Chicago, June 25—A passionate crowd of 30 PL’ers and anti-racist friends boldly rallied at the home of Jason Van Dyke, the kkkop who brutally murdered Black teenager LaQuan McDonald in October 2014. Organized mainly through women leadership and under the slogan “No Refuge for Racist Murderers,” the anti-racist fighters marched directly to Van Dyke’s house in the Archer Heights neighborhood, to drive home the message that a killer cop will not live in comfort while working people continue to live in terror by the capitalist state.
The rally began at noon, with bold anti-racist chants and a picket line meeting curious onlookers at an intersection not far from the house. As more participants filtered in, the multi-racial, multi-generational group began its march through the working class neighborhood towards his residence. There were some jeers and insults sent our way, but overall, the response we received, especially from the younger workers, was positive. Many on the block took videos with phones, and a number of them came up directly to us to take fliers and newspapers and learn more about the demonstration.
For the majority of the action, it was clear that we had caught the kkkops with their guard down. In fact, those of us towards the front of the march saw Van Dyke scurry into the house from where he was watering his front yard when he saw us approaching! However, as we continued our march back to our cars, the cops began their harassment tactics. A number of squad cars pulled up, with officers trying to intimidate the comrades with the bullhorns, saying we were “breaking the law.” We met their bulls*** tricks by chanting louder and refusing to allow the racist pigs to separate the marchers. They issued one of our comrades a citation, but all those present left the demonstration safe and empowered by our collective action.
No Safe Spaces for Killer Racists
The march culminated with us arriving at Van Dyke’s house, and driving a sign with the heading “Guilty of Racist Murder,” complete with the pig’s mugshot, in his front lawn. We continued to picket in front of his house as PL’ers on the bullhorn explained the connections between racist killer cops and capitalism. As PLP has consistently pointed out, the degradation and poverty that are inevitable under capitalism make it essential for the ruling class to unleash their attack dogs on workers when they eventually rise up to resist the system’s miserable conditions. Police murders are not the actions of “a few bad apples;” they are a necessary part of the ruling class’ strategy to control the working class through fear and violence. We see this especially in Chicago where, within the last five years alone, kkkops have killed 70 people, the majority of whom are Black and Latin.
No justice will ever come from a system that desperately needs police murder and other forms of violence against workers to maintain itself. Yes, Van Dyke was formally charged with murder but if he is convicted (unlikely), he’ll be characterized as an isolated bad apple, and state terror will go on as business as usual. If he’s acquitted, it will only lend more power to the idea that Chicago cops can kill young Black and Latin workers with impunity. Either way, the bosses’ racist apparatus will continue unchecked. The only way to forever get rid of police murders is to organize a mass international communist revolution that overthrows capitalism and establishes a worker-run society based on commitment and need.
Collective Struggle Leads to Bolder Action
The planning for this demonstration actually began a few months ago, when a comrade was made aware of Van Dyke’s home address. It was quickly decided that a militant, anti-racist action was essential for Party work in the area, and the event slowly but surely began to take form. Over this period, we met numerous times in meetings large and small as we struggled with our ourselves and our base members over the best ways to organize the action.
We had to challenge reluctance expressed in liberal ideas about “justice” under capitalism to the rational fear involved in marching directly on a kkkop’s house. We also had to sharpen our arguments as to why the event was a necessary step forward for not just us as communists, but for all anti-racist workers in the area in the struggle against racist police brutality and the capitalist system that requires it. We needed to promote the event to a broad audience, while never allowing our communist line to be watered down or the participants’ security to be compromised.
The march was a success by all of those involved. In the fight for communism, struggling with ourselves and with our base members is important for sharpening contradictions and building a stronger collective. Our action is a testament to this fact. To build off of the momentum, we’re already planning a follow-up social, the PL summer projects, and an even larger demonstration at the city’s Fraternal Order of Police Headquarters. We will fight to make these follow-up events successful because the world needs to know that there’s a better system out there for all—communism. Under communism there will be no refuge for racist murders! Dare to struggle, dare to win!
