CHICAGO, January 18—A group of multiracial workers and students braved the frigid weather to hold an antisexist vigil across the street from a Westside hospital where Juanita Hankins worked. She was a 32-year-old Black woman who was found beaten to death in a hotel room on Christmas day, at the hands of her ex-partner.
Juanita sadly joins the far too-long list of working-class adults and children who have lost their lives as a result of sexist violence. Far from being just a local issue here in Chicago, public health data and our own personal experiences show this type of violence as a worldwide systemic problem that is facing crisis levels.
Comrades from the international communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP) were active in organizing and participating in this event. We fight this antisexist struggle with our working-class folks because sexism is a divisive tool and exploitative weapon against our class.
Capitalism = root of sexist violence
Even though individual and group actions against sexism can and do make a difference, they can’t alone attack the root cause. Sexism is highly useful to the capitalist bosses in the way that it generates billions annually in sexist wage inequalities. It also prevents workers from uniting to fight our common enemy. Although sexist oppression pre-dates capitalism and began with class society, the international capitalist class is the class that benefits from sexism. The biggest perpetrators of sexist violence are the bosses!
Much like fighting racism, the fight against sexism requires a united international working class organized in a mass PLP to destroy capitalism with communist revolution. Before, during, and after revolution, all workers, especially Black women workers, will take leadership in fighting for and building an egalitarian society that meets our needs.
Antisexist solidarity in action
When co-workers heard about Juanita’s brutal death, it was like a punch to the gut. We felt for her, her family, especially her mother and two young children left behind.
What was almost as shocking as hearing about her murder was the culture of silence at our workplace regarding it. In the face of such widespread sexist violence, it is easy to normalize it. This leads to greater mistrust, alienation, and trauma among members of our class.
But enough of us were unwilling to give into further divisions and fear, and so we organized this vigil: “We Will Not Be Silent: A Vigil against Sexist Violence.”
A PL’er kicked it off with a welcoming speech, giving some background of what motivated us to organize the event, as well as some goals for moving forward in a collective way. He stressed the profit system’s use of sexist violence and exploitation, and the need for all workers to become fighters against sexism.
This was followed by a public health graduate student/teaching assistant sharing some staggering data that detailed the vast extent of the problem. She explained that sexist violence is an international, systemic issue with deep connections to other forms of capitalist-based violence, such as imperialist war and racist police murder.
There were testimonies about local women who were lethal targets of this violence around Chicago within the past year:
- Dr. Tamara O’Neal of Mercy Hospital
- Ruth George, a 19-year-old college student
- Lyniah Bell, another college student who was shot in the head by her boyfriend who was showing off his gun.
Along with Juanita, our goal was to honor their memories, while stressing how seemingly sexist attitudes and actions can escalate into something much worse.
We concluded the vigil by inviting everyone present to sign a poster board that outlined eight antisexist pledges to help continue the political struggle. The pledges included fostering an antisexist workplace and being an active fighter against sexism in our communities. We plan to share the board in our workplaces as an invitation to other workers and students to commit to antisexist action.
This action helped bring friends, who got organizing experience, closer to the politics of PLP.
A violent sexist culture feeds off of capitalism
As our public health worker friend pointed out, the extent of sexist violence worldwide is downright shocking. In Chicago, the number of sexist attacks continues to rise, while sexist judges and courts under capitalism show very little interest in protecting victims, even as they’re attacked multiple times (Chicago Tribune, 5/2/19). Far from being the hero “saving the day” as garbage TV shows like “Law and Order” would have us believe, racist and sexist kkkops are active abusers, such as when a Chicago cop sexually assaulted a worker in custody (WGN, 3/21/18).
Sexist murders in Mexico have reached new deadly heights in recent years, doubling in number (DW news, 8/21/19). Between 2008 and 2019, over 3,000 transgender people were murdered in over 74 countries (LGBTQ Nation, 11/20/19). This violent sexist culture feeds off of capitalism. The special oppression based on gender and sexuality stems from class society. No one in the working class, including men, benefit from such divisions. This culture of sexist violence stems from a profit system that super-exploits women’s labor and justifies this exploitation with sexist ideologies.
Sowing the seeds of antisexist struggle
PLP is building a mass antisexist, antiracist movement against capitalism. In doing so, we fight for the most exploited and oppressed sections of the working class to give leadership, especially Black women. Women and men must unite in fighting for an antisexist and antiracist communist future. Justice for Juanita, Ruth, Tamara, Lyniah, and all targets of sexist violence! Fight for communsim!
