'You got yourself into this, now sit down!'

Scan page 10

although later, we were all charged with ly, the cops roughly grabbed us one by LOS ANGELES-On Saturday, May "failure to disperse."

We began to chant, "We come in waiting buses, where men and women palian Church and otber community peace, you come in violencel" Soon, were segregated from each other. groups called for a demonstration at 12 hundreds of National Guardsmen arrived, noon at Parker Center in downtown Los pilling out of jeeps and vans and snap- women had to get their handcuffs taken Angeles to protest the Rodney King ver- ping their bayonets onto their rifles as off because their hands had swollen in the dict. The call for the demonstration had they jogged toward us. Little kids with heat of the day. Finally, we ended up at been widely broadcast on Radio KPFK, their moms started to cry. Several young the Van Nuys jail. We were booked, fin which had been announcing numerous Black women courageously stood up and gerprinted, and left in holding cells, with This was a picture story that hid the fact that these people were arrested 10 SOCIALIST ACTION JUNE 1992 3, the First African Methodist Episcodamanctratinne ench ac ana at IT A all day Five members of the National Organi zation for Women (NOW), including this reporter, who were attending the NOW State Conference in Burbank, mustered up a car and got big, red, round signs that declared "Stop Racism NOW and went to check out the noon demonstration When we got downtown, we saw about 200 demonstrators rounding the comer at Third and Broadway and we joined them.

They were glad to see us and pushed us to the front of the demonstration Within five minutes, however, we were totally surrounded by a large number of police, who began to shove demonstrators and yelled at us to get on the sidewalk and sit down in front of the Security Pacific Bank at First and Broadway. Many of us asked to leave, but the cops blocked our path, jabbed their batons at us, and harshly spit out, "You got yourself into this, now sit down!" At ... L.A. rebellion (continued from page since the urban uprisings of the 1960s. Average Black unemployment for the 1980s was over 11.4 percent, nearly three times the rate for whites (4.1 percent). Among Black teenagers, unemployment stands at a constant 50 percent, and over 40 percent of all Black children are growing up in poverty.

Furthermore, over the last decade funding for social programs in the inner cities has dropped to 60 percent. One of the most telling statistics, which clearly reveals the pent-up rage in the Black community, shows that there are more Black males in prison than there are in college—one out of four Blacks is either in prison or on parole!

On-the-spot television newscasts clearly showed that the fury of the protesters was directed at a "system" that shut them out and condemned them to lives of poverty. Virtually everyone interviewed cried out for jobs that could provide a decent living and decent housing. This forced the capitalist mass media to take note of the underlying economic and social cause of the outbreak of mass protest. It couldn't be denied or ignored.

Moreover, growing public awareness of corruption in "the system" has forced itself onto mass consciousness. Disenchantment with the status quo deepens every time capitalist crooks are caught redhanded-looting savings institutions and banks, cheating on government contracts, swindling insurance policy holders, and others engaging in such criminal activities.

In fact, never in history has there been such a rogues' gallery of swindling bankers, brokers, corporate executives, politicians, and high government officials (including a U.S. president and vice-president) caught in the act of megabuck larceny and political chicanery. And more often than not, these crooks are punished less severely than petty thieves-when punished at all.

Media creates a «white backlash"

However, the capitalist media has also worked overtime to create the basis for another "white backlash" like the one they created and nurtured after the ghetto explosions of the 1960s. At that time, one of their poison-pen journalists went so far as to concoct a story alleging the existence of a "Blood Brotherhood." It was a pure invention, never substantiated, in which unnamed Blacks were alleged to be planning murder and mayhem against whites.

Today, virtually every news account of the Los Angeles uprising includes the word "violence" in its title. The daily death toll was reported like scores in the World Series. And the false impression was driven home that it was Black and Latino "rioters and looters" killing innocent whites.

But the fact is that of the 58 people who were reported killed during the first week of the revolt, all but 14 were Black and Latino (26 Blacks, 18 Latinos, 2 Asian, and 10 whites). This strongly suggests that it was cops who did the killing.

Moreover, the "looting" that the media focused on was a drop in the ocean compared to the systematic looting by the capitalist class of social services, public school budgets, welfare funding, funds which provide medical assistance to the poor, and so on.

Nor have the media noted the really bigtime looting of workers by a tax policy that has been steadily shifting the costs of government from the rich to the poor. Nor have they noted the biggest looting operation of the century-the decades-long capitalist assault on workers' wages and benefits. Living standards of American workers, once the highest in the world, are now second-rate and sinking.

And when it comes to violence, the people lashing out in the streets of the ghettos and barrios can't hold a candle to the wholesale violence of the American capitalist class. The U.S. infant mortality rate, alone, tells a grim tale of the violence systematically being done to the nation's working class children. The death-rate of children in the United States is higher than that of many "Third World" countries higher even than Cuba, a poor country whose misery is intensified by a U.S. blockade. That statistic alone tells us who is really doing big-time violence, and to whom it is being done.

Solving the crisis of leadership The first conclusion that can be drawn from the Los Angeles-centered rebellion is that the great force expressed in the uprising is evidence of the much broader revolt of working people gestating beneath the surface of American society.

The second conclusion we can draw from the reaction to the King verdict is that victims of capitalist injustice possess earth-shaking power when they are driven to the point of mass rebellion.

But the third and most important lesson is that without effective leadership and without a program around which the power of the exploited and oppressed masses can one and handcuffed us and took us to We spent hours in the bus. Some be effectively focused, spontaneous rebellions are not enough-just like gasoline without cylinders and pistons to focus its explosive power.

Up to this moment, unfortunately, such a leadership with the courage to lead and an effective program for action has yet to emerge. The current leaders of the Black communities have so far made no visible attempt to point the way forward.

But experience teaches us that every generation finds and selects, from those among them, people willing and able to lead the struggle forward. The generation of the 1950s and '60s found its Martin Luther Kings and Malcolm Xs, and the generation of the 1990s will also find leaders who will lead.

Furthermore, the crisis revealed by the fallout from the Rodney King verdict affects the working class as a whole, which also has not yet solved the problem of leadership. Nor is it a coincidence that this challenge to working people in the central cities comes on the heels of the defeat of the United Auto Workers, the most powerful industrial union in the country, in their strike against Caterpillar, Inc.

There is great consternation among all AFL-CIO members at the paralysis of their top union officials in the face of the capitalist offensive—just as there is among Blacks, Latinos, and others suffering from urban poverty and decay. However, new worker leaders will emerge, and if history is any guide, this generation of militant trade unionists will also select from its ranks leaders willing and able to effectively lead the coming fightback.

But leadership is an empty term if considered apart from a program of action. In the context of the challenge facing them today, we think the following proposals meet the current needs of the working class and all its natural alliesBlacks, Latinos and other oppressed minorities-and points the way forward.

For an emergency action alliance There is indeed an emergency that calls for action—now! On top of all other causes of discontent, 14,000 people have been arrested in connection with the rebellion in Los Angeles.

On May 6, it was reported that 6600 protesters were still being held without charges. Ordinarily, they must be released if charges have not been made before the legal limit of two days has expired.

But the California legislature took emergency action on the same day that the two-day limit expired-extending the holding period without charges to an one telephone for over 30 women. We dó to us. Ultimately, all of us were charged with "failure to disperse" and had to raise a bond of $250 in cash, pending a court appearance scheduled for the last week of May.

As I was being fingerprinted, I told one of the station officers that nobody told us to disperse. He admitted that he knew there had been no order to disperse and that the order to arrest us "came from way up there," referring to the political powers that be The next morning, I searched the Los Angeles Times for news of our arrest. 1 found only a photo with no comment. However, the big story of the day was how the National Guard and police had been the peaceful ushers of a protest demonstration of 30,000 Koreans protesting the damage to their businesses. The second big story was the cleanup campaign billed as the big "ray of hope" of the day. Our demonstration had been totally crushed and then blacked out.

All the NOW sisters who were arrested with me said they were glad they went through this experience. As one put it, "Now 1 know how Rodney King felt."

After retuming to the Bay Area, 1 called one of the NOW sisters. The following message was on her answering machine: *I'm not taking any calls, I'm out in the streets protesting the fact that the police now have the right to beat people senseless—-and so should you [be protesting)."

unprecedented seven days!

The vote upholding this fundamental violation of human rights was passed by a shocking majority of 62-0 in the California Assembly and 33-0 in the Senate. (Would these lawmakers act as swiftly and decisively in the true interests of justice?) This gives authorities time to concoct phony felony charges against those who dared to protest against police brutality, juridical injustice, and political and economic repression.

Moreover, tomorrow, as in the past, the same high-handed repressive measures will be taken against working people who dare to take action in defense of their jobs, their living standards, and their human rights. It is time to take a stand. It is well past time for labor to again abide by the principle, "An injury to one, is an injury to all!"

An emergency alliance for action is on the order of the day. Labor and all its natural allies should organize for marches and demonstrations around demands that serve to unite all victims of racial, economic, and political injustice. Even one big demonstration in just one city could set off a movement that cannot be easily stopped.

In the first place, united-front demonstrations should include demands focusing on the Rodney King verdict and its consequences:

Bring the Criminal Cops to Justice! End Racism and Sexism in America! Stop Repression of Black and Latino Communities! Free the Thousands of Los Angeles Protesters Now! The current police occupation of the Black community should be replaced by a community-controlled police force drawn from residents of the community.

A second list of demands should address the problem of permanent and increasing unemployment, hitting hardest against the oppressed nationalities. Demands would include:

Affirmative Action/Jobs and Justice for All! 30 Hours Work at 40 Hours Pay! A Massive Public Works Program to Rebuild the Cities! Build Housing, Schools, Mass Transit—NOT MORE PRISONS! Convert War Production to Serve Human Needs! Stop Government Looting of Social Services! Tax the Rich, Not Working People!

And finally, the need for working people to break from the two parties of big business becomes more urgent every day. Independent working-class political action in the streets of America, as has been outlined above, would be a giant step toward an independent party of labor open to all its natural allies.

Scan page 11

demonstrations sweep i ine country of Minneapolis protest was spurred on by local police brutality. 134072200020220 08225 2830508 312-2 My first night back at work at United Airlines in San Francisco, the hot topic of discussion was the ongoing "riot" in Los Angeles.

While most of those I talked to condemned the jury for acquitting the four white cops for their beating of Rodney King, several of my white co-workers, all young, defended the decision. They instead demanded swift action against the "criminal looters." They echoed the belief of one juror person, who said: "They" would have rioted even if we convicted the cops.

A common argument was: "You only saw 21 seconds of the video. The media only showed the worst part. But the jury saw the entire video (81 seconds) and knew what occurred before King was arrested. King refused to cooperate with the police. The video shows he tried to get up."

Incredible. Yes. But what's more revealing is the fact that no amount of facts or history could change their minds. Herb Caen, a popular San Francisco columnist, got a similar response from his readers ("Redneck Country North," he called it) after he condemned the racism of the verdict.

Police brutality and what we all saw— even if it was only 21 seconds—was secondary, in the opinion of some co-workers, to the fact that King had refused to Large size 2 SAfon 4:0 3A. "cooperate" with the cops. One worker said: "He did it to himself."

Now while this attitude was a minority viewpoint among whites based on nationwide polls, it was a majority in my 11-person crew, which is almost all white. How could they see the verdict and respond so differently than I and most other Blacks?

Even the whites I work with who agreed with me on the injustice of the verdict did not agree that cops and the criminal justice system are racist. In fact, all placed equal or greater condemnation on the "rioters.' Riot or rebellion?

I told them 1 will not condemn the "riot," because there is no equal sign between racism and the response of the victims to their oppression.

Moreover, there is a big difference between a riot and a social rebellion. According to Webster's Dictionary a riot is "disorderly behavior; tumult." But a rebellion is "open resistance to, or defiance of, any authority."

What we clearly had in LA was open defiance of authority. Blacks, Latinos, and some Asians and whites, went to the streets to protest an injustice. Even rival gangs united in action.

The slogan, "No Justice, No Peace!" summed up that anger very well. It was far more than disorderly behavior. It reflected the political content of the protests. It was in the fine tradition of the first American revolutionaries who threw tea into Boston Harbor. The problem was, of course, there was no leadership taking the rebellion beyond immediate striking out at the powers that be.

I didn't expect most of my co-workers who are white to agree with all my points. But I did expect some to listen. Instead, one white guy who thinks the workers who clean United's planes are less than equal (human) because they do that type of labor, angrily shouted in response: "Look in the mirror. You hate all cops. You're a racist."

That's the first time I've been told that. I'm a racist for refusing to condemn the "riot" and for calling the four white cops and the jury's ruling racist.

"Two Nations"

There is a growing polarization in our society. It is fueled by the rightist policies By MICHAEL SCHREIBER Outrage swept the country following the announcement of the police-brutality verdict in Simi Valley, Calif. From small towns to the inner cities—-from Peoria, III., to New York's Times Square-people demanded justice. It was the largest spontaneous mobilization in this country since the beginning of the Gulf War.

Black youths took over the streets in Milwaukee and Madison, Wis. Protesters in Seattle blocked rush-hour traffic on a major freeway. Atlanta was placed under a curferv as state troopers battled protesters for two days.

National Guard units were mobilized in Las Vegas, Nev., to put down the rebellion there. In Denver, police attacked a peaceful Cinco de Mayo festival in the city's Chicano neighborhood.

But most of the protests were peaceful. Demonstrators marched through Fort of the government and employers. That's why racism-institutionally and in ideology—is alive and well in America. That's one lesson of the Rodney King verdict. It isn't just Simi Valley. It permeates our society. It will take a social revolution to begin to end it.

Legal equality isn't true equality. Why? Racism is used by the white rulers (there are no Blacks in the ruling class) to maintain their rule over the vast majority of workers who are in a majority white. They get white workers to think job losses, poor housing, and inferior education, are caused by Blacks moving into their neighborhood or getting "their" jobs.

In Andrew Hacker's book, "Two Nations," he asks whites to put a price on Blackness: "What would you demand for being turned into a Black person?" And the answer was simple: $1 million per year for life. Every white person is completely aware of their privileges for being white in America.

The rebellion in LA was for a simple reason: Blacks are not considered or treated as equal citizens. We are considered less than human by many whites. We are treated without dignity.

The King verdict was the straw that broke the camel's back. That's why I refuse to condemn the "rioters" and why I say there can be no peace until there is justice for Black Americans.

rallies in their schoolyards.

High school students led a march through Berkeley, Calif., on April 30. Police arrested 396 of the protesters when they blocked the Bay Bridge to San Francisco.

On May 5, over 400 students gathered at the University of California, Berkeley, where they presented a list of demands to a representative of the university chancellor. The students linked the racism displayed in the Rodney King episode to their own demands for a college of ethnic studies, increased African American, Chicano, and Native American student admissions, and "fair and equal" tenure for faculty.

In Boston, about 500 people rallied in the center of the Black community on Friday, May 1. When Sen. Ted Kennedy arrived, he was booed and hissed, and so he left without speaking. The next day, about 150 demonstrated in front of the Boston police headquarters.

----- pull-quotes -----

Lynn Henderson/Soclailst Action allet Actor Lynn