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Learning to Fight as Communists:

High School Students Organize March Against Police Murder

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LOS ANGELES, USA—ICWP high school students organized a march to a nearby police station in response to a rash of police killings nationwide. What sparked the protest was that in one weekend alone the cops killed a young black man a few blocks away from the school and a Latino man, also in Los Angeles. 
We know that the police defend capitalist society, they protect business and property. In a communist world, we wouldn’t have that problem. There won’t be any money so there won’t be any business to protect, therefore no cops and no jails. In this capitalist society, not everyone gets fed. You have poor people and homeless people.  The rich get richer while the poor get poorer.
In communism, all that will be eliminated. There will be no borders, no classes and no hierarchy. The distinction between rich and poor will be eliminated because there won’t be money to define people. In communism, everyone will get fed because we will work for our own needs. No one will starve. Everyone will have a home. People will be treated the same. No one will be on top of no one and there will be no bosses.
Self critically we could have pushed more for communist ideas before and during the protest. Although we distribute Red Flag in factories and demonstrations away from school, we didn’t do that in this walkout. In future actions, we are going to struggle with each other to make sure this happens.
Students assembled in the morning in front of their school. They marched fearlessly and with determination for several blocks to the local police station.
We chanted, “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! 1, 2, 3, 4, we don’t want your racist war! 5, 6, 7, 8, Smash the system and the hate!
Before the march a couple of student leaders visited classrooms to invite students. They brought leaflets with information showing the number of police killings across the USA based on racial demographics.
They also made a huge banner with bold red letters that read “STUDENT PROTEST AGAINST POLICE TERROR, STOP THE POLICE WAR ON US, NO MORE KILLING.” They also made sprayed-stenciled posters that said “STUDENTS UNITED AGAINST RACIST POLICE KILLINGS”
The following are comments from some of the organizers and participants:
*My comrades and I didn’t expect people to show up but in the end, there were a lot of people.  As we started, school officials were telling us to go back inside and go to class. We didn’t let that happen. The school principal and school security were forced to follow us to the police station and back.  We kept shouting chants on the way there and back.
*The killings that happen in our working-class community aren’t only caused by gang violence but by the police too! There’s a lot of racism in our community. If you are Latino or black, chances are higher that you would get stopped by the cops, harassed, brutalized or even shot dead. 
*Cars kept pulling up to us and cheering us on, taking pictures and videos. This inspired us to shout the chants with more motivation. When we finished the protest, many students that didn’t get the chance to participate in the march asked us when they could join the next one.
*I come from Mexico City where the police sell themselves and they don’t protect the people any better. I have lived through the injustices that are made by these uniformed people. They are a bunch of people with capitalist weapons and ideas, ideas that are only for the interests of the country. These people do not care about us. The best solution is to get rid of capitalism and establish communism where workers will run things for our own welfare.

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