"I had a lot of fun working with James Harris at the rally," said Ana Ramírez, 17, a YS member who came from Los Angeles. "We ran into a group of three young Black women who were high school students from the Washington, D.C., area looking over our literature table. One of them, Jade, said she wanted to start a political club at her high school and was interested in the socialists' explanations of the world."

Ramírez said two of them bought the new Pathfinder pamphlet The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning: The Fraud of Education Reform Under Capitalism. "They were hungry for ideas and one of them told me about her disappointment with the education system," stated Ramírez. "She said more needs to be done about police brutality than just talking about it. She agreed with the positions of the Socialist Workers campaign, such as defense of affirmative action and supporting a woman's right to choose abortion. She liked the books we had with the speeches of Malcolm X and asked a lot of questions about the Cuban revolution. She was very interested in the Young Socialists, and our explanation that a working-class revolution is needed here in the United States."

Later, Jade returned to the table, outraged at a man she had seen at the rally holding up a sign scapegoating immigrants for problems such as unemployment. She wanted to find out what Harris had to say about this so she could be better prepared to answer these reactionary views. According to Ramírez, "Jade said the man told her there were too many Mexicans in this country, and she asked James Harris, 'What do you think about this?' "

"Anti-immigrant scapegoating is poison that is aimed against working people," Harris told her. 'Mexicans are workers like us. In fact, in many struggles immigrants are playing a vanguard role in the labor movement." He explained that immigrants were a leading component in the union-organizing efforts by meat packers around the Midwest. Harris also pointed to the struggles of farm workers in Yakima Valley in Washington State.

"One man was really shocked that James Harris was running for president," Ramírez added. "He said he couldn't believe 'that someone like us' was running for president of the United States."

Ramírez reported that she sold a subscription to the Militant, three copies of the paper, and three of the new Pathfinder pamphlet while campaigning with Harris. "I met a lot of students and Black workers who were interested in the campaign," she added.

Harris wrapped up his campaigning at a Socialist Workers open house attended by 40 people who had taken part in the march. "This was an important national demonstration against police brutality. The very fact that it happened was a victory for all working people." It was proof of the tenacity of workers today who refuse to stop fighting against the brutality of the ruling class, he noted.

One person in the audience asked him why was he running for president if elections did not solve anything. "I'm running to explain the truth about politics today and the irreconcilable differences between the two main classes in society--the working class and the capitalist class." He said these differences will grow sharper and will only be resolved through the revolutionary transformation of society as workers and farmers take power and establish a new government of their own in the interests of the vast majority.  
 
 
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