New wave of racist cop killings sparks outrage

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VOL. 34, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2016 WWW.SOCIALISTACTION.ORG U.S. $1 / CANADA $2 The deeply racist character of police operations in Black communities is again on display with four more horrific murders by cops occurring within just 15 days of each other. The latest victims are Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla.; Keith Lamont Scott in Char­ lotte, N.C.; Alfred Olango in El Cajon, Calif.; and Car­ nell (CJ) Snell in Los Angeles.

On-going protests have erupted in each of these cit­ ies, with thousands demanding that the killer cops be prosecuted and jailed. On Sept. 21, protesters in Char­ lotte, shouting “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” were met by police in riot gear. The governor declared a state of emergency there, and called up the National Guard in response to widespread community outrage.

On Oct. 4 a march in Charlotte was organized by a coalition of groups demanding “an end to the war on Black lives and Black communities.” Nationwide soli­ darity actions were held on the same day. Police killing of Carnell (CJ) Snell The latest in a string of fatal police shootings oc­ curred on Oct. 1, when 18-year-old CJ Snell was gunned down near his home after being chased by police. Associated Press says Snell’s mother, Monique Morgan, reported receiving a call informing her that her son had been shot five times in the back.

Police said they had been chasing a car they were attempting to stop, thinking the car might have been stolen. When the car stopped, the driver and passen­ ger got out and ran in different directions. The cop that chased Snell killed him near his home. Police say they recovered a gun.

Witnesses told a CBS affiliate that Snell was run­ ning with his hands up, screaming for officers not to shoot. Snell’s younger sister, Ternell, said she saw po­ lice chasing her brother and moments later heard gun shots: “At the end of the day,” she said, “the cops came and shot my brother, killed my brother.”

Relatives and neighborhood residents gathered near the scene in protest, some with Black Lives Mat­ ter signs. Where CJ was shot, someone wrote a mes­ sage in chalk on the street: “Say his name.” Police killing of Alfred Olango On Sept 27, Alfred Olango, 38, a father of two and un-armed, was shot down in the parking lot of an El Cajon restaurant by police officer Richard Gonsalves less than one minute after arriving at the scene.

Gonsalves and another cop were responding to a 911 call from Olango’s sister, who asked for assistance with her brother. She described Olango as mentally disturbed and unarmed, and walking aimlessly into Sean Rayford / Getty Images traffic by a strip mall. It took the police about an hour to respond to this call, yet within one minute after ar­ riving they drew their guns, four shots were fired, and Olango lay dead on the pavement.

After three days of protests, authorities released two videos on Sept. 30 showing Gonsalves fatally shoot­ ing the un-armed Olango. Both videos are poor qual­ ity and without sound. In one of the videos a woman close to the police shouted, “Officer, don’t shoot him!” Dan Gilleon, a lawyer for the family, said, “[The vid­ eo] shows a cowboy with his gun drawn provoking a mentally disturbed person.”

Initial indications are that community outrage has not been pacified, as the videos seem to raise new questions about the police response. The police also released photographs of a four-inch electronic ciga­ rette device that Olango had in his hands when he was shot. Police say they mistook that for a gun.

Gonsalves was disciplined last year after allegations that he sexually harassed a lesbian co-worker. He was defended by police and government officials while many in the community called for him to be fired. Police killing of Keith Lamont Scott On the afternoon of Sept. 20, Keith Lamont Scott, 43, a father of seven, was shot and killed in the parking (continued on page 11, in “Pension concessions sell out young workers”)

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We support the struggles of those who are specially oppressed under capitalism— women, LGBT people, national minorities, etc. We support the right of self-determination Socialist Action is a national organization of activists committed to the emancipation for oppressed nationalities, including Blacks, Chicanos, and Puerto Ricans. We are of workers and the oppressed. We strive to revitalize the antiwar, environmental, labor, internationalists, and hold that workers of one country have more in common with workers anti-racist, feminist, student, and other social movements with a mass-action perspective. of another than with their own nation’s capitalist class. We seek to link struggles across Recognizing the divisions that exist on the left and within the workers’ movement, we seek national boundaries, and to build an international revolutionary movement that will facilitate to form united front type organizations around specific issues where various groups have the sharing of experiences and political lessons. That is why we maintain fraternal relations agreement. In this way we seek to maximize our impact and demonstrate the power and Socialist Action believes that the capitalist state and its institutions are instruments of the In the process we hope to bring activists together from different backgrounds into a ruling class, and that therefore they cannot be used as tools of the working class but have revolutionary workers’ party that can successfully challenge the wealthy elite—whose profit- to be smashed. That is why we fight for revolution. When we fight for specific reforms, we driven system is driving down living standards and threatens all life on this planet. do so with the understanding that in the final analysis real social change can only come We are active partisans of the working class and believe in the need for independent about with the overthrow of capitalism, the establishment of a workers’ government, and the working-class politics—not alliances with the bosses’ parties. That is why we call for workers fight for socialism. Our ultimate goal is a truly democratic, environmentally sustainable, and in the U.S. to break from the Democratic and Republican parties to build a Labor Party egalitarian society organized to satisfy human needs rather than corporate greed. We invite you to join us in the struggle to make the world a better place!

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2 SOCIALIST ACTION OCTOBER 2016 Thousands of retired miners and sup­ porters converged on Washington, D.C., on Sept. 8 to demand government ac­ tion to shore up retiree pension and health-care benefits. These benefits have been under a constant barrage of attacks from coal companies, which are determined to shed themselves of re­ sponsibility for the health and security of both union and non-union miners and retirees.

Retirees and their dependents also want assurance that existing health benefits and pensions will remain in place. The United Mineworkers of America (UMWA) says the health and future of 120,000 retired miners and their families are at stake.

UMWA reports that its members trav­ eled in more than 120 buses to the pro­ test—from Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Under the impact of the coal company assault over many years, gains in retiree health care and pensions that were won in past union battles have been eroding. Current laws under attack by coal com­ panies provide some guarantees for lifetime care for mine workers. These were largely won in 1946 from mili­ tant strikes that involved over 400,000 union miners.

During 1945 and 1946, a nationwide strike wave also involved other indus­ tries—including railroad, auto, and steel. President Truman assisted the coal companies’ strike-breaking strat­ egy by attempting to force arbitra­ effectiveness of mass action. based on the trade unions. designed, and laid out entirely by volunteer labor. Name City State Phone E-mail tion, and eventually by threatening the UMWA with a $3.5 million fine. How­ ever, the eventual settlement included some gains for the miners, including safer working conditions and a “prom­ ise” of health benefits and retirement pension “from cradle to grave.”

One D.C. protester was Bill Musgrave, a retired miner from Boonville, Ind., and UMWA Local 1196. Musgrave, who has been diagnosed with cancer, told the Evansville Courier: “It took me a while to [find out you have to] fight as hard to keep something as you did to get it initially. … Unfortunately the gov­ ernment has decided to back out of the obligation they made to the minework­ ers in 1946. … Seems like the govern­ ment, they have the money to bail out Editor: Michael Schreiber Canada Editor: Barry Weisleder Subscribe now!

Address Zip the bankers and the corporations, and we’re not even asking for a bailout.” A married couple attending the pro­ test described the need for additional medical coverage, given their fam­ ily’s medical costs of over $13,000 per month. Cindy Scherzinger told the Cou­ rier: “You go to union meetings, and it looks like a retirement home. Everyone there has their own set of problems.” Coal companies, especially those with union-organized mines, have been declaring bankruptcies, and pressing courts to allow them to evade pension and health-care obligations to their workers. One of most recent examples was Patriot Coal, a subsidiary of Pea­ body Energy that closed down via bankruptcy last year. with the Fourth International.

• Boston: socialistactionboston@gmail. com • Buffalo, NY: [email protected] • Chicago: P.O. Box 578428 Chicago, IL 60657, [email protected] • Connecticut: (860) 478-5300 • Duluth, Minn.: [email protected]. www.thenorthernworker.blogspot.com • Kansas City: [email protected] (816) 221-3638 • LOUISVILLE, KY: [email protected], (502) 451-2193 • Madison, Wis.:

[email protected] • Minneapolis/St. Paul: (612) 802-1482, [email protected] • New York City: (212) 781-5157 • Philadelphia: [email protected] The attack on retirees is part of a broader attack against all union min­ ers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, since 2014 nearly 191,000 coal-mining jobs have been lost. Many mines that have not closed down suf­ fer large-scale layoffs and dismissals. Workers are being thrown out on the street, and those who remain face ever increasing forced overtime hours, and steadily degrading and unsafe working conditions.

This trend will likely continue as capitalist owners are always finding new ways to expand their profits, and as they have demonstrated, will close mines in a heartbeat as they see new and greater opportunities for profit elsewhere.

Coal companies are also under pres­ sure as the economy shifts away from fossil fuels, a necessity to address the urgent problem of global warming. And it has long been well known that gen­ erating energy with fossil fuels is also devastating to the health of minework­ ers, who for years have been victims of black lung disease, and other chronic illnesses specific to work in mines.

The economic impact of this neces­ sary transition to clean energy needs to fall squarely on the coal companies and their capitalist investors, who bear full responsibility. Guaranteed jobs at top union wages must be provided to any worker displaced during a transition to clean and renewable energy sources.

“Our party stands in solidarity with mine workers and retirees currently under attack from the coal bosses,”

(continued on page 4, in “Chicago teachers set strike date”)

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