Black footballer's taser death: stop police racism now

South London #BlackLivesMatter marching near City Hall, 6.8.14, photo James Ivens (Click to enlarge)

Hugo Pierre, Socialist Party black and Asian group

Ex-footballer Dalian Atkinson was repeatedly tasered by police at his home in Telford, Shropshire on 15 August. He died from the incident an hour and a half later. The police claim that they were called to an incident following a "report of concern for the safety of an individual".

Atkinson is the 16th person to have died after being tasered by police since the weapon was first introduced in 2003. Taser use has increased as more police are issued with them. They do not have the same restrictions on their use as firearms, and the amount of training is usually three days.

Atkinson's death follows those of many other black people at the hands of police. Only in July, Mzee Mohammed was killed in police custody in Liverpool; last year Sheku Bayoh died of asphyxiation in Kircaldy, Scotland, following a brutal arrest. These are just some of the campaigns trying to get justice for victims of police brutality.

But many more black youth and workers face harassment. On the streets, black youths are several times more likely to be stopped and searched than white youths.

And in the same week as Atkinson's killing, a report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission showed racism and discrimination are still entrenched in the power structures of British society. Black children are three times more likely to be excluded in schools; black graduates earn 23% less than their white counterparts.

As well as fighting for democratic community control over police policy and hiring, we need to fight to end the capitalist system which profits from racist oppression. Socialism can guarantee jobs, homes and services for all, laying the basis for campaigning to eliminate racism once and for all.

Black Lives Matter

Meanwhile, another murder of a black man at the hands of the police - Sylville Smith on 13 August - sparked angry demonstrations in Milwaukee, USA. Underlying the anger that erupted on the streets is the level of segregation and poverty in one of the poorest black communities in the United States.

The #BlackLivesMatter movement has sprung up throughout the US following the death of Michael Brown in Fergusson, Missouri.

Reports on the police force in Fergusson showed the commercialisation and privatisation of the police meant black people were criminalised to fund the service. Petty misdemeanours were punished with fines, and defaulting on those fines was followed up quickly with imprisonment.

Protest has spread throughout the US and is now being replicated in the UK and other parts of the world. The movement will continue to fight for justice for all victims of police brutality.

Importantly, big sections of the movement are increasingly moving beyond just campaigning against injustice. They are now moving onto the political plain, and starting to develop a programme of demands to tackle the blight of racism.

The civil rights movement of the 1950s, 60s and 70s was a titanic struggle. The involvement of the trade unions was an enormous boost.

But the best leaders were drawing conclusions that the fight against racism also had to be joined with the fight for something. The fight for a different society where the profit motive was not the driver, but instead cooperation and collaboration between workers of all races. A society where the 1% could no longer have the power to use divide-and-rule of racism to retain its wealth at the expense of the rest.

Today, we have the opportunity to fight for socialist ideas to build the Black Lives Matter movement to fight against racist division and for a socialist world.

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Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.