Vol. 72/No. 21      May 26, 2008

The beating comes on the heels of the acquittal of three New York City cops involved in killing Sean Bell, an African American youth, in a hail of 50 bullets as Bell left his bachelor party. The police barrage seriously wounded two of Bell’s friends who were with him.

In every case where the cops beat or kill workers city officials go into action to paint the victim as the criminal. After the three men in Philadelphia were beaten they were tossed into jail, where they remain, charged with attempted murder and other counts related to a drive-by shooting. No weapons were found on them.

In Bell’s case police officials said his blood alcohol level was above the legal limit and claimed he had attempted to run down one of the cops. Several witnesses dispute the claim.

In the wake of the most outrageous cop assaults liberal politicians and other do-gooders advocate civil disobedience or call hearings to discuss how to “reform” the police. The end result is often to diffuse anger and stem protests by working people. Often they are ways to promote the actions of a “committed few,” not to reach out and involve the broadest numbers of working people in public demonstrations that make the rulers pay a high political price for their brutality.

Proposals for police “reform” usually include “sensitivity training,” community police review boards, special prosecutors to investigate police brutality, or studies to gather data on racial profiling. Such proposals promote illusions that the cops can be reformed.

They cannot be. Their purpose is to protect and serve the interests of the enemy class—the wealthy bosses who exploit us daily through low wages, rising prices, and production speed-ups resulting in injury and death on the job. Whether they’re breaking up picket lines, raiding factories in immigration sweeps, or gunning down Black youth in the streets, police agencies are used to try and intimidate workers and keep us from fighting back.

Only by standing up and refusing to be intimidated can working people win even small concessions from the rulers. The thousands who took to the streets in New York in the aftermath of the Bell shooting forced the capitalist rulers to at least try three of the cops who killed him. It will take actions of that type to jail cops such as Bell’s killers and the thugs in Philadelphia.
 
 
Related articles:
Philadelphia cops assault 3 Black youth
N.Y. politicians hold hearing on police ‘reform’  
 
 
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