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Across LA, Movement Against Police Terror Grows

Sept. 25: Demonstrators from across Louisiana convened at the Governor’s Mansion to demand justice for victims of police terror

by Adam Pedescleaux

A week after Lafayette resident Trayford Pellerin was murdered by police outside of a gas station for allegedly carrying a knife, a demonstration protesting police violence was organized by a group called The Village in coalition with the NAACP. People of Lafayette gathered to march through the streets with Black Lives Matter signs, stopping to listen to speeches from people who knew Pellerin personally. Speakers called for justice and for the pig to be tried and jailed for the racist killing.

Just days after a white supremacist murdered two anti-racist protestors in Kenosha, Wisconsin, tension was high. White supremacists were emboldened by the fact that Trump and the police supported this act of terrorism. New Black Panther Party members as well as a New Orleans Workers Group member showed up armed and ready to defend the lives of protestors against any far-right provocateurs. Two Boogaloo members (far-right bigots who are radicalized on racist cesspool websites) came out armed though they later left.

On September 25, the New Orleans Workers Group caravanned to Baton Rouge to join a coalition convened by The Village to demand justice for Trayford Pellerin, Ronald Greene, Breonna Taylor and the countless others who’ve lost their lives to killer cops.

If we the people desire change in our community and communities everywhere, it is critical that we take to the streets and show our strength and determination to enact real and lasting change for the better, not those half-baked non-solutions that our two-faced politicians sell us so they can continue to line their pockets in peace. It is a requirement that we convince our coworkers, friends, and families that we can win a future where we and our children are free from racist terror!

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Breonna Taylor – Say Her Name

Six months ago, Louisville police shot and killed sister Breonna Taylor, 26 years old, who was sleeping in her home. The police lied to obtain a no-knock warrant seeking an individual they already had under arrest. With no warning, in a KKK-type raid, police burst into her home. Her partner, Kenneth Walker, used a legally owned gun to fire one shot at those who invaded his home. The police fired 33 shots killing Breonna and spreading bullets everywhere.

Breonna Taylor was an award winning EMT, a brave woman who served everyone during the pandemic despite the danger to herself. No one is indicted for her murder—for her lynching—at the hands of the racist, out of control police, who work hand in hand with right wing militias and who serve the interests of the ultrarich. With compassion, training, and an accountability to our communities, we can keep us safe but not while the racist protectors of the rich are free to terrorize us.

All we hear from the big business media is that Black Lives Matter protestors, Black and white, are violent outside agitators, terrorists, and looters. Both Trump and Biden have disparaged protestors. Yet 40 million people have joined these protests. The violence has come from the police and armed right wing groups funded by millionaires. Protestors have a right to defend ourselves. Of course, we organize defense and protection from violent fascist goons. Recent exposés have uncovered the emails, texts, and messages of the scum that Trump calls “good people” that document plotted assassinations, killings, fire bombings, and other attacks. The fascists who plan and execute these attacks count on the police to keep them safe.

Over 15,000 protestors have been arrested since the murder of George Floyd. While one of the cops who killed Breonna was only charged with firing into other apartments, none are charged with her murder. They should all be charged, indicted, and put behind bars. But charges should not only be for the triggerman but the police departments and politicians who fund, support, and protect them as accomplices before and after the fact.

The big business media heaped the same lies and blame on civil rights activists. We the people must reject their accusations and call for the freedom of all arrested protestors and the jailing of every last murderer of the more than 14 anti-racist protestors who have been killed since the uprisings began in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

The struggle to win justice for Breonna and all victims of racist police terror is far from over. The struggle will continue until we put society in the hands of working class rather than the capitalist class, which uses terror and violence here and around the world to gain and protect profits.

The New Orleans Workers Group has organized and will continue to organize mass protests against police terror just as we will continue our work to halt evictions, raise wages, and win income and security for all workers and oppressed people.

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Stop Caging Workers!

Photo: Christina Tareq

On Friday, September 27, dozens of hospitality workers and supporters gathered in Congo Square for a Workers Unity Rally called by the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance. Organizers stressed the urgent need for workers to resist police and ICE terror in the workplace. Speakers included Eugene Grant of the Slow Rollas Brass Band who spoke on behalf of street musicians who have been targeted for harassment by the police who take their orders from gentrifiers and real estate developers. From Congo Square demonstrators marched through the French Quarter, calling on their fellow workers to come together to fend off cops and ICE agents who are attacking workers on behalf of greedy, racist bosses. Demonstrators chanted “Lift the wages, no more cages!” Grant summed up the attitude of the marching workers best, chanting “We gotta fight to get it!”

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Violence by NOPD on the Rise Again

By Star

In less than two months’ time, the NOPD’s actions have resulted in the deaths of at least 4 people and another 11 injuries. They’ve endangered the lives of hundreds of bystanders, and they have brutally assaulted an innocent woman. So far there has been no accountability.

On February 17, the police were in an open gun fight in one of the busiest sections of town, Canal and Elk. The cops killed one man; five others were wounded. As it relates to gun fights in well-populated, public areas, the Mayor stated that “our city sleeps under the protection of an interconnected web of law enforcement agencies whose effectiveness is on display every day.” In the same breath, she assured “the public” that the city was ready for Carnival.

Looking past NOPD’s decision to engage in a public gun war, she apparently prioritizes Carnival over the safety of everyday citizens.

On March 20, around 8:30 pm, the police, in violation of their own Vehicle Pursuit policy, chased a car into a Beauty Supply Store and Salon. The building was set ablaze during the crash, killing a woman, two teenage boys and injuring six other bystanders.

On April 13, an NOPD commander brutally assaulted a 21-year-old nursing student in the Quarter, as can be plainly seen in a video taken by a bystander. When her family complained, they were arrested.

Reports, surveillance footage and police statements all show that the police will lie about violating laws and rights, even when caught on video. Their reports are filled with contradictions, lies and subjective descriptions that clearly point to their low opinion of the public’s ability to think. Now multiple people have died, and countless people have been traumatized: many lives will never be the same.

These are horrendous crimes by the police without any city action. Now is not the time for the court to cancel the Federal Consent Decree, which was a partial victory against a totally violent NOPD won by community activists.

All these deaths, injuries, and abuses must be investigated. Action should be taken against all involved police officers and any brass involved in cover-ups.

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Congress of Day Laborers Fights Back Against Wage Theft And Police Discrimination

By Dylan Borne

On September 21st, over 100 people showed up in a playground in Kenner for a vigil called by Congreso de Jornaleros (Congress of Day Laborers) against wage theft and police discrimination. This protest was a response to a local employer, Santos Silva, refusing to pay his employees $700’s worth of wages. When the workers brought up that they could sue, Kenner police responded by taking the employer’s side and attempting to intimidate the workers. Multiple pastors, community leaders, and activists spoke up in support. Among them were representatives from the teachers’ union Jefferson Federation of Teachers and the construction workers’ union Laborers’ International Union of North America. They called for the unity of all workers, regardless of skin color, gender, or nationality, in the fight against the bosses that exploit us all. Many immigrant workers spoke up about their struggles with Louisiana police departments. Local police forces routinely arrest immigrants and beat detainees, even injured ones (one worker spoke about how he was beaten even though he was on crutches because of his broken pelvis). Kenner police also routinely turns immigrants into Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deport them. But, as one worker, María, put it: “I am not afraid, I am angry because of everything that’s been done to us.”

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Community Solidarity Makes the Difference Rodneka Shelbia – Stood Up to Police Abuse

By Antranette Scott

I first met Rodneka Shelbia over a year ago at the Peoples’ Assembly Community Sing as she shared her song ‘Thankful’ with the group. As her voice rose, her hands clapped, and she expressed that every moment is something to be grateful for, I found myself nodding in agreement. Then she shared her story with us.

For coming to the aid of a young woman and infant who were being abused by an NOPD officer in the name of an unwarranted arrest, Rodneka was falsely accused of battery on a cop and resisting arrest. In her pleas with the cop to “be human”, Rodneka stood firm in her unwillingness to be desensitized to police brutality and injustice. Rodneka knew that she needed support and solidarity but was unsure of where to turn to for it. After the Sing, I introduced myself to Rodneka and invited her to the People’s Assembly weekly organizing meeting. I knew that the Peoples’ Assembly could offer on the ground support, magnify her story to our working-class community, and most importantly, provide comradeship and solidarity. When Rodneka joined the PA, the motion to stand with Rodneka’s fight for justice was overwhelming. With many other justice organizers, we created social media outreach for her upcoming court dates, formed community coalitions to get folks to fill the court room, and a variety of other tasks to get Rodneka’s story out to the working-class community.

We stood with Rodneka through a yearlong struggle of 12 court date postponements, subpoenas being served back and forth, change of legal representation, and a myriad of other obstacles. Rodneka was just as much a pillar of strength for the PA as we were for her. It was a symbiotic relationship that affirmed that only through collective strength is our liberation guaranteed. A few weeks ago, Rodneka closed that chapter of her life a free woman who has now welcomed her warrior daughter Iamme into this world, and I gained a beloved comrade and sister heart friend.

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Jefferson Parish Residents Demand Justice for Black Youth Choked to Death

By Malcolm Suber

Hundreds of Jefferson Parish residents have poured into the streets demanding justice for 22-year old Keeven Robinson, who was choked to death by 4 Jefferson Parish Sheriff Office (JPSO) narcotics agents on May 10. Keeven Robinson died after he fled from detectives at a Shell gas station in the Shrewsbury neighborhood of unincorporated Jefferson Parish. At some point the four detectives caught up with him, choked him, put him in handcuffs, and he wound up dead. None of the detectives were wearing body cameras, so one can only  surmise what happened when the detectives caught up with him.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto immediately began an attempt to create a cover for his detectives by claiming that Keeven Robinson had asthma and that his death was probably due to his breathing problems and not any thing such as choking that his detectives had done in apprehending Robinson. The family and the Black community were in no mood to accept this rationale given the brutal history of JPSO deputies and the almost daily killing of Black victims by the police forces of the USA. Family and friends immediately organized a rally and vigil on Robinson’s block and demanded an independent investigation. This action forced the Jefferson Parish coroner to issue his findings on the cause of death. He ruled that Keeven Robinson’s death was a homicide caused as result of asphyxiation. In other words, he was choked to death, just as Eric Garner was. Reformist organizations such as the NAACP have been active in their role of containing the spontaneous resistance. They are advising the masses to be patient and let the so-called wheels of justice prevail. But the masses recognize that only militant struggle will get any measure of justice for Keeven Robinson. They have witnessed time and again cops being indicted, tried for murder, but still get off.

We in the New Orleans Workers Group urge on resistance to police murders while we also try to spread the understanding that these police murders of Black victims is part of capitalist rule. The police serve the rich exclusively and  attempt to keep the rest of us in our place. The entire justice system, including the  police, is organized to protect the state apparatus that serves the ruling class  alone. This scourge will only be ended when the workers organize a fight against the capitalist oppressors, become the rulers and control a state apparatus that will serve exclusively the interest of working people.

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Police Murders Continue Non-Stop. We Must Demand Justice.

By Gabriel Mangano

The police murders of working class and oppressed people continues without end, rising to 277 by early April.

Especially targeted are African Americans who are 31% of police murder victims but 60% of unarmed victims. In Brooklyn, 4 police shot Saheed Vassel, a mentally ill Jamaican immigrant, 10 times within 10 seconds of confronting him. He was holding only a showerhead and was known as harmless and helpful to people throughout his neighborhood. Demonstrators demanded justice and condemned the lack of mental health services.

In late March, police in Sacramento, CA shot Stephon Clark, a 22-year old father of two, 8 times in the side and back in his grandmother’s back yard. He was holding a cell phone. Thousands demonstrated against this murder blocking freeways and forcing the cancellation of two NBA games. And in Louisiana, right-wing state Attorney General Jeff Landry refused to indict the cop who murdered Alton Sterling. Even after a video shows Officer Salamoni telling Mr. Sterling that he would murder him if he moved, he was not jailed, just fired.

As of yet none of these murderers have been indicted.

In California, state legislators proposed a law that would change when lethal force can be used to “only when necessary” from “when reasonable”. All this will change, however, is the language the police will use to justify their killings.
Since the murder of Trayvon Martin, millions of people have demanded justice for these police and vigilante killings. And many reforms have been proposed and put into practice. However, all of these reforms are doomed to failure. For example, civilian review boards have been highly touted as a way to control brutal “bad apples”. Yet after years of struggle, the Newark, New Jersey civilian review board was effectively broken by a judge’s injunction restricting its subpoena and investigatory powers. Body cameras are another minimal solution that has proven unworkable as police routinely turn them off. As well, district attorneys often fail to indict, and juries rarely convict those who are indicted despite overwhelming graphic evidence of what would clearly be murder for anyone but a cop.

These reforms and other false cures cannot succeed because they are based on the lie that the police are here to serve and protect everyone equally. The role of the police is to serve and protect the ruling class, the owners and their property. And they can only do this by reigning terror on working class and minority communities. The rich know they stole their wealth from our labor, and they will use every means to keep us down.

While the revolutionary workers know that these reforms, although they may save a few lives, will not solve the problem of police terror and that the murder of working class men and women will continue unabated, we still fight for these reforms. Only in this way can we expose the rottenness of the capitalist system and the murderous thugs who help protect it. Only the overthrow of capitalism can finally end this plague on working and oppressed people.

Black mothers and babies die at more than double the rate of white mothers and babies.

Criminal racism, cuts to healthcare are to blame.

Black Lives Matter

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Local Woman Stands Up to NOPD Brutality

By Quest R

In capitalist society, where we are surrounded by violence every day, many of us become desensitized. After years of never-ending police brutality and murder, some people have started to look at it like a permanent feature of reality that cannot be stopped.

This is not the case for Rodneka Shelbia, a brave New Orleans native who is now in a legal battle with NOPD and the criminal justice system. The New Orleans Workers Group along with a diverse array of community activists and organizations have been working with Rodneka for months to fight for justice in her case.

We interviewed Rodneka for Workers Voice to shed some light on this important local case in her own words. The following is based off of that interview:

Rodneka is from the Ninth and 13th Wards, and went to F.A. Douglas High. She graduated from Southern University and has worked at the Post Office for 6 years. She is also a singer and songwriter, “I write songs about my life, and what I witness,” she said.

In April, she noticed a scene of police brutality. Unfortunately since the case is ongoing in court, Rodneka cannot be quoted on the events of that night. From our investigation, it has been gathered that she saw an officer abusing a women who was holding a baby. She took the baby and screamed for the cop to stop and be human. When other officers came on the scene, the first cop pointed at her and told them to arrest her for battery. At the whim of one cop, Rodneka went from a courageous bystander who stepped in to protect a child to a victim of police violence herself.

Since that day, the legal system has put her through the works, as is the norm for the thousands of New Orleanians who pass through it every day. “Since then, I don’t feel safe in this system. I don’t trust the enforcers, the protectors, or any other beneficiaries of this justice system any more. Justice is at my expense and for the one who has been exposed,” she said.

Rodneka has refused to stand down, and many in the community have responded. “I’ve received love, time, money, hope, commitment, education, solidarity. In my case the community is diverse. There are others who are just numb. They don’t even know why I’m trippin’. They know I can’t win against the powers that be. I know I’m already winning. My community assures me that.”

She believes that her experience represents much more than an isolated incident “It represents why people revolt, buckle, and don’t fight back all in one. It represents slavery… I would like people to believe and know that they are worth a fight. Their humanity is worth a fight. And suppressing their humanity is not normal if they say its not.”

Rodneka has started the hash-tag #IWillNotBeDesensitized to spread awareness about her case, and to highlight how we cannot allow ourselves to accept inhumane mistreatment of ourselves or each other at the hands of police, regardless of how they try to normalize it. Check out the Justice for Rodneka Facebook page for more updates.