Rittenhouse

by Ellen Isaacs

November 19, 2021

U.S. “JUSTICE” MEANS WE NEED TO KILL THIS SYSTEM

White men with guns can kill at will.

White cops can shoot black men at will.

Black men go to prison without killing anybody.

It’s no surprise that Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges for killing two protesters against the police shooting Jacob Blake 7 times in the back and paralyzing him. It’s no surprise that no charges were brought against that cop.

It’s no surprise that 50 years after their imprisonment two black men were finally vindicated after being falsely accused and convicted for killing Malcolm X.

It is a surprise, but hardly a victory, that a black man, Julius Jones, was saved from execution in Oklahoma for a murder he likely didn’t commit 19 years ago. But he’s still in jail for life.

This is just business as usual in the USA, a nation built on slavery and racism, a nation remaining racist and violent to this day. Now it is official: white men can claim to be afraid of protesters, of nonwhite people, and kill them. The days of the slave catchers and lynch mobs are back. Liberals like Biden may be “angry and concerned” by the verdict, but their foremost message is “abide by the verdict.” For heaven’s sake, don’t fight back. Don’t worry, we will fight. With multiracial unity.

The green light this verdict gives to vigilante justice also provides an excuse for the ongoing increase in numbers and fire power of the police to control the multiracial response to this verdict and the likely acquittals of Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers and the Charlottesville Nazis. These same armed groups, official and unofficial, will rain terror down on strikers and others who organize against growing deprivation, inequality, and racism. It is the seed of fascism with a legal cover.

It’s All Part of a System That’s Got to Go

This system of capitalism means making profits by keeping the wages, benefits, and services of the working class as low as possible. That’s why health care and education are a mess. That’s why over 750,000 have died of Covid, why thousands are facing eviction, why 59% of Americans are one pay check from homelessness, why 28% can’t meet their daily expenses, especially black and brown people. That’s why police are needed – to brutalize and intimidate those who fight back or react out of anger and hopelessness.

If we want to live, we must abolish this whole criminal system of capitalism, that attacks workers in the US and around the world. As the increasingly desperate US loses ground to China and loses war after war and fails to mitigate climate change, rebellion and repression will increase. It is our job to turn the anger of workers into a fight to end capitalism and racism forever and build a society run for and by workers. Let’s start today.