BROOKLYN, April 21—“How dare you care more about some traffic than my daughter’s life?” screamed Kyam Livingston’s mother Anita Neal in a kkkop’s face as protesters took over an intersection and refused to move, despite the kkkops’ attempts to clear us out. As the rally held its ground, our chants rang out: “if we don’t get it, shut it down! For Kyam, shut it down!” Pedestrians on the sidewalks stood and watched, cheering and applauding the act of standing up to the police.
Members of Progressive Labor Party joined with the Justice for Kyam Livingston Committee in this monthly demonstration, demanding that those responsible for the death of 37-year-old Kyam be charged for their racist crime. We have joined family and friends in fighting back against this example of systemic racial injustice every month, and more, since Kyam’s death July 21, 2013. We called out the whole rotten racist capitalist system as the reason there is no justice for Kyam and other victims of kkkop terror.
Today, Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson came under withering fire for his failure to bring any charges against the NYPD cops who were Kyam’s jailers. They refused her pleas for medical attention and are thus responsible for her death. Thompson has shown his loyalty to this racist system and the police force that serves it. A PL speaker linked Kyam’s death to the other police murders that have taken place just down Church Avenue where we stood. Shantel Davis and Kiki Gray were killed by NYPD and no charges were brought in these cases as well. Outrage was expressed at the Brooklyn DA’s recommendation that killer kkkop Peter Liang serve no jail time after he was convicted of murdering Akai Girley.
Fight with Multiracial Unity
The anger over inaction by the DA boiled over as Kyam’s mother led the crowd into the street. Traffic stopped and drivers waited for balloons to be released. One bus driver gave us a raised fist of approval. After holding our ground against the pressure from the cops, they eventually were forced to back down! The march slowly returned to the rally location on the sidewalk. A young Black man approached us and asked, in awe, how we were able to get them to back off. A PL’er and member of the Kyam Committee responded simply, “multi-racial unity.”
Indeed, what do the bosses and their Killer kkkops fear the most? A united multi-racial working class that is angry and ready to fight back!
PLers called on anti-racist fighters to join our May Day March happening later that month in an anti-police murder contingent. Destroying this evil system, it was pointed out, and building an egalitarian anti-racist, anti-sexist system is the only way we will get justice.
PLP salutes all of the families who are fighting back. We planned to join the rally called by Brooklyn Legal Aide Lawyers and members of the Girley family protesting DA Thompson’s choice to give no jail time to the convicted killer cop.
Fighting back for justice is an important and necessary thing but fighting to overthrow capitalism is the fight that will end racist police terror once and for all.
We will be back on May 21 and ask anti-racist fighters to join us there!