Vol. 79/No. 22      June 15, 2015

The panel included Aislinn Pulley, a leader of Black Lives Matter here; Juanita Young, a veteran fighter against police killings in New York; and Alyson Kennedy of the Socialist Workers Party.

Pulley described how the previous week fighters against police brutality rode the subway carrying signs and talking to passengers about joining the fight.

Black Lives Matter and other organizations are campaigning for the firing of Chicago cop Dante Servin, who was just acquitted in the 2012 killing of Rekia Boyd. “At an April 29 teach-in at DePaul University 100 cops and a SWAT team came,” said Pulley. “They closed the school and put it in lockdown. But still over 200 came to protest the acquittal of Servin. It is only through sustained political organization that we will get him fired.”

“Since we formed Mothers Fight for Justice, the list of families who are affected by cop killings keeps getting bigger,” said Young. She spoke about other fights she has supported since her son Malcolm Ferguson was killed by a New York cop in 2000.

“Malcolm X was a revolutionary who appealed to our self-worth so we could see our capacity to organize to fight to change the world,” said Kennedy. “His lessons are important for today, as the Black struggle and working-class resistance is growing. Police killings and brutality against Blacks is not accepted and there are immediate responses when it happens.”

“All lives will matter, when Black Lives Matter,” Pulley said in the discussion. She announced that Black Lives Matter is co-sponsoring a national conference on the fight against police brutality in Cleveland in July.
 
 
Related articles:
Cleveland: ‘It’s not right for cop to walk’ in 2012 killing  
 
 
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