Vol. 80/No. 21      May 30, 2016

 

Relatives of victims of US cop brutality visit Cuba

Exchange experiences with leaders of Federation of Cuban Women
in Havana

 
A delegation of relatives of victims of police killings and others involved in fights against cop brutality in the United States visited Cuba to share their experiences and learn about the Cuban Revolution. Their week-long visit was hosted by the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) and the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP). The article below is from the May 5 online edition of Mujeres, the FMC’s publication. Translation is by the Militant.

BY MARIELA PÉREZ VALENZUELA  
On Tuesday [May 3], mothers and other relatives of victims of police brutality in the United States visited the national headquarters of the Federation of Cuban Women. There they shared their experiences with Teresa Amarelle Boué, general secretary of this nongovernmental organization, and others who explained the social and political perspectives that guide the organization, which has four million members over the age of 14.

At the meeting, which lasted a little more than two hours, the visitors spoke about the abuses suffered by their sons and brothers who had been killed by police forces, and in many cases, justice was never served. They also discussed the situation of the working class in the world’s leading economy.

Juanita Young told how in March 2000 her son Malcolm Ferguson was killed by Louis Rivera, a New York policeman. Malcolm, a 23-year-old Black man, was shot in the head at point blank range a week after participating in a protest against the acquittal of four police officers, who killed an immigrant from Guinea.

Young, a founder of Mothers Cry for Justice, told how the authorities offered her money to forget what happened to her son, an offer she rejected immediately. She added that even though a jury ruled in 2007 in favor of the lawsuit she filed against the city for wrongful death, and held Rivera responsible for the killing of her son, the officer (who admitted his guilt) has not served a sentence.

It has been 22 years since a New York policeman killed Anthony Baez, who was playing football in the street with three of his brothers and friends.

His mother, Iris Baez, said that the ball hit a police car and that when the officer arrested one of his brothers and Anthony protested, they killed him.

Iris Baez, mother of 12 children, six of them adopted, recalled the big protests when Officer Francis Livoti was acquitted by the State of New York in 1996.

Her face marked by continuing sorrow for her murdered son, she said that two years later Livoti was convicted on federal charges of violating Anthony Baez’s civil rights, but not for his murder. Livoti went to prison for seven and a half years.

In 1998, Baez created the Anthony Baez Community and Parents Against Police Brutality Foundation, which provides support and solidarity to families affected by police violence in the United States.

Among the other visitors are Arnetta Grable and her son Aaron. They traveled to Cuba together. Aaron is the brother of Lamar Wayne Grable, killed by Detroit Police Officer Eugene Brown in 1996 while returning home from a party.

Arnetta said that the police officer said he thought Lamar was a suspect who had escaped. She recalled how the mayor of Detroit offered her a million dollars if she would stop protesting this vile crime, which she refused. This gave her more strength to continue fighting.

A judge even claimed she had mental problems and was unfit to care for her children, she said, which was totally false.

Grable, who along with her family, has been harassed by the Detroit police department, noted that Brown has never gone to prison, even though a judge found him guilty in 2003 in a lawsuit she filed. Brown was later fired from the police force after having shot nine people.

Amarelle Boué, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba, told the U.S. delegation in another moment of fraternal exchange with the national leadership of the FMC that defense of the Cuban Revolution and efforts to achieve full gender equality are priorities of the organization.

That’s why, she said, Cubans found it difficult to listen respectfully when U.S. president Barack Obama said during his recent official visit to Havana on our own soil that the people of this island should forget history.

Amarelle Boué said that the revolution’s demand for equality is one of the reasons why it is impossible to set history aside. Before the victory of the revolution in January 1959, she said, women were the lowest paid and most discriminated against.

The delegation from the north listened with astonishment to the FMC leader as she explained how the situation had gradually changed. Today women in Cuba make up 66.6 percent of the technical and professional workforce, 60.2 percent of physicians, and more than 80 percent of nurses, alongside other gains achieved by women.

Problems in the capitalist system

Alyson Kennedy, a union militant for more than four decades, speaking separately with Mujeres, said the problems workers face in the United States are the result of the capitalist system. She said that this made the fight to confront the high cost of living a priority.

Kennedy said that millions of workers face increasing difficulties, with no immediate solution.

A member of the National Committee of the Socialist Workers Party, Kennedy is right in the middle of the long battle by employees of restaurants and stores to win a minimum wage of $15 an hour, a small amount compared with the cost of living today in the strongest capitalist power on the planet.

It’s impossible to survive if you earn less than $15 an hour, because you can’t afford the high rents; people in this situation have to apply for subsidies through food stamps; and some women put off having children because of the huge cost of childcare. In face of this picture, she emphasized, the government, far from helping, has cut social welfare payments.

During their stay in Cuba the U.S. delegation will visit sites of historical and cultural interest.

On Tuesday they visited the Orlando Pantoja Elementary School in the Plaza of the Revolution district, where they met with school officials and students and learned about the work being carried out in an Educational Center for Women and the Family.

According to the delegation’s itinerary, a meeting is planned with the five antiterrorist fighters [the Cuban Five], who served long prison terms in the capitalist nation. On May Day they joined the historic march marking International Workers Day in the Plaza of the Revolution.  
 
 
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