BALTIMORE, May 7— The inspiring sit-in at Hopkins University’s Garland Hall – the building in which the university president has his office – is now in its 36th day. Ever since May 1, the occupation has been on an even bolder level. It’s no longer a sit-in with university offices still functioning. The building is now locked down and under the full control of the sit-in, adding muscle to the three demands, all strongly anti-racist!
The Progressive Labor Party is involved in the struggle and also in sharpening the antiracist politics through CHALLENGE, especially in fighting for the understanding that liberalism cannot defeat racism(see next issue for update).
Three antiracist demands
One student demand is against Hopkins establishing its own private, armed police force. Currently, Hopkins has a 1,107-member unarmed security force. During one recent year, 97 percent of the people detained as “suspects” by these security guards were Black. This police force was created by the wealthy bankers and business owners who sit on the Hopkins Board of Trustees.
Baltimore itself – with a mayor, city council and city state’s attorney, virtually all of whom are part of the liberal Democratic Party – is no better. From 2014 to 2017, 96 percent of the people arrested in Baltimore for marijuana possession were Black, while the city is 66 percent Black, despite drug use being statistically the same across the entire population, and regardless of racial background.
A second demand of the sit-in – in support of immigrants – is to end the millions of dollars in contracts that Hopkins has with ICE. As is well-known, Trump is using this issue to build racism – calling immigrants “invaders,” “criminals” and “rapists” – much like the Nazis did when they said Jewish people were “born criminals.”
The third and final demand of the sit-in is justice for Tyrone West, who was unarmed, yet maced, tased, severely beaten, and killed by a dozen Baltimore city cops – together with a Morgan University officer – in July of 2013.
 At that time, racist Greg Bernstein was the City State’s Attorney. He gave those kkops immunity before they even completed their testimony.
Liberals show capitalist allegiance
On the other hand, liberal politicians have been no better. Catherine Pugh came to a West Wednesday rally(weekly demonstrations against police brutality that have been going on for five years now), pretending to care about justice, when she was running for mayor. But since then – until recently forced to resign due to corruption – she acted as if she didn’t even know who Tyrone West was. Marilynn Mosby, who was elected as City States Attorney after Bernstein, told the West family – during her campaign – that she would be helpful. Five years later, she has refused to reopen the case and prosecute the killer cops who took Tyrone’s life.
When Democrat Obama appointed Loretta Lynch as his new Attorney General, she met with the West family. Nevertheless, even after large numbers of signatures were sent to the Department of Justice calling for prosecution of Tyrone’s killers, the long-delayed reply finally came back, from a low-level official, saying that the kkkop’s  murder of Tyrone is “un-prosecutable.”
Progressive Labor Party (PLP) says that liberalism and the Democratic Party help perpetuate the oppression of capitalism. For this reason, PLP organizes the working class for revolution and communism.
Building our own working class leadership
The bold sit-in, at Johns Hopkins university President Ronald Daniels office, is inspiring many people, and helping to sharpen the understanding that liberalism is not the solution, and that it cannot end societal racism.
The last four West Wednesday rallies have been organized and held in conjunction with students and community members from the sit-in, starting at locations off the Hopkins campus, and marching boldly, right into the sit-in. These rallies have been large, involving as many as 300 people. At one of the rallies, a member of PLP gave a speech, arguing that liberalism can’t accomplish what we want, and what’s needed is a revolution to defeat capitalism, so that a truly communist, egalitarian society can be built.
Almost everyone eagerly took a copy of CHALLENGE, or pointed to the nearby person with whom they would be sharing the paper or, in a few cases, asked for the web address so they could read it online. A banner was posted that stated: “Progressive Labor Party Says Justice for Tyrone West: Put Killer Cops in Cell Blocks: Smash Racism & Capitalism.”
Fight back turns up on May Day!
One week later – after the large distribution of CHALLENGE – happened to be a very special time: the 300th weekly West Wednesday and, by fortunate coincidence, also May 1st. Members of the sit-in steering committee, together with regular participants from West Wednesday, worked together to plan a powerful rally in a working class section of the city, a march to the Johns Hopkins sit-in, and then a large-screen Skype connection in solidarity with activists around the country.May 1st turned out to be an especially strong time in the struggle against racism! Students at the sit-in courageously stepped up their forcefulness, some strategically chaining themselves to railings, to shut down business as usual in Garland Hall, the administrative building.
The sit-in, from that point forward, then became a lock-down occupation. And the 300th West Wednesday, on May Day, involved hundreds of people! Skyping in to talk with the sit-in, on a large screen, were Sandra Bland’s sister, and leaders of solidarity activities at Harvard, MIT, Yale, University of Chicago, and the Ringling College of Art & Design in Florida. Accountability for Tyrone West was a very strong theme in all the activities.
Racists get a taste of their own medicine
As we left, we had a group of about fifteen people escort Tawanda Jones, Tyrone’s sister and a leader of the West Wednesday rallies, back to her car because the Hopkins administration had outrageously threatened her with trespass - but no one else - if she came to the sit-in after 6pm. A racist and his son were apparently waiting for us in the dark, by a poorly lit park, just outside the campus, within sight of Tawanda’s parked car. Perhaps sent there by the police or by Johns Hopkins officials, he yelled at us, asked us to “Gather round,” and – as most of us walked away – repeatedly said, “Bring it on,” wanting us to face off with him.
The racist – whose Facebook page includes praise of the fascist that drove his vehicle into Heather Heyer, killing her in Charlottesville – then punched a trans woman and another woman, both from the sit-in. Quickly, he got a taste of his own medicine. Our feeling was that this racist provocateur may have been sent there to start a fight, to attack Tawanda, and to create an excuse for the police – who were stationed nearby in force – to lock some of us up. If that was their plan, they didn’t succeed!
Tomorrow, there will be another West Wednesday rally. Steps have been taken to be mindful of safety, and the united strength of the sit-in and West Wednesday has not been stopped!