1946 GEORGIA: A JIM CROW EXECUTION Family fights for long-denied justice Editor’s note: The family of James Lee Allen asked for help in getting a posthumous pardon for Allen from the state of Georgia. In 1946 Allen, a Black teen, was executed. He was 14 years old when he “confessed” to the crime of raping… Read more »
police state
Join an effort to curb police brutality in NYC
On June 26, underneath a flowing memorial to people murdered by police, a rainbow of marchers in this year’s NYC LGBTQ parade brought a clear voice calling for change. The spirited contingent was representing an ongoing grass-roots Campaign for an Elected Civilian Review Board that would be able to call the NYPD to account and… Read more »
National prisoner labor strike spurs resistance to a new level
On Sept. 9 prison inmates across the U.S. began a unprecedented nationwide labor strike to end slave labor in jails and prisons. This date commemorates the 45th anniversary of the Attica uprising, when a thousand prisoners seized control of the notorious New York prison and demanded political rights and better living conditions. After four days… Read more »
For a NYC elected civilian review board — A visionary campaign to fight for genuine police accountability
Ferguson. Baton Rouge. Milwaukee. As this goes to press, another Black body falls to police bullets. Rage has sparked protests across the country, reminiscent of the fire-filled street rebellions of the ’60s. For African Americans, the murder of their sons, daughters and neighbors at the hands of police has long been a bitter reality. As… Read more »
End of long-term solitary won by California inmates
Across California, over 1,500 inmates are out of long-term solitary confinement — that’s 10 years or longer of mind and body destroying isolation. In the year since the historic legal settlement was signed, the long-term solitary population at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison alone has dropped by 99 percent, from 513 to 5. This victory… Read more »
Ending police violence — Body cameras, community policing, toothless review boards are phony solutions
What reforms can stop cop brutality? This is the question activists are urgently trying to answer as the murdered bodies of unarmed victims of the police continue to mount. Pinpointing the role of cops under capitalism is one part of the puzzle. Police don’t exist to serve and protect Black, Latino or other workingclass communities…. Read more »
Freedom Socialist Letters to the Editor — December 2016
100TH ANNIVERSARY Everett Massacre Thanks for the excellent article on the Everett Massacre [“1916 Everett Massacre: deadly attack on Wobblies in the Pacific Northwest,” Vol. 37, No. 5]. Readers would like to know that in the 1970s the Freedom Socialist Party (FSP) invited IWW member Jack Miller and his wife Victoria to speak at the… Read more »
Turkey: a police state in the making
Turkey’s internal political divisions and its role in the turbulent Middle East remain unexplained in the mainstream media. To begin with, Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan is a right-wing politician and Muslim fundamentalist. He founded the ruling capitalist party, Justice and Development. Economic austerities imposed on Turks by neoliberal privatization policies created mounting opposition, which was… Read more »
Changes to NYC charter drafted to advance campaign for an elected police review board
While the election of magnate Donald Trump has put even more cops on New York City streets, an exciting campaign is growing to demand police accountability in the very same city. The diverse, multiracial Campaign for an Elected Civilian Review Board is made up of individual activists and grassroots organizations including Freedom Socialist Party, Radical… Read more »
Freedom Socialist Letters to the Editor — February 2017
ELECTION ANALYSIS Succinct and accurate As usual the Freedom Socialist hits the nail on the head with Andrea Bauer’s lead article in the December issue [Don’t mourn, organize! Donald J. Trump and the year of voting dangerously, Vol. 37, No. 6]. What makes her analysis so useful is not only is it right — no… Read more »
