Shot for Walking Down the Street While Being Black
An opinion by Wolf Larsen
So in a town called Ferguson, Missouri black people are sick and tired of getting shot for walking down the street while being black. The news media is calling it a “riot”.
This reminds me of what happened in 1969 at the gay bar The Stonewall Inn. At that time the police used to raid gay bars. Gay man got sick and tired for being arrested for having a drink while being gay, so they rioted.
Discontent in the USA is growing. Blacks are finding that the election of a black president has changed nothing in racist capitalist America. Working-class whites are finding that wages are stagnant as the rich get richer. Deportations of Latinos have increased under a Democratic president, and the Republicans are anti-immigrant as well.
The only people who are benefiting from this capitalist system are the rich and powerful. The time has come to build a third party, a workers party, a party that will fight for working people and the unemployed. A workers party will fight against police brutality. It is important to remember that the same police that are shooting minority youth in the back are escorting scabs into the workplaces, and attacking workers of all colors on the picket lines. Workers of all colors unite! An injury to one is an injury to all!
Undoubtedly, some type of commission will be established to “study” the street execution of yet another black man at the hands of the police. There have been a zillion such commissions before. These commissions resolve nothing. They keep having these commissions, and black men keep getting shot by the police.
Sending state forces in is not the solution. It is not the solution for black men who might get shot by the state forces. Sending in state forces is only a solution of the rich and powerful to keep black people down. This government is not on the side of black people – not on the local level, not on the state level, and not on the federal level either. This government was founded by slave owners and slave traders. If things get out of hand, a black politician or Democrat politician will send in the troops to shoot down blacks in the streets just like any other capitalist politician. It has happened before, and it can happen again.
In May 1985 a black democratic politician by the name of Wilson Goode ordered the police to drop a bomb on a black group called Move. A dozen black activists and their children were murdered in cold blood in the process, and over 60 homes in the surrounding black working-class community burned to the ground. It is very important not to have illusions in capitalist politicians, regardless of their race or party affiliation.
Hiring more black cops will result in the following: young black men getting shot by black cops instead of white cops.
In a capitalist society, what do you think the job of the police is? The job of the police is to protect the rich and powerful, and to oppress minorities and working class whites. The police are not there to protect black people. The police are not there to protect working class whites. And that is why the police will attack blacks and working-class whites.
Blacks are now the third largest group in this country. They are only 13% of the population. If black people want to change this society they will have to unite with Latinos and working class whites. If black people are isolated than the government will just shoot them down in cold blood using cops or troops or whatever.
The fact that the cops are increasingly militarized shows that the United States is becoming less democratic everyday. Latinos, blacks, and working class whites have much to fear. If Latinos, blacks, and working class whites do not unite together they will most certainly be defeated. Since both black men and working class whites on the picket lines are being brutalized by the police, it stands to reason that blacks and working-class whites must unite together to fight police brutality.
And that is why we need a workers party. A workers party will seek to unite working class whites, blacks, and Latinos. A workers party will fight against police violence. A workers party will fight against deportations. A workers party will fight for racial equality. A workers party will fight to raise the minimum wage, and for jobs for all!
Ultimately, the day will come when working class whites, blacks, and Latinos are sick and tired of this racist capitalist system. The day will come when working class whites, blacks, and Latinos will unite and have a workers revolution. Only a workers revolution can free working class whites, blacks, and Latinos. A workers revolution will bring socialism, and under socialism everyone will have the right to a job regardless of race, the minimum wage will be substantially increased. Under socialism everyone will have the right to decent affordable housing, free quality medical care, and free quality childcare. Under socialism new policemen will be hired who will not be violent towards blacks. Under socialism, blacks will achieve racial equality.
Blacks will never achieve racial equality under capitalism. Because under racist American capitalism, the cards have been stacked against black people since the beginning. And working class whites are sick and tired of working for stingy wages while the rich and powerful eat caviar and drink champagne and get richer by the day. Latinos are sick and tired of all these deportations. Let’s all unite! An injury to one is an injury to all!
