BROOKLYN, May 21 — “Justice for Kyam Livingston — Killed in a Brooklyn Cell!” chanted the group that broke away from the picket line outside the Kings County district attorney’s office here. The protesters entered the building and walked up the stairs. A group of suited security officers stood at the top. Kyam’s mother, Anita, reached the very top of the stairs and faced the kkkop in charge.
He warned, “If you go in, you’ll all be arrested.”
“I have a petition here to give to the district attorney,” Anita said.
“If you go in, you’ll all be arrested,” repeated the security cop.  
Anita shouted, “Someone from the DA’s office was there in January at our speakout, and again in March. And you said you’d deal with my daughter’s case. But you didn’t do anything!” She waved a bag full of signed petitions demanding prosecution of the New York Police Department jailers who refused her daughter, a 37-year-old mother of two, needed medical help.
The head security officer said, “You can’t take them inside.”
Anita took one of the petitions out of the bag and showed it to him. She said, “This is all we have. I just want to hand in the petitions for my daughter — it’s my daughter!” The rest of the group stood on the staircase chanting, “We want justice!”
The cops were unmoved and shouted, “You can’t chant in here!”  
Finally Anita said, “You’re all full of s—t!  You make promises, you get into office, and you don’t care about ordinary people. You only care if a policeman is hurt or killed!”  
Ten minutes later, we left the building and rejoined the picket line outside at 350 Jay Street, which houses two courts as well as the district attorney’s office. A group of suits came out of the building, stared at our picket line, and talked among themselves.  The picket line formed for a final rally and continued to chant “We want Justice for Kyam Livingston — Killed in a Brooklyn Cell!” and “We’ll be back!”
Hundreds of “Justice for Kyam” leaflets were passed out prior to the attempt to storm the building and reach the DA’s office to give him the petitions. About a hundred Challenges were distributed to the crowds on the street. The demonstration sparked many political discussions on the street between the protesters and passersby. Members of Progressive Labor Party put forward their analysis that racism and capitalism were the root causes of police terror and getting away with murder. When two teachers on their way to their union office saw a teacher they knew at the demonstration, they said, “Keep it up. We’ll see you later!”
Before the demonstration, members of our committee spoke on Kyam’s case to the crowd on the street. We told how she had been arrested last July on a minor matter, became sick in a holding cell at Brooklyn central booking, and was callously denied medical care. After seven hours of intense suffering and begging for help with no response, she died in the cell. She was never accused of a crime, and no one has been held accountable for her death. The demonstration marked our tenth remembrance of Kyam’s death.
Afterward, PL’ers involved in the struggle evaluated the demonstration. Although the rally itself was smaller than usual because it was during regular working hours, it was nonetheless inspiring. We spoke to many students from the local technical college and Westinghouse High School about the case and the horrors of capitalism, namely racism, sexism, and imperialist war. We try to insure that PLP’s communist politics are not lost in the day-to-day details that are necessary in fighting reform battles. As revolutionary Soviet leader Lenin said about reform struggles, comrades should spend five minutes talking about heating the factory and 25 minutes talking about communism. We are struggling to follow that recipe for revolution.