Across the U.S.A., the sharp rise in police attacks has caused an outpouring of rage against police departments and mayors. There have been ongoing protests in Chicago, following the huge protests and mass arrests in New York this past Spring.
The answer of big city politicians to police violence and murder is to ignore it, downplay it, blame the victims, and justify police violence. Police “accountability systems” rarely punish the few cops found guilty of brutality. Truth is, many of the same politicians organize and promote police terror.
Mayor Daley in Chicago and Mayor Guilliani in N.Y. work for the rich and serve the bosses’ interests first. As the class of billionaires and multi-millionaires who run this capitalist system get richer and richer, the ranks of poor people swell. The rich need to keep the poor in their place and the police are their front line shock troops!
Many Blacks, Latinos, immigrants, and poor people view the police as an occupying army in their neighborhoods and towns. Every city police department is a racist institution. Even if Blacks and Latinos are in leadership positions and the police force is integrated, the actions of the police speak loud and clear. In the U.S.A., the police are used to control poor communities of color through intimidation and violence. Their purpose is to keep oppressed nationalities – Black, Chicano / Latino, Asian, and Native American peoples – down.
Where there is gentrification of working class neighborhoods, you will find the most heavy-handed police presence and clear increases in police brutality. If real estate developers want your neighborhood, WELL, LOOK OUT! Because the police will do their dirty work to move you out. The rich don’t want to buy social peace anymore, they want social peace enforced. In the big cities where gentrification is bringing huge profits to real estate and finance interests, the police are trained to be aggressive, to use deadly force, to turn their guns on poor people and people of color.
The movement against police brutality is strong and getting stronger! People on the street are fed up with police abuse. Some of those who have been murdered by police have done nothing wrong, yet it should not matter if people have committed a crime – THEY DO NOT DESERVE TO DIE FOR IT.
We need people to get involved in building the fight back against police brutality. Those who have been hit hardest by police terror need to take the lead in building this struggle. We need to organize to put a stop to racist police attacks and to demand change. We will win reforms based on the strength of our anti-police brutality movement. And we need to do away with a system that allows these thugs in blue to roam the streets. The mayors and police superintendents will try to stop us. We must not fail, peoples lives depend on us!
