BROOKLYN, July 21 — It is two years since Kyam Livingston was killed in a Brooklyn jail cell. She was ill and crying out in pain for over seven hours while her pleas, and those of others in her cell, were ignored by the murderous New York Police Department. The 24th demonstration for Justice for Kyam was held today, on the second anniversary of her death, outside the courthouse where Brooklyn Central Booking is located. More than 60 people joined this multi-racial rally.
Chants of “We want justice for Kyam Livingston, killed in a Brooklyn cell!” and “If we don’t get it, shut it down!” were loud and clear throughout the demonstration. The sound of voices grew as people arrived at the end of their workday. PL’ers distributed over a hundred CHALLENGEs and several hundred leaflets. As the demonstration took over the street, the police were forced to divert traffic. Anita Neal, Kyam’s mother, her daughter’s ashes in her hands, walked in and then out of the courthouse to make the point that her daughter was now free. As a PL’er sang a song about the true nature of the bosses’ racist terror,  Anita’s wailed in anguish for her loss—and in anger at the brutality of the profit system.
Anita’s determination inspires the rest of us to keep fighting back against the system, in the name of Kyam and for the millions slaughtered by police and in wars for profit. Several speakers talked about how the loss of human life from simple callousness and cruelty is business as usual under capitalism, especially for Black workers. Racism and racist terror are built into this system as an essential for the bosses to keep the working class divided. When we build multi-racial unity and fight back, the ruling class shudders in fear!
PLP has a long, storied history of fighting back against racist, fascist police murder in Brooklyn, helping to form multi-racial fight back and justice committees that regularly take to the streets. When we are out fighting for Kyam, we are also fighting for Shantel Davis and Kiki Gray, for Mike Brown and Walter Scott, and for the all too many other victims of police terror. As the sister of Shantel, who was killed by the NYPD in Flatbush three years ago, has said many times: What the cops and bosses don’t realize is that they’re building a family of anti-racist fighters, bonded together.
At the end of the demonstration, a vow was made to keep the battle going, to support Kyam’s mother and the rest of the family in the struggle for justice inside and outside the system. Within that struggle, people learn about the true nature and violence of capitalism. Families of slaughtered relatives may get compensation money through the courts, but the killer cops almost never suffer for their crimes. The racist nature of the system survives unscathed. As a PL speaker said, it’s impossible to get real justice under capitalism. Only a communist revolution can end racism, because only communist revolution will smash the system that breeds and survives on racism—capitalism. Join PLP in the fight for working class justice and communist revolution!