BROOKLYN, January 21 — “If we don’t get it, shut it down!” Members of Progressive Labor Party and The Committee for Justice for Kyam Livingston chanted as we took the street and stopped traffic in front of the Brooklyn Criminal Court building where Kyam was murdered thirty months ago.
After hours of suffering in pain, crying for help, being threatened that the kkkops would “lose” her papers if she didn’t stop complaining, Kyam died while waiting for a simple arraignment before a judge. Thirty months have passed but no criminal or departmental charges have been lodged against the kkkops who murdered her by refusing her cries for medical attention. We have also learned how the (in)justice system serves the bosses’ racist, sexist system.
No Justice Under This System
We began our rally as we have many, many times before by detailing the facts and politics of this case. Today, our plan was to demand the arrest of those responsible. Our long struggle has produced the tapes showing the last seven painful hours of Kyam’s life spent in a filthy, vermin-infested holding cell. Kyam’s mom confronted the kkkops outside of the courthouse. She demanded they be held responsible. She demanded the arrest of the murderers. They did nothing. Then Kyam’s mom and several supporters went inside the building. In a courtroom, they made the same demand. The same result. Next, they confronted supervising court cops. Again, either with smiling faces or stony silence, they did nothing. The ska and reggae musician Jimmy Cliff was right: “It’s rebellion these kind of action breeds. I can’t get no justice under this system.”
The long struggle for Justice for Kyam has shown once again that the racist, sexist capitalist system holds little regard for the lives of Black women workers. KKKops ruthlessly kill our working-class brothers and sisters and then get off scot-free. That is how capitalist justice works! Under capitalism, the police serve the capitalist class, not the working class. Their role is to enforce the bosses’ laws and terrorize workers, especially Black and Latin, to prevent rebellions. With worsening capitalist conditions, police terror will only intensify.
Shut This Racist System Down
Only a communist society where the working class has state power can rid the world of racist killer kkkops. Justice is a world without bosses, profits, cops, or borders. We must build PLP worldwide in order to overthrow capitalism and create a state for workers. That is why we chanted, “If we don’t get it, shut it down!” and took to the streets. As we gave speeches about capitalist injustice, almost everyone walking by took CHALLENGE and some had conversations with us about revolution. This long struggle is only the beginning of building for a communism. We invite readers and your friends to join us as we keep up the struggle on the 21st of every month. Kyam means we’ve got to fight for revolution.