Racism

On this day in which the ruling class tries to turn MLK Jr. into a harmless icon, we should remember that before he was killed, he was moving toward an anti-imperialist, class-based, and even revolutionary perspective, which he was never allowed to develop fully, as he was (conveniently) cut down by an assassin's bullet.

Recently, TV and talk radio have been obsessed with stopping the construction of an “Islamic Center and Mosque” which will be located two blocks away from where the World Trade Center used to be. The right wing, including former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and NY Republican Gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio, have seized on this issue, attempting to gain political support. Even Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and former DNC chair Howard Dean have opposed it. Their message is that “Islam” attacked Americans on September 11, 2001, and therefore they should not be allowed to build a mosque on “sacred ground.” It should be noted that if the location two blocks away is sacred ground, a “sacred coat store” was formerly in the location where the Islamic Center wants to build.

Despite what Obama calls a “glimmer of hope,” the economic crisis continues to unfold and reduce living standards everywhere. Vice-President, Joe Biden, told CNN recently that we can expect to see increased unemployment every month for the rest of the year, and the unemployment rate could be over 10 percent by Christmas (the unemployment rate is currently at 8.5 percent). This is bad enough news for working people in general, but how do things fare for Black Americans. Has Obama been the “change” that so many hoped for?

An overwhelming 95 percent of black voters cast their ballots for Barack Obama.  The scenes on the streets in Chicago and around the country were full of jubilation, as many working people, both Black and white, fervently believe that change is now on the horizon.

Many commentators from the mainstream media share this exuberance, and have even compared Obama to Moses. Spike Lee, the famous director of such films as Do the Right Thing, Bamboozled, Malcolm X, and others, has gone so far as to say that America has moved beyond race...Has the U.S. truly moved beyond racism? We don’t think so.

On November 25, 2006, undercover detectives shot three unarmed black men.  Sean Bell, who was to be married the next day, was killed.  Two of his friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman were wounded.  The NYPD claims that 50 shots were fired at the men.  The NYPD claims that the detectives were investigating the sale of illegal firearms.  However, no fire arms were found on Sean Bell or any of his friends.  This incident occurred even though the NYPD claims that the purpose of undercover policemen is to gather information for later arrests by uniformed police.  Therefore, not only are undercover police not supposed to fire their weapons, they are not even supposed to make an arrest!

The case of the Jena Six has hit a nerve in the U.S. and internationally not because of the uniqueness of the injustices perpetuated against these young African-American men, but because these injustices fit an all to familiar pattern. From the social situation that existed at Jena’s High School with its echos of the Jim Crow era, to the flagrant racial double standard of Jena’s legal authorities, the case of the Jena Six has played out like a crystallized version of much that is intolerable for those who must deal both with the oppression of being working class and being black in the US. The mass reaction to the Jena Six’s case also demonstrates another truth about racism. Any system that divides working people inevitably produces an opposition and this opposition can potentially help to unite the working class against not only racism but its root source, capitalism, as well.

The MLK Day march in St. Louis, MO is perennially one of the largest in the country and arguably the most politicized.  This year was no different, with many older participants singing "We Shall Overcome", accompanied by chantings of the more militant "No Justice, No Peace!" and "I'm Fired Up, Can't Take No More!" There were also banners calling for an end to the imperialist conflict in Iraq and impeachment of the president.

The Second American Revolution [The U.S. Civil War] was a tremendous step forward, but it never realized its promise to Black Americans. The real winners in the Civil War were the Northern capitalists who opened up new markets and obtained a huge new supply of dirt-cheap labor. Nearly a century and a half after the abolition of slavery in the U.S.A., we are very far from achieving genuine equality for all, regardless of race, color or sex. Despite a number of advances achieved through the struggles of black people in the 1960s, the position of black Americans remains one of clear disadvantage. Originally published in the book Marxism and the USA, published by and available from Wellred.

 

January 15 is Martin Luther King Jr. day, a day to remember the struggle of millions of African-Americans and their allies to end the poison of racism. With the exploding prison population, relentless police brutality, and the nooses recently found at a New York worksite, it is clear this poison is as pernicious as ever.   Like Malcolm X, MLK Jr.  had come to the conclusion towards the end of his life that racism and capitalism were inextricably intertwined, that  you could not end the divisive rot of racism within the bounds of the capitalist system.  The conclusion for class conscious workers and youth is clear: in order to end war, to end racism, to end poverty, to end discrimination, to end misery, and to end hunger, we must end capitalism.  We highlight on this important day of commemoration several articles which offer a class perspective on the question of racism and the need for the working class to energetically combat it while linking this struggle with the struggle to end capitalism once and for all.

Over thirty years ago, Malcolm X (1965) and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1968) were assassinated. There have always been many unanswered questions about both of these murders. Roland Sheppard takes a look at both of these crimes.