June 15 Day of Action
Defund Police! Protect Workers! Rebuild Atlanta!
Join us for a day of action against state budget cuts on June 15, 2020.
Governor Brian Kemp is calling on all state agencies to prepare for a 14% budget cut, but we think the State of Georgia and the City of Atlanta should keep cuts where they belong! Our schools, hospitals, and public services shouldn’t suffer when we’re spending too much on police cruisers, tanks, and riot gear. Tax the rich and defund the police!
This June 15 day of action is organized by Metro Atlanta DSA in collaboration with leaders and organizers from Atlanta-area unions and Black socialist groups.
Schedule for the June 15 Day of Action 
Scroll down for our full statement & list of demands.
June 15 Schedule & Action Items
1:00 PM
Phone blitz!
Call your legislator to demand a just state budget.Use our script!
3:00 PM
Downtown sit-in & caravan!
Let’s make some noise! If you’re walking and want to rally at the Capitol, meet at the GSU MARTA station, and if you’re driving, meet at Grant Park.
ALL DAY
Atlanta Budget Talks!
Call (404) 330-6090 and demand that the City of Atlanta defund the police. Use our script!
Our Full Statement
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent recession, Governor Brian Kemp released a statement on May 1st calling on all state agencies to prepare for a 14% budget cut in the 2021 fiscal year [5]. Historical experience has taught us that these cuts often disproportionately harm our most marginalized communities. Alternatively, investment in public necessities including healthcare, affordable housing, education, and transportation would help protect all residents of our state.
The burden of Kemp’s proposed cuts will directly contribute to deepening poverty and weakening the working class’s ability to recover—specifically in low-income communities, rural regions of the state, immigrant families, and Black communities. Rather than slashing funding for the services that millions depend on for life, we call on the state of Georgia to put our most marginalized citizens first by taking a more equitable, just, and humanistic approach to balancing the budget.
More recently, in response to protests demanding justice for Black lives like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has failed to protect Atlantans, opting instead to lead a police occupation of the city. As Georgians struggle to pay rent, hold jobs, and afford healthcare, our leaders have poured money into a deadly, racist police and prison system and handouts to employers and landlords.
While our people suffer, like furloughed service workers at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport left without healthcare or job security [1], our state and local governments respond with tax cuts and subsidies for Georgia’s wealthiest corporations [2]. Our governments have spent enormous resources to protect the ultra-wealthy, at often violent cost to the communities they exploit for profit.
We call on the people of Georgia to join us and refuse any budgets that erode our public schools, hospitals, food access, safe housing, and other vital public services without first cutting from Georgia’s violent carceral systems and its subsidies for the capitalist class.
Instead of a broken, racist system that treats essentials as commodities reserved for those who can pay, Metro Atlanta DSA calls for a just budget that protects the crucial public services that our people depend on.
Our Demands
We demand that the City of Atlanta:
- End the police occupation of Atlanta, keep the curfew lifted, defund the Atlanta Police Department, and close the Atlanta City Detention Center. Reinvest recovered funds in Black communities and restorative community programs;
- Adopt the demands of Unite Here Local 23 [1], including guaranteeing recall rights for workers at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport for 36 months and guaranteeing healthcare for all furloughed workers;
- Adopt the demands of Black movement organizations in Atlanta [4], including a moratorium on books and arrests for minor offenses, a moratorium on rent, mortgage, utilities, evictions, and parking payments; emergency housing for people without homes, the immediate release of those incarcerated in the Atlanta City Detention Center and providing those released with housing, transportation and other services as needed; and the reduction of police presence in highly vulnerable neighborhoods.
We further call on the State of Georgia specifically to:
- Keep the National Guard out of Georgia;
- Immediately end the drug war in Georgia, beginning with legalizing marijuana and immediately commuting related sentences;
- Move to end mass incarceration as well as the spread of COVID-19 by dramatically reducing the number of people incarcerated in Georgia, including in county and city jails, and ensure those released have access to the health, financial, transportation, and other resources needed to successfully transition out;
- End all special tax privileges, exemptions, and loopholes for large corporations and the rich, such as the costly film tax credit;
- Adopt the anti-austerity demands of the United Campus Workers of Georgia [3], aimed at reducing harm to working-class and marginalized employees, including mandating that any pay cuts or furloughs must begin with the highest-paid public employees and must be made on a progressive basis, with those of the highest earnings giving up a larger percentage of their salary or taking more furlough days;
- No layoffs, program closures, or department closures for state employees, or employees working for state-subsidized business, excluding the police.
Much of the catastrophe resulting from COVID-19 was avoidable, and the severity of its impact is directly tied to the injustices of capitalism. As socialists, we reject an order that places private property and wealth above human life and dignity.
We will not be sacrificed for billionaire profits!
References
[1] Unite Here Local 23 represents airport service workers and hotel workers across the country, including at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which has placed its concessions workers on recall without healthcare; https://www.unitehere23.org/updates-victories-and-news-coverage/
They have a petition of demands, addressed to Mayor Bottoms, here.
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/economic-essentials-for-atlantas-airport-concession-retail-workers
[2] GBPI estimates that Georgia gives $9.8 billion per year in tax breaks for special interests, that setting the tobacco tax at the national average would raise $600 million per year, and that closing an itemized tax deduction loophole for high earners would generate $175 million per year; https://gbpi.org/2020/georgia-cant-afford-another-lost-decade-options-to-increase-state-revenues-to-close-budget-shortfalls/.
GBPI also reports the state has nearly $1.3 billion in lottery reserves, which could fund shortfalls in HOPE college programs as well as Pre-K; https://gbpi.org/2020/unused-lottery-funds-available-to-support-more-affordable-access-to-college/.
[3] The United Campus Workers of Georgia represent workers at higher education campuses across the University System of Georgia. https://www.ucwga.com/news/ucwga-calls-compassion-response-14-budget-decrease
[4] Many organizations form The Peoples’ Response Atlanta, a collective of concerned citizens and community organizers calling for an adequate response to the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant economic crisis from Mayor Bottoms. You can read their demands here: www.bit.ly/DearKeisha or https://wearyourvoicemag.com/peoples-response-atlanta-coalition-mayor-keisha-lance-bottoms/
[5] Recent reports indicate that the budget cuts have been revised down to 11%.
Food Resources in Little Rock and North Little Rock
Little Rock
Bullock Temple
1513 South Park Street, Little Rock, AR 72202
501-375-1581
Monday 1:00 – 2:00pm; Thursdays 4:30-6:00 pm
Appointments preferred, ID required
Little Rock
Christ Temple Outreach Center
1919 South Arch Street, Little Rock, AR 72206
501-376-1664
Tuesday & Thursday 10:00am – 12:00noon
Little Rock
Church at Rock Creek
11500 West 36th Street, Little Rock, AR 72211
501-221-1051
Open Tuesday, thru Friday
Call in the mornings between 8:00 & 10:00am to schedule an afternoon appointment. Services available for each person/family at intervals of 5-weeks, 1 service per household. Serving Little Rock and Saline County residents ONLY
Little Rock
El Zocalo Immigrant Food Pantry
5500 Geyer Springs Road, Little Rock, AR 72209
501-301-4652
Inside Geyer Springs United Methodist Church www.zocalocenter.com El Zocalo Immigrant Food Pantry organized by El Zocalo and Interfaith Arkansas. 1 box of food per month for lowincome immigrant families or families affected by immigrant detention. No ID necessary.
Little Rock
Geyer Springs United Methodist Church
5500 Geyer Springs Road, Little Rock, AR 72209
501-565-3175
1st & 3rd Thursday 9:00am – 12:00noon
Serves residents of the 72206, 72209 & 72103 Zip Code area ONLY. Photo ID required.
Little Rock
Greater Second Care Center
5615 Geyer Springs Road, Little Rock, AR 72209
501-569-998
Open third Wednesday 10:00am – 12:00noon
www.greatersecond.org
Little Rock
Helping Hand of Greater Little Rock
1601 Marshall Street, Little Rock, AR 72202
501-372-4388
Monday thru Thursday 9:00am – 12:30pm
May only access food once each month. Food and inexpensive thrift store clothing available. Photo ID required.
Little Rock
Immanuel Baptist Church
10500 West Markham Street, Suite #107, Little Rock, AR 72211
501-376-3071
Tuesday 10:00am – 2:00pm
ID and proof of residence required. For children, must provide proof of guardianship.
Little Rock
Lakeshore Drive Baptist Church
21 Lakeshore Drive, Little Rock, AR 72204
501-565-5536
2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month 10:00am – 2:00pm
Serving the 72204 Zip Code area ONLY www.facebook.com/LakeshoreLittleRock/?rf=113369145364049
Little Rock
Liberty Hill Baptist Church
1215 South Schiller, Little Rock, AR 72202
501-374-8060
2nd Monday, 3:00pm – 6:00pm
www.libertyhbc.org
Photo ID Required
Little Rock
Little Rock Church
10701 West Baseline Road, Little Rock, AR 72209
501-4550900
Open every other Monday 4:30 – 6:30pm
Little Rock
Little Rock Compassion Center
3618 West Roosevelt, Little Rock, AR 72204
501-296-9114
Tuesday and Thursday 8:00 – 11:00am
Photo ID required. Serving the 72204 Zip code area only
Little Rock
Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas
6221 Colonel Glenn Road ad, Suite #A, Little Rock, AR 72204
501-5623336 (Bilingual )
Tuesday 2:00 – 3:30pm, must be from 72204 area, 1st come 1st served
Little Rock
Mount Zion Baptist Church
924 Cross Street, Little Rock, AR 72202
501-374-5832
Wednesday 11:00am – 2:00pm & Saturday 10:00am – 12:00noon.
Little Rock
Oak Forest United Methodist Church
2415 Fair Park Blvd., Little Rock, AR 72204
501-663-9407
1st and 3rd Thursday 11:00am – 1:00pm
Little Rock
Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church
4823 Woodlawn Drive, Little Rock, AR 72205
501-664-3600
Open first Wednesday morning of each month at 8:30am
www.phumc.com
Little Rock
Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church
1601 South Louisiana Street, Little Rock, AR 72206
501-375-1600
Groceries are distributed between 1:00 – 3:00pm on the first and third Tuesdays of each month, except August.
www.umc.org/find-a-church/church/62626
Little Rock
Second Baptist Church
1709 John Barrow
501-223-2323
Wednesdays & Thursdays
Photo ID and utility bill required to have matching name & address.
10:00am – 12:00noon
Little Rock
St. Francis House
2701 South Elm Street, Little Rock, AR 72204
501-644-5036
Monday thru Friday 8:30am – 11:30am & 1:00pm – 3:00pm
Must provide photo ID, Social Security card for each recipient.
Little Rock
St. John Missionary Baptist Church Unto Others Food Pantry
2501 South Main Street, Little Rock, AR 72206
501-537-8658
Open the 2nd & 4th Thursday of each month, 9:00am – we run out
Must complete application, photo ID Required. During winter weather months open only once a month.
Little Rock
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Food Pantry
1500 North Mississippi Street, Little Rock, AR 72207
501-225-4203
Thursdays, 9:15 – 10:45am
Photo ID required
http://st-marks.com/serving/st-marks-food-pantry
Little Rock
Temple Baptist Church – Food Pantry
10710 Interstate #30, Little Rock, AR 72209
501-565-4966
1st & 3rd Monday of each month 6:00pm
Must register with the food pantry with each use.
Little Rock
The Van
P.O. Box #250061, Little Rock, AR 72225
501-955-3444
www.theoneinc.org
Mobile homeless services, locating and serving unsheltered homeless on the fringes of Little Rock. Provides: Clothing, Food, Meals, as well as sundries and materials to enhance basic living conditions
Little Rock
Union A.M.E. Church Food Pantry
1825 South Pulaski Street, Little Rock, AR 72206
501-374-3528
2nd Wednesday of each month, 1:00 – 3:00pm
Call to confirm time
www.unionamec.com
Little Rock
Watershed
3701 Springer Blvd., Little Rock, AR 72206
501-378-0176
Monday thru Friday 8:00am – 4:00pm
Call before coming to make sure food is available. Appointments and referrals are preferred. Social Security card or number is preferred. Must have photo ID.
Shelters in Little Rock and North Little Rock
Immerse Arkansas
PO Box 45385
Little Rock, AR 72214
501-404-9890
Email: help@immersearkansas.org
https://www.immersearkansas.org/youth
Youth ages 16-22
Provides supportive housing for youth ages 16-22 who are aging out of foster care, runaway, or homeles, or victims of sex trafficking or sexual exploitation
Mid AR Substance Abuse in LR, AR
4601 W. 7th Little Rock, AR 72205
501-686-9393
Shelter for the indigent and others who need detox
St. Francis House
2701 S. Elm Little Rock, AR 72204
501-6645036
Homeless veterans program http://www.stfrancisministries.com/
Union Rescue Mission Dorcas House
823 S. Park Street Little Rock, AR 72202
501-374-4022
Outreach to women and children begin at Dorcas House. We provide services like food, shelter, clothing and crisis intervention. https://urmissionlr.org/dorcas-house/
PATH- Partners against Trafficking Human
PO BOX 21066 Little Rock, AR 72221
501-301-4357
Provide safe housing and a program of restoration and reintegration for rescued victims of Human Trafficking and prostitution. pathsaves.org
Gaines House
1702 Gaines Street Little Rock, AR 72206
501-376-7922
Transitional living shelter for women 18 or older who have been treated for mental, physical or emotional disabilities http://www.gaineshouse.org/
The Salvation Army Shelter
1111 W. Markham Little Rock, AR 72201
501-374-9296
Single men, single women and family shelter. 5 free nights per month
Family Promises of Pulaski
222 East 8th Street Little Rock, AR 72202
501-372-0733
Provide shelter, food, transportation and case management for homeless families with children under 18. www.familypromisepc.org
Jericho Way Day Center
3000 Springer Blvd Little Rock, AR 72206
501-916-9859
M-F 7:30am -3 pm
Homeless day center, clothing closet
http://www.depaulusa.org/our-programs/little-rock-ar/
A.B.B.A. House
1002 South Oak St. Little Rock, AR 72204
501-666-9718
Provides shelter for homeless and/or pregnant women, Non-pregnant woman can stay up to 3 wks., pregnant woman can stay up to 1 month after the child is born, NO drug problems or mental illness.
Center for Youth & Families, Youth Emergency Shelter
6425 W. 12th St. Little Rock, AR 72204
501-666-7233
Shelter for homeless and runaway youth, ages 8-18, wheelchair accessible, children may stay up to 45 days. Must be a DHS client.
Dorcas House
823 South Park St.
501-374-4022
Women’s domestic Violence Program
9-month program for women and children
A division of Union Rescue Mission
Little Rock, AR 72202
Children in domestic abuse situations, male children allowed through 17 years of age (on a space available basis). 50 beds available for women and children. Recovery Program: 9 month recovery program for women with substance or alcohol addiction. Children are NOT permitted to remain with women in Recovery Program. Wheelchair accessible.
Empowerment Village
3604 W. 12th St. Little Rock, AR 72204
501-663-7223 Ext. #210
For Arkansans with special needs, i.e.: limited income, homeless or has disability affecting their income and need for supportive services.
Little Rock Compassion Center (Men’s)
3618 W. Roosevelt Rd., Little Rock, AR 72204
501-296-9114
Men’s homeless shelter must have ID and be over 18. Must be sober, no medical services available.
Little Rock Compassion Center (Women’s)
4210 Asher Ave. Little Rock, AR 72204
501-663-2972
Women’s homeless shelter must have ID and be over 18. Check-in 3:00pm.
Nehemiah House, A Division of Union Rescue Mission
2921 Springer Blvd, Little Rock, AR 72216,
(501) 374-1108
Men’s homeless shelter, 4-free days per month, free if the weather is below freezing, after that $6.00 per day (includes breakfast and dinner.) You must be out of the building daily by 7:00am. Once in at night you cannot leave and re-enter. Weapons, tobacco, cell phones, drugs and alcohol not permitted on the property. Work Program – 36-bed facility for working homeless – This program is 6 months and for the working homeless. Recovery Program – 46 bed facility – 9-month recovery program that is faith based in nature. Wheelchair accessible
Our House
https://ourhouseshelter.org/
302 East Roosevelt Road, Little Rock, AR 72206,
(501) 375-2416 / (501) 374-7383
Working shelter for men, women, and families, wheelchair accessible, long term shelter available (up to 2-years). Many educational programs, meals, clothing and classes available, domestic violence recovery. Must be working a minimum of 32 hours a week soon after moving in.
Phoenix Recovery Center
104 North Battery, Little Rock, AR 72205,
(501) 725-4907
Transitional housing for women only.
Salvation Army
1111 West Markham, Little Rock, AR 72201,
(501) 374-9296 / (501) 374-8636 After 3:30pm
Emergency shelter for women, and families, opens at 6:15pm.
Union RESCUE Mission Transient Lodge
615 Magnolia N. Little Rock, AR 72114
501-376-8470
Homeless Shelter for Men. Can stay up to 5 nights.
Firm Foundation Ministries
2200 East Broadway North Little Rock, AR 72114
501-945-7412
Men’s homeless shelter and half way house
Resolution to Prohibit Police Presence in CLTMDSA
As voted on at the June 7th Meeting of the Charlotte Metropolitan Democratic Socialists of America, the voting body has adopted the the following resolution:
Therefore, be it resolved, employment as a law enforcement officer is in opposition to the principles of the organization as outlined in DSA constitution article II. “Law Enforcement officer” shall be defined as “an individual who is sworn, badged, and arm-able by the government to enforce the law, or a prison guard; or individuals who are members, operators, or supporters of police associated union organizations”(Whether employed by the government or a private company). Persons employed as law enforcement are therefore excluded from membership in Charlotte Metropolitan DSA. Whereas, law enforcement agencies operate to promote the interests of capitalist institutions and to suppress organized dissent against their control of American society; and Whereas, oppressed groups with whom the DSA seeks to organize such as people of color, sex workers, and the homeless have immediate reasons to be afraid of the police, and uncomfortable in their presence.
Chief Evans Defends BCPD
In an interview with the Gavel, BCPD Chief Evans DEFENDED sending BCPD officers to Franklin Park Tuesday evening. Roxbury and Dorchester are majority Black neighborhoods of Boston. Under no circumstance should BCPD be doing anything, ever, in Roxbury or Dorchester. Particularly not policing a protest against police brutality.
Evans says sending officers to police the protest is”by no means political” This is outrageous. Sending police to oppose protesters at a rally against police brutality and the murder of Black people by police is absolutely political. Boston College must immediately end any involvement in policing protests in Boston. YDS of BC reiterates our call for Evans to resign or be removed as Chief of the Boston College Police department. No institution that employs him has any concern for systematic racism of the police or the criminal justice system. All the statements in the world cannot outweigh his presence on BC’s campus.
Petition to remove Evans can be found here.
PETITION: Ordinance To Explicitly Condemn Police Brutality & Implement A Zero-Tolerance Policy Towards Abusive Policing
High Peaks Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) seeks to express our collective horror at the cold-blooded murder of George Floyd by officers in the Minneapolis, Minnesota police force and our solidarity with the black Americans and citizens of all races who have taken to the streets to peacefully protest police brutality and state-sanctioned racism in our country.
While High Peaks DSA recognizes that the Saranac Lake police department maintains a relatively positive relationship with the village community, we call for the Village Board to adopt an ordinance that explicitly condemns police brutality in light of the murder of George Floyd and implements a zero-tolerance policy towards abusive policing. By explicitly condemning police brutality, the Village of Saranac Lake will signal itself as a safe space for diverse communities.
High Peaks DSA also calls for the Village Board and Police Department to partner with village residents to establish a system of community oversight to ensure cooperation, accountability, and justice for all.
Fill out the form below if you’d like to sign the petition:
The post PETITION: Ordinance To Explicitly Condemn Police Brutality & Implement A Zero-Tolerance Policy Towards Abusive Policing appeared first on High Peaks DSA.
Fuck the Police: Disarm, Defund, Disaffiliate
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Trauma in the Time of COVID
Text from Natalie Stroud’s presentation during “Education Workers Unite to Defend Vermont Education” on May 29.
My name is Natalie Stroud. I have been a preschool teacher in Burlington for six years. I'm not going to rehash most of the facts and figures because they are already out there and I encourage you to read the letters written people who work in childcare centers. I will share with you the reason WHY I have chosen to plead with Governor Scott to reconsider the June 1st reopening date.
Our nation is experiencing collective trauma right now. Trauma happens when what we individually assume to be true about the world or ourselves is challenged, making it hard to cope and impossible to go back to how things were before. We will all be changed forever by this pandemic. That is trauma.
My students are home right now learning that sometimes parents lose their jobs. They are learning that you can’t always trust the grownups in charge to tell the truth or take care of us. They are learning what it feels like to be isolated and lonely. They are learning that sometimes people don’t always get better when they get sick. All of this is traumatic.
People often say, "kids are so resilient, they will be fine" and yes, kids have the capacity for resilience. But don’t be fooled, their body will remember the trauma for the rest of their lives. They keep moving and smiling because they have to to survive.
So much social and emotional learning takes place in the first five years of life, which is why it is essential that children receive high quality, trauma-sensitive care in early childhood. When we send our children back to school, we need to make sure the environment can provide this for them. They deserve it.
Right now, our country is showing that we do not value their education. We do not value the quality of their care. Preschool aged children need touch. They need to play with their friends. They need their bodies to be comfortable and unencumbered by a mask in order to learn. They need to see their teachers’ mouth move to learn language. They need to be able to nap. They need their special education providers to help them in the classroom. They need to see their teachers smile. They will need all of this even MORE after what they all have gone through these past few months. The schooling experience we would be sending them back to on June 1st would not be that place.
Teachers are scared and worried, rightfully so. We will be overworked and underpaid, in masks and long sleeve button down shirts in the summer heat nonetheless. Of course, two of things aren’t new. We have always been overworked and underpaid. But at this moment in history, we have a chance to change that.
Help families with unemployment if they choose not to or cannot send their child back to school yet. Compensate teachers fairly. Provide more stabilization funds to programs that cannot open yet. Continue paying open programs a stipend for each child enrolled in the program, as the cost of care has risen. The early childhood education system has always been in survival mode but the response to this pandemic, if handled with care, can help programs thrive for the first time in history. We are asking Governor Scott to help us make history and change the landscape of early childhood education in Vermont forever by hearing our pleas.
Thank you.
Metro Atlanta DSA stands with the nationwide anti-racist uprisings
Over the past few days, Atlanta has seen an organic, spontaneous working class uprising inspired by the uprisings in Minneapolis and elsewhere around the country. Mayor Keisha Lance-Bottoms has joined forces with Governor Brian Kemp to launch a brutally authoritarian crackdown on the protests, invoking the national guard and hostile military tactics. This looks like war because it is war. This is class war being waged by the ruling capitalist class and their jackboot cronies against Atlanta’s Black working class.
The Metro Atlanta Democratic Socialists of America (MADSA) unequivocally supports the working class uprisings developing in Atlanta and across the country led by the anti-racist Black working class. We support the #BlackLivesMatter movement and the efforts of the leading Black working class to defeat mass incarceration and the neo-fascist police state. We stand in solidarity with George Floyd, may he rest in power, with his family, and with the millions of Black people who fear death because of the violence of white supremacy in the United States.
The racist and white supremacist institutions of capitalism that oppress people of color must be immediately dismantled, and they can only be dismantled by a mass movement. Over the past few days, our members have been on the ground working to build this movement, standing side by side with the working class in its struggle for Black liberation and racial equality. Over the coming weeks, we will do our best to play a principled and helpful role in this non-violent anti-racist movement.
The images and videos of police officers brutalizing Atlanta workers are sickening. No amount of “administrative leave” can change the inherently oppressive nature of the Atlanta Police or the police at large. There is a pattern of injustice and impunity that’s survived decades of elections, all under Democrats. The racist policing system itself must be totally upended.
We demand that Mayor Bottoms and Governor Kemp immediately:
- Remove the National Guard
- End the city curfew
- Restore MARTA services
- Release everyone arrested during all protests
- Demilitarize, disarm, and defund the police
The sign outside the CNN Center has already been repainted, but the life of George Floyd can never be replaced. Instead of addressing the needs of the Black working class, Mayor Bottoms has chosen to lecture the people of this city about property rights. She has shown that she values property over human life, and that her allegiance lies with the ruling class, not the working class majority of Atlanta.
We’re exhausted with the blame games. “Outside agitators,” organized crime, “thugs,” even foreign intervention! We are living in unprecedented times but this isn’t a gaudy spy novel. There is no sinister plot – we are seeing the natural, organic response of the working class to capitalism in crisis. Of course there are uprisings when there is nearly 30% youth unemployment and when the police are wantonly killing innocent people.
All footage of the protests clearly show that the police are the instigators of violence, in Atlanta and elsewhere across the country. The killings of George Floyd and so many others are inexcusable. The brutally militaristic police response to peaceful protests is unjustifiable. In the face of state violence, the working class is simply defending itself. The only way for this violence to stop is for the police to stop being violent.
Unfortunately our rulers are determined to make us disbelieve our own eyes and ears. They are inventing boogeymen and scapegoats. They demand more brutality against the people whose labor makes the world run. They threaten arrest, imprisonment, disfigurement and death to people across every age, race, and gender who just want to live in peace and be free of police brutality.
Atlanta has a history with the civil rights movement, but the struggle for civil rights and racial equality is clearly unfinished. We have a chance now to write our own history and set an example for unity and clarity in a time of injustice and uncertainty. We strive to build a new world rooted in justice, liberty, and peace for all people.
The Metro Atlanta DSA has officially endorsed and calls on our members to attend the Protest March & Rally for Justice for Black Lives on Sunday, June 7th at 12pm. We echo the organizers’ demands:
- Pass the Hate Crimes Bill
- Repeal the Citizen’s Arrest Law
- Bring Killer Cops and Lynchers to Quick Justice
- Criminal Punishment Reform
- Stop Police Brutality & Militarized Policing
No Justice, No Peace
Metro Atlanta DSA Executive Committee
Photo credit: Steve Eberhardt