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    Vol.63/No.22           June 7, 1999 
 
 
Louima Case: Jail All Guilty Cops!  
Working people in New York City and beyond can celebrate the victory of cop Justin Volpe pleading guilty to the torture of Abner Louima. At the same time we must continue to demand that the other police involved be convicted and jailed, and that the cops who killed Amadou Diallo likewise be brought to justice.

In his reluctant confession, Volpe said his intention was to humiliate and punish Louima. His statement illustrates the true character of all cops in capitalist society.

The cops' job is to mete out punishment to working people. They particularly target those of oppressed nationalities, and anyone who stands up for the rights of themselves and others. It's not a question of rooting out "rogue cops" or "bad apples." Every aspect of training the cops receive reinforces this behavior.

"We own the night" was the slogan of the cops in the Street Crimes Unit who gunned down Diallo in a hail of 41 bullets. Just one day after Volpe confessed to his brutality, a member of this cop group shot and critically wounded an unarmed 16- year-old Black youth in the Bronx.

Volpe initially bragged among his peers about sodomizing Louima. He expected his actions to be considered a badge of honor, until the outcry by working people put a spotlight on the cops' barbarism. Thousands of working people rallied in the streets after the facts came out about the injuries inflicted on the Haitian immigrant.

The role of the cops is to protect and serve the interests of the capitalist rulers. They are used - and will be used more - directly against workers who stand up to the employers. They are also a recruiting ground for every fascist movement. Working people in New York got a glimpse of this last year, when a mobilization of 1,000 cops assaulted a rally of 40,000 construction workers protesting union-busting moves by city officials. The cops and their supporters rallied outside the offices of the Hospital Workers Local 1199 April 12 of this year, in response to the union's support for protests against the police killing of Amadou Diallo.

The court testimony other cops against Volpe do not dispel a "myth of a blue wall of silence," as suggested by the mayor and the big-business media. The "blue wall of silence" is very real, and hasn't changed. But in this case, the capitalist rulers seek to limit the political damage wrought by the recent protests against the cop execution of Diallo and the torture of Louima. They decided at least one cop must take the fall. They hope to hang the entire savagery on Volpe, if possible. The rulers and their cops always try to cover up for the brutality and corruption of the capitalist state. Cops rarely go to jail for brutalizing Blacks, Latinos, immigrants, or working people as a whole. It's only a problem for them if there is working- class resistance to their violence.

That's why the labor movement should champion protests against cop brutality and demand all the guilty cops be jailed. Fighters against police abuse should join the struggle of workers on the picket lines, such as the Newport News shipyard strikers in Virginia.

When working people stand up for our own self-worth as human beings, pressure can be brought to bear to jail cops who brutalize us. More street actions need to be organized to demand all the police who participated in the assault on Abner Louima go to jail.

 
 
 
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