Socialist Action /May 1999
Thousands March to Protest N.Y. Police Killing
By CLIFF CONNER
NEW YORK-On April 15, some 20,000 to 25,000 New Yorkers marched across
the Brooklyn Bridge to rally at Federal Plaza in Manhattan to express their
outrage over the police shooting of Amadou Diallo, a 2 2-year-old African
immigrant.
Diallo, who was unarmed and innocent of any crime, was killed on Feb.
4 by three cops who fired a total of 41 bullets, 19 of which struck him.
Perhaps the most frequently heard chant along the line of march was "How
Many Bullets?", with the crowd responding by counting slowly from one
to 41.
The massive demonstration was the largest single action to date in a
series of protests that included a highly effective civil disobedience campaign
in which more than a thousand people-including many prominent politicians
and celebrities-were arrested. (See "New
York killer cops indicted as protests grow" in the April issue
of Socialist Action.)
The demonstrators represented a cross-section of the city's population,
but African Americans-the primary target of police brutality and racial
"profiling"-were especially well represented.
Another impressive aspect of the protest was the presence of large trade-union
contingents, including hospital workers, teachers, Teamsters, municipal
employees, construction workers, and many others.
The primary theme of the march and rally was condemnation of the notorious
police brutality that has led to numerous killings of people of color in
New York over the past several years. The demonstration's organizers, headed
by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network, put forward a "10-point
plan for police reform" as the official demands of the protest action.
The rally was chaired by well-known actor and activist Ossie Davis. Other
celebrities spoke and sang, but the primary speakers were Democratic Party
leaders, including former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, and labor officials,
including the head of the city's central labor council.
The April 15 march received an unusually large amount of advance publicity,
including television and radio ads, leafleting at churches and subway stations,
and massive phone-bank and direct mail campaigns-all of which cost an estimated
$300,000.
Although the demonstration was originally called and planned by the Rev.
Sharpton's group, it attracted broad support from Democratic Party leaders,
who saw it as an opportunity to create a "Dump Giuliani movement aimed
at displacing the Republican mayor in the next election. Giuliani, who has
generally treated the Black community with arrogance and contempt, is widely-and
deservedly-despised by African Americans.
When the Democrats aid in building demonstrations of this sort, their
aim is to gain control over the movements for social change and guide them
into harmless electoral channels. The pro-capitalist Democratic Party, it
has often been said, is "the graveyard of social protest movements."
The mobilization of tens of thousands of Black activists and rank-and-file
trade unionists, however, has a powerful logic of its own. This is a movement
that can grow and eventually win a lasting victory over the forces of police
repression, but only if it gains independence from the Democratic Party.
Socialist Action /May 1999 |