosses, meet other workers, and share communism with them. We look forward to further struggle with these new friends. J
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Communist Revolution Will Smash Racist Police Terror
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- 11 June 2010 751 hits
DETROIT, MI, June 6 — “They killed my baby and I want someone to tell the truth.” That’s what Charles Jones, the father of seven-year-old Aiyana Stanley Jones said after she was murdered by Detroit police when they raided the wrong apartment on May 16. Aiyana was shot in the head as she slept in her East Side home.
The trigger-happy cowards of the Special Response Team threw a flash grenade through the window and shot Aiyana from outside the house around 12:45 am before charging in with guns drawn. The racist murderers were executing a “no-knock” search warrant for a homicide suspect and claim the gun went off after “some level of physical contact” with Aiyana’s grandmother.
Aiyana’s grandmother, Mertilla Jones, was arrested and released. She said, “They blew my granddaughter’s brains out. They killed her right before my eyes… the Detroit police killed my granddaughter.”
While anger about the racist murder runs deep, reaction has been mild. People have left flowers and balloons at Aiyana’s home, and there have been a few rallies against the cops. Big-name attorney, and possible candidate for Governor, Jeffrey Feiger has taken on the case, moving the focus from the streets to the bosses’ courts, from justice to getting paid. It is dangerous for workers to rely on this — big checks from the city won’t stop racist police terror.
If auto workers and youth walked out of the factories and schools and surrounded city hall and police headquarters, shutting the city down and taking on the racist killers, we would be better positioned to build a mass revolutionary movement that can end racist police terror forever.
After decades of plant closings and mass layoffs, Detroit is suffering more than New Orleans after Katrina. Workers are the victims of the decline of the U.S. auto industry and the inter-imperialist rivalries shaping world events. Racist unemployment is at 50 percent for black males. Schools are closing by the dozens. Workers and youth face a daily struggle for survival, including utility shutoffs, evictions and foreclosures. The Democratic Party and United Auto Workers (UAW) have bailed out the auto bosses with untold billions in tax breaks and concessions for the past 50 years but have nothing for the 90% black population of workers and youth.
The bosses want the cops to terrorize us into accepting a future of poverty and war. The 1967 Detroit Rebellion against racism and the 1973 PLP-led Mack Avenue Sit-Down Strike continue to haunt the racist bosses and their flunkies. Our task is to build a mass, anti-racist PLP and make their worst fears come true. J
The UAW’s Constitutional Convention will be June 14-17 in Detroit. Union leaders based their future on the success of U.S. auto bosses for the past 50 years. They grew when GM, Ford and Chrysler were top dogs, and have been hammered as U.S. bosses have been hit hard by European and Asian competitors.
Whoever emerges from the convention with leadership of the union is guaranteed to continue the policies of the old leadership: billions in concessions to auto bosses, tens of thousands of jobs sacrificed, wages and benefits for new workers slashed by more than half, retiree health care benefits that were “guaranteed for life” cut, and a failure to organize a foreign-owned factory. Looking to them for change is a waste of time. And after seeing how all the reform victories were washed away, trying to repeat the past would be worse.
U.S. Social Forum: Who Does it Serve?
The following week, June 22-26, Detroit will host more than 15,000 people at the U.S. Social Forum (USSF). USSF is funded largely by NGO’s and non-profits — the money trail heading right back to the ruling class — and supported by many of the same politicians and union leaders who are committed to saving U.S. imperialism.
The same racist ruling class that brutalizes black workers and youth on a daily basis, that murdered 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley Jones in her sleep, has given the keys to the city to the UAW and USSF. Obviously they feel no threat from either.
But the many participants view them as an opportunity to exchange ideas, strategies, and experiences with people from different movements and social groups that are fighting to transform society. PLP will be active in both events, slowly paving the long road to communist revolution. Our main goal is to meet new friends, and win the people that participate to build a stronger PLP in Detroit.
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Graduation Lesson: Protest Racist Governor’s Racist Cuts
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- 11 June 2010 801 hits
NEW YORK CITY, May 28 — The administration of Bronx Community College fully displayed its contempt and disregard for our students by inviting Governor David Paterson to speak at graduation. In doing so, it also revealed the tremendous danger that nationalism and racism hold for the working class and the absolute necessity for their defeat, along with all other capitalist ideas, by communist revolution.
The president, a black woman, praised Paterson as the first black governor and stated that he should be welcomed because of this fact. Apparently the fact that Paterson had submitted a budget full of racist cuts that will directly affect our mostly black and Latino students wasn’t an issue for her, or the administration. In fact, Paterson has proposed cutting the tuition assistance program more than $90 million and his budget cuts will cut almost $3 million from the school’s budget alone over the next two years. Add to this the threatened cuts to free student subway passes and the attempt to lay off thousands of public school teachers and it is apparent that a boss is a boss and the governor’s “race” hasn’t stopped him from launching one racist attack after another against workers in New York.
In the weeks leading up to commencement, a few students and professors decided that his presence was an insult to our college where students and faculty endure this rotten, racist system, yet work very hard to educate and learn. At our initial planning meeting, we struggled over whether to loudly boo or to stand silently and turn our backs to Paterson as he spoke. In deference to the graduating class, we chose the silent protest, hoping that the friends and family seated behind us would see our actions.
We spent a week leafleting and talking to people on campus about the racist budget cuts and linking them to the economic crisis caused by banks and to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. An overwhelming number of campus members were upset at the choice of speaker and were supportive of the protest. At the same time, nationalism did rear its ugly head, with some commenting that Paterson should be respected as the first black governor of New York.
At commencement it was immediately clear that our small size and general lack of militancy among students and faculty limited what we could do. Ordinarily, faculty members sit directly behind the graduating students and in front of family and friends. This year the administration, who knew of the protest, seated the faculty at the very back of the assembly. When we stood and turned around, only a few people could see, rather than hundreds and hundreds.
As Paterson rose to speak, about 20 people, consisting of mostly faculty and a few students and family members, stood and showed him our backs. Having graduating students join us would have been a powerful statement, but unfortunately none did. We will continue to work with graduates and students at the school so that when the administration makes an equally racist and anti-working-class choice for commencement speaker next year, we will be there with a bigger and stronger action to counter them.
Our task for the future is to not only convince students and teachers that we should loudly and militantly protest Paterson or his successor, but more importantly that, through communist revolution, we can remake society completely. Then there will be no politicians and their boss-masters to solve their crises on our backs. We will organize education in a way that best benefits our class. This protest helped us to advance this struggle with many of our friends and allowed us to begin it with others. J
