NEW YORK — Chanting "Stop Killer-Cops," and "We want Bosco," 600 people held a rally and demonstration in the city hall area Sept. 25 against police brutality. The demonstration was called to demand that Frank Bosco, the policeman who gunned down 14-year-old Claude Reese, be indicted for murder. Reese was brutally slain Sept. 15 in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn while helping to clean out a basement for a surprise birthday party for a friend.
Many of those at the rally were youths in their teens who had come by chartered bus from Brownsville. The young people went to the rally rather than attend school, as a means of showing solidarity against the police murder of Claude Reese.
A boycott of all stores in Brownsville along Pitkin and Belmont Avenue was also called for the day of the rally. Most of the merchants responded to the sentiment of community activists by closing their shops.
The Brooklyn Militant Forum held a meeting Sept. 28 on the "Fight Against Police Terror." Speaking at the forum were Derrick Morrison, SWP candidate for governor; Brother Hekima of the Newark Congress of African People, Omowale Clay of the Committee for Justice for Clifford Glover, and Ray Whitfield of the Committee for Justice for Claude Reese.
"Equal justice under the law," declared Morrison, "does not exist in reality. There is one standard of justice for the rich and another for Black and other oppressed people. In order to get justice there must be struggle and mobilizations. This has been the lesson of every defense case, from that of Sacco and Vanzetti to Angela Davis."
PITTSBURGH, Oct. 3 — The steel workers here, to a man, walked off the job on Friday night, shutting tight every steel mill, rolling mill and plant in the area. Their attitude is one of calm confidence. Believing that the companies are aiming to break their union, the strikers are firmly resolved to remain out until U.S. Steel and the other giants of the industry feel the might of American labor. They are confident that the working class fully supports them and confident of their own strength — a confidence born of previous victories over the arrogant steel corporations.
The cash reserves of steel workers were depleted during the 60-day "cooling-off" period agreed to by Philip Murray. While Murray played around with Truman and his "fact-finding" board, U.S. Steel struck blow after blow at the workers; men worked at an average of three or four days a week; union militants were weeded out, with Murray's help; elder men eligible for pensions, were indiscriminately laid off. Some of these older men, with 20 to 30 years on the job, fear that they will be forced by the company to take physical examinations before returning to work or getting pensions.
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