With working class resistance growing, the Democrats and Biden are now diverting hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic relief funds into the hiring of more police.
Seventeen-year-old gunned down by police in Lonoke County, Arkansas
Protesters gathered outside the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office last Wednesday in Lonoke, Arkansas, consisting of friends and family of 17-year-old Hunter Brittain, who was gunned down by police during a traffic stop early that morning.
According to members of Brittain’s family, he was working on his truck at around 3 am local time, trying to repair it so that he could make it to his job at Hundley Construction by 6 am. Scott Hundley, owner of Hundley Construction, said Brittain had worked for him on and off over the past few years.
Brittain was dealing with vehicle problems but kept in frequent contact with Hundley regarding the issue. Hundley said he spoke with Hunter at about 7 pm the night before his death. “I was checking with him on his truck,” Hundley said. “[He was] sending me pictures of his truck at the shop. He says he’s been working on this truck but he’s trying to make it.”
Brittain’s grandmother, Rebecca Payne, was present at the protest. “He was my grandson,” she said. “I’m his grandmother. I’ve had him for the last five years of his life. We’re ready to find out something. It’s time they start letting us know something.”
On Thursday, protesters in pick-up trucks did burnouts in the parking lot of the sheriff’s office. One protester spray-painted the words “Justice for Hunter” on the building.
Harley Brittain, Hunter’s uncle, pointed out, “This is happening all across the country, and this is happening too close to home for us. If he [the sheriff’s deputy] felt like he was in danger, he’s got a taser on his hip. He didn’t reach for that. He reached for his gun and shot a 17-year-old boy in cold blood, in his throat.”
Jordan King, Brittain’s 16-year-old friend and an eye-witness, said he and Brittain had worked through the night to change the transmission on Brittain’s truck after having driven approximately one mile down the road to Mahoney’s Body Shop to make the repairs.
After the repairs had been made, the two boys drove out of the auto shop, whereupon Sergeant Michael Davis pulled them over on Arkansas 89. King said Brittain’s truck would not go into park, prompting Brittain to exit the vehicle and reach for a blue oil jug in the truck bed to put behind the vehicle so as to prevent the truck from rolling into Davis’ squad car.
According to King, Davis, without issuing any commands, immediately drew his weapon and fatally shot Brittain. “They didn’t say one word that I know of,” King said. “I didn’t hear it and it happened so fast.”
King explained that a second police officer arrived at the scene and detained him. “[The officer] told me get out with my hands up and pull my shirt up and stuff, and then [forced] me to the ground, put me in handcuffs and was dragging me around and stuff. I sat in the back of the cop car for about three hours.”
King was later interviewed by the Arkansas State Police regarding what had occurred. He mentioned his confusion as to why the deputy would shoot Brittain when he brandished no weapon and did not appear threatening. He said that when he saw the lifeless body of his friend lying face down on the ground, it did not appear real to him.
Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley released a video on Facebook Wednesday in which he states that he had provided state police with body camera footage of the shooting. Claiming that he handed over the video without having viewed it, he adds that while everyone wants the truth, he isn’ t sure how much of the incident was captured on camera. [emphasis added.]
In the video, Staley went on to say, “Sadly, on social media, some people are demanding I take action without waiting for evidence. That’s irresponsible, and I won’t do it. There’s a lot of misinformation on social media. Don’t believe it. Let’s all wait until the facts are confirmed.”
This admonishment angered those protesting Brittain’s murder.
This tragedy has gone unreported in the New York Times, the principal media voice of the Democratic Party, Jacobin magazine, which is linked to the Democratic Socialists of America, and Liberation News, the online newspaper of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Deaths of white people as a result of police violence, such as Brittain, are largely swept under the rug because they cut across the racialist narrative promoted by the Democratic Party and the pseudo-left.
From 2017 to the present, according to Statista.com, victims of fatal police shootings in the US total 4379, of whom 1,805 are identified as white, 989 as black, 692 as Hispanic, 150 as “other,” and 753 as unidentified. So far this year, police have killed a total of 371 people, including 122 whites, 71 blacks, 38 Hispanics, 3 listed as “other,” and 137 unidentified.
The overwhelming majority of these victims are working class. This conforms to the pattern of police killings worldwide. The vast majority of those who are brutalized, “disappeared” or killed by the armed and uniformed enforcers of the capitalist state are from the working class.
The police cannot be reformed within the framework of capitalism. They are generally recruited from among the more backward social elements in keeping the function they perform on behalf of the ruling corporate-financial elite. This is what determines the prevalence of right-wing and racist views within police departments, as well as the fact that minorities, disproportionately among the most impoverished sections of the working class, are disproportionately among their victims.
Biden and the Democrats, including their pseudo-left appendages, portray police violence entirely as an expression of white racism, in order to foment divisions within the working class and undermine the growth of working class resistance and class consciousness. Meanwhile, they reject any policies in response to the pandemic, based on science, that impinge on the profit interests of the corporate-financial oligarchy, sacrificing the lives mainly of workers to the economic interests of Wall Street. This is what drives the deadly campaign to eliminate all pandemic restrictions and force workers back into unsafe workplaces and schools.
With working class resistance growing, the Democrats and Biden are now diverting hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic relief funds into the hiring of more police.
Ohio House passes bill criminalizing disobeying cops
On June 25, the Ohio House passed a bill that designates the “failure to follow a lawful order from a law enforcement officer” as an obstruction of justice that would result in jail time and a fine. The bill has already come under criticism from civil rights advocates and legislators for its vague language, which could further empower police to suppress protests.
House Bill 22 (HB22) was passed by the state House of Representatives on the same day that Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis, Minnesota cop who killed George Floyd, was sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in prison for murder and manslaughter. While the Republican-backed bill passed 61-32 on largely partisan lines, both Democrats and Republicans on the federal and local level have responded to the protests over Floyd’s murder by further empowering the police with increased funding.
HB22 will still need to pass the Ohio Senate and be signed by Republican Governor Mike DeWine before coming into effect.
In its current form HB22 is an egregious attack on democratic rights, which would in effect criminalize intervening against police brutality or being near an officer or suspect during an arrest. Besides making it illegal to disregard a “lawful order,” the bill would designate throwing objects and substances to distract a cop and coming close enough to touch a cop without their consent as obstruction of justice. Some aspects of the bill, such as throwing objects at police or stopping an officer from arresting a suspect, are already illegal under Ohio laws.
HB22 includes a minor addendum from previous versions of the bill, which stipulates that it is okay to make videos or audio recordings of police. Sections from a previous version of the bill that would have overtly made it illegal to verbally taunt police were also removed.
If passed the bill would make the listed actions a second-degree misdemeanor, which could result in a sentence of 90 days in jail and a fine of $750. If it is determined that a violator’s actions risked physical injury to anyone, the charge would be bumped up to a fifth-degree felony and could carry up to a year in jail time and a fine of $2,500.
Gary Daniels, the chief lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Ohio, submitted testimony in March to the House Criminal Justice Committee calling for HB22 to be rejected. The ACLU’s criticisms include that there is no clear explanation of what a “lawful order” from an officer is, that the bill designates actions that would not help a suspect as “obstructing justice” and that the bill opens the possibility for the mass arrest of protesters.
Daniels provided a completely plausible scenario of a large protest that police order to disperse because a small minority is breaking the law. He elaborated that even if the majority of protesters did not hear the order, “Under HB 22, hundreds or thousands of people are now subject to arrest, detention, and imprisonment because they failed to follow a lawful order.”
David Leland, the Democratic state representative for the 22nd District which covers portions of northern Columbus, has stated that if the bill had been in effect in Minnesota last year bystanders that yelled at Chauvin as he choked George Floyd would have been breaking the law. Leland, however, has couched his criticism with the claim that it would further discredit the police, stating that the bill “will only deepen division and mistrust” between police and the broader population.
Shane Wilkin, the Republican state representative co-sponsor of HB22, has responded to criticism of the bill in a completely dishonest manner, claiming that provisions like the mandatory distance between an officer making an arrest and a civilian “is for the protection of both parties.”
The debate between Democrats and Republicans over HB22 is an expression of the differences between the two parties over how best to handle growing mass anger within the population. While the Republicans clearly favor a codification of naked police repression, Democrats like Leland have expressed concern that too rapid an escalation of police state powers could further act to discredit the police and by extension the capitalist system they defend.
In a similar manner, the Democratic Party has attempted to divert anger from the police and instead blame police brutality on the racism of “white workers.”
However, many of the policy distinctions between the two parties fall to the wayside when it came to calling on militarized police and National Guard troops to suppress the protests sparked by Floyd’s death last summer.
Clearly still concerned that another wave of multiracial demonstrations could emerge, which could rapidly get out of their control, both Democrats and Republicans have responded by continuing to heavily arm and fund the police.
In the most recent example on a national level, President Joe Biden last week declared that it was “not a time to turn our backs on law enforcement” and announced that states and localities could allocate a portion of the $350 billion in federal pandemic relief funds to their police departments.
In other cases, Democratic city council members voiced support for defunding the police during the George Floyd protests, only to later reverse their position. The Columbus City Council in Ohio, which is largely dominated by the Democratic Party, announced in March that the 2021 budget would include $2.5 million for police recruitment. Council members opted to vote on the budget with the police funding as part of an “emergency” legislative process.
In an even more duplicitous example, numerous Minneapolis city council members pledged last year to “disband” the police in response to the protests and demands to defund the police. The city council then voted to provide $500,000 to add staff to the city’s police department.
The Republican-supported HB22, despite its lack of support from Democratic legislators, is an expression of bipartisan concern that the police need to be further emboldened to suppress growing opposition among workers to inequality, poverty and police killings.
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