NEWARK, NJ - A multiracial group of over 25 workers rallied in downtown Newark to call for the immediate release of Justin Rodwell and to get the charges dropped against the Rodwell/Spivey brothers. Since June 2021, the Newark Police Department (NPD) has stalked, harassed, terrorized, and arrested members of the Rodwell/Spivey family, after undercover police illegally and brutally stopped and frisked one of their family members and the Rodwell/Spivey brothers and their neighbors bravely stepped in.
For nearly seven months now Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and our class brothers and sisters have been fighting back in Newark until justice for the Rodwell/Spivey family and workers internationally is served. In the end only a communist revolution can truly break our chains, but until then rallies like the one we organized spread PLP’s revolutionary ideas to workers. They also develop new working class leaders and strengthen our confidence in the working class to build a mass communist movement instead of depending on politicians, like Newark’s racist mayor Ras Baraka, to pass weak liberal reforms.
Rally highlights fightback vs liberal reforms.
Ms. Rodwell, alongside her son and PLP members, stood in downtown Newark, some wearing T-shirts saying ‘Free Justin, Smash Racist Terror’ while others carried banners and posters raging against the racist judicial system.
The rally called for the immediate release of Justin, but also described the essential role of police terror on Black workers and the need for multi-racial unity to fight back. One speaker recalled stories about workers being harassed and robbed by the Newark Police Department. “That is why we are here. Because we need to fight back and we believe that we can fight to win this case…We are also out here to fight for a better world for Black people, Latin people, all [working class] people. Fight for a communist world.”
Ms. Rodwell got the attention of downtown shoppers as she recounted the attack on her sons. She promoted working class unity, "When I’m out here standing up for my sons’ rights, I’m also standing up for y’all rights and everybody’s rights.” This analysis came after weeks of organizing and talking to workers throughout Newark.
Depend on the working class - Not the politicians
Another speaker connected the struggle to the anti-homeless legislation pushed by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Liberal misleader Baraka is demanding a permit, at-a-cost, from those feeding the homeless while spreading falsehoods of people tainting food with Fentanyl. A disgusting attempt to demonize homeless workers, and an attack on working class solidarity. It is also a ploy by Baraka’s administration to appease developers who continue to gentrify Newark and kick out the homeless. Politicians will never have the interests of the working class at heart.
By organizing and fighting back we build confidence in the working class. That’s what we did for weeks before the rally. We went to neighborhoods all across Newark. We distributed flyers, made contacts, and heard stories from workers about their experiences with the Newark Police Department and Essex County Sheriff’s Officers. Ms. Rodwell told PLP members after leafleting, “A lot of people told me they will come out, but they don’t show up. You all … came to me and said let’s go.” She gave us credit for our organizing efforts, but it was her leadership that has developed during this period. She is a respected leader in many neighborhoods. Workers approached her to give her hugs and their contact information. One woman took extra flyers to pass out at a hair salon.
Her leadership is also flourishing in the defense committee. After high Covid-19 numbers and fights within the local jail, she proposed going to meet other workers who have family and friends locked up in the same facility as Justin. This strengthened the morale of the support team and also helped get pages of contact information. Through this struggle we gain confidence in each other and see the potential for a communist world, run by the working class.
Liberal reforms are traps for workers
At the rally a Mayoral candidate promoted getting subpoena power for the Newark Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) and voting for politicians who can make the “police work for us because they are needed.”
These liberal reforms still have a strong hold on the working class. Liberal groups in Newark like the People’s Organization for Progress and the Newark NAACP push for the CCRB. It’s their solution to racist police terror. It’s also one of the initiatives of Baraka. Some liberal finance capitalists (Big Fascists, see Glossary, p. 6), see these review boards as an alternative to antiracist fightback. It’s a way to drain working class energy and anger through this bureaucratic ploy. It also promotes the idea that the police can serve the working class. It’s an illusion. From Colombia to Nigeria, the police have always been tools of the capitalist ruling class. A civilian review board may change the appearance of policing, but it will never change the essence of policing.
Working class needs revolutionary antiracist leaders
The ruling class puts in overtime trying to convince workers to support politicians and their liberal reforms. At best it gives workers some crumbs while we starve. This struggle is not only exposing many of these liberal misleaders but also builds working class fighters like Ms. Rodwell - something the bosses fear.