the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Aug 5, 2024
This article is translated from the August 2 issue, #2922 of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the paper of the Trotskyist group of that name active in France. The article discusses the police shooting of Sonya Massey.
In early July, in Illinois, a white police officer shot a black woman while in her home. A chilling video released by the authorities shows how the woman, who had called the police herself, was shot in the head for no reason.
This type of murder, involving the racism that permeates the police force, is unfortunately common in the United States. In this case, the victim’s relatives organized protests that left the local authorities no time to discreetly cover up for the police officer, as they often do. The press got involved and the authorities decided not to support the murderer, who was dismissed by the sheriff, indicted and jailed pending trial.
On the campaign trail, courting black voters, Vice President Kamala Harris made it known that she had telephoned the victim’s mother. But to think that electing a woman of color to the White House would protect black Americans from police violence would be a mistake. Under Obama, police racism continued unabated. And many remember that in her long career as a prosecutor in California, Kamala Harris never prosecuted police officers for violence.