On Oakland, L.A. Cop Terror

(Letter)

Los Angeles
30 June 2013

Re: Workers Vanguard No. 1021, 5 April 2013. “Oakland Cops: Racist Killers on the Loose.”

The title “Cops…on the loose” suggests that an otherwise “fair and legal” condition exists, seemingly contradicting WV: “…in the inner cities is how the cops have always operated, everywhere.” What WV pointed out, however, that the misleadership of the unions—defense organizations a revolutionary workers party would direct against exploitation and the state’s apparatus of coercion and violence—allows the state to “loosen” its leash on their hired thugs. Your chronicling of “Killings and Cover-Ups” show federal “reforms” as a cynical ploy. As bottom-feeders the International Socialist Organization (ISO), et al., epitomize what left-liberals do: advocate blunting social contradictions to declare class struggle “absurd.” To mystify oppression they pose a “realistic” struggle: “What if the Oakland City Council and Mayor…fired all the cops…and exchanged badges for jobs?”, asks the ISO.

Bratton was LAPD chief in 2007 when his cops charged a May Day Rally in MacArthur Park. Women, children, T.V. cameramen [were] violently attacked while personnel carriers rushed in as “back-up.” Legal settlements from this were concluded in February 2010 on a Friday. On Monday LAPD-insider, Charlie Beck, was sworn in “untainted” of this episode of the “reformed” department.

I appreciate mention of black ex-LAPD cop, Christopher Dorner, as again, this was the state bringing its violence to bear. One militant’s stated view was, “well, he was just a cop…”. Trained as a cop, and with his “manifesto,” Dorner had some authority on cop “justice” aimed at the populace. In Los Angeles, the LAPD and Sheriffs virtually compete in shooting down victims first, and… “not answering questions later.” One sentiment expressed was that the LAPD wouldn’t want Dorner on trial to make public details of racism inside the LAPD. He had a zero chance to stand trial for the alleged killings. The bounty for his “capture and conviction” was a public relations stunt. Witness LA’s Police Protective League, et al., attempting to withdraw their bounty after killing him with pyrotechnic bombs shot into the cabin, while on audio cops were heard screaming “burn him!” Two Latina victims wounded by the LAPD were promised a replacement of their bullet-riddled truck. Chief Beck categorized the new truck a “prize”…obligating them to “pay tax” on it! Roundly criticized (including by an editorial of the LA Times, whose employees they were) the LAPD reversed their tack.

This June the LA Times reported on Chief Beck’s investigation: “Dorner had no basis for his claims”; and LA’s Liberal Civil Rights attorney Connie Rice’s (cousin of Condoleezza Rice) op-ed: “Dorner’s web of lies about the LAPD.” Rice contends Dorner “…was denigrating the very real changes to the department,” and “Beck…works every day to reinforce racially tolerant and just policing.” What of the vicious assault on minority students at a USC sanctioned party in May where on YouTube riot cops are slamming young women to the ground! With Beck and Rice, the State’s agencies and their mouthpieces have burned and buried Dorner again!

B. Montoya

WV replies: We appreciate the writer’s further exposé of the Los Angeles Police Department, helping puncture the myth that former police chief William Bratton transformed the corrupt, notoriously racist LAPD into a “kinder, gentler” police force.

The headline “Oakland Cops: Racist Killers on the Loose” is in fact simply a description of a police force long notorious for its rampaging bonapartism, particularly directed against the ghetto and barrio poor. Of course, all cops regard their badge as a license to kill. But this license is and has been used with particular abandon by the Oakland Police Department. As indicated by the kicker to the headline, “There’s No Reforming This Gang,” and as B. Montoya himself notes, the article in no way suggested that a “more fair and legal” police force does or could exist.

Our article was in large part devoted to puncturing illusions in police reform schemes peddled by various purported “socialists,” the trade-union misleaders, bourgeois liberals and others. Over many decades, such schemes have been repeatedly implemented to supposedly rein in the Oakland cops. Indeed, this history provides a living refutation of the liberal-reformist strategy, which stands in the way of the struggle to sweep away the capitalist state machinery through workers revolution.