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Vol. 80/No. 21 May 30, 2016
Relatives of victims of US cop brutality visit Cuba
Exchange experiences with leaders of Federation of Cuban Women
in Havana
A delegation of relatives of victims of police killings and others
involved in fights against cop brutality in the United States visited
Cuba to share their experiences and learn about the Cuban Revolution.
Their week-long visit was hosted by the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC)
and the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP). The
article below is from the May 5 online edition of Mujeres, the FMC’s
publication. Translation is by the Militant.
BY MARIELA PÉREZ VALENZUELA
On Tuesday [May 3], mothers and other relatives of victims of police
brutality in the United States visited the national headquarters of the
Federation of Cuban Women. There they shared their experiences with
Teresa Amarelle Boué, general secretary of this nongovernmental
organization, and others who explained the social and political
perspectives that guide the organization, which has four million members
over the age of 14.
At the meeting, which lasted a little more than two hours, the visitors
spoke about the abuses suffered by their sons and brothers who had been
killed by police forces, and in many cases, justice was never served.
They also discussed the situation of the working class in the world’s
leading economy.
Juanita Young told how in March 2000 her son Malcolm Ferguson was killed
by Louis Rivera, a New York policeman. Malcolm, a 23-year-old Black man,
was shot in the head at point blank range a week after participating in
a protest against the acquittal of four police officers, who killed an
immigrant from Guinea.
Young, a founder of Mothers Cry for Justice, told how the authorities
offered her money to forget what happened to her son, an offer she
rejected immediately. She added that even though a jury ruled in 2007 in
favor of the lawsuit she filed against the city for wrongful death, and
held Rivera responsible for the killing of her son, the officer (who
admitted his guilt) has not served a sentence.
It has been 22 years since a New York policeman killed Anthony Baez, who
was playing football in the street with three of his brothers and friends.
His mother, Iris Baez, said that the ball hit a police car and that when
the officer arrested one of his brothers and Anthony protested, they
killed him.
Iris Baez, mother of 12 children, six of them adopted, recalled the big
protests when Officer Francis Livoti was acquitted by the State of New
York in 1996.
Her face marked by continuing sorrow for her murdered son, she said that
two years later Livoti was convicted on federal charges of violating
Anthony Baez’s civil rights, but not for his murder. Livoti went to
prison for seven and a half years.
In 1998, Baez created the Anthony Baez Community and Parents Against
Police Brutality Foundation, which provides support and solidarity to
families affected by police violence in the United States.
Among the other visitors are Arnetta Grable and her son Aaron. They
traveled to Cuba together. Aaron is the brother of Lamar Wayne Grable,
killed by Detroit Police Officer Eugene Brown in 1996 while returning
home from a party.
Arnetta said that the police officer said he thought Lamar was a suspect
who had escaped. She recalled how the mayor of Detroit offered her a
million dollars if she would stop protesting this vile crime, which she
refused. This gave her more strength to continue fighting.
A judge even claimed she had mental problems and was unfit to care for
her children, she said, which was totally false.
Grable, who along with her family, has been harassed by the Detroit
police department, noted that Brown has never gone to prison, even
though a judge found him guilty in 2003 in a lawsuit she filed. Brown
was later fired from the police force after having shot nine people.
Amarelle Boué, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the
Communist Party of Cuba, told the U.S. delegation in another moment of
fraternal exchange with the national leadership of the FMC that defense
of the Cuban Revolution and efforts to achieve full gender equality are
priorities of the organization.
That’s why, she said, Cubans found it difficult to listen respectfully
when U.S. president Barack Obama said during his recent official visit
to Havana on our own soil that the people of this island should forget
history.
Amarelle Boué said that the revolution’s demand for equality is one of
the reasons why it is impossible to set history aside. Before the
victory of the revolution in January 1959, she said, women were the
lowest paid and most discriminated against.
The delegation from the north listened with astonishment to the FMC
leader as she explained how the situation had gradually changed. Today
women in Cuba make up 66.6 percent of the technical and professional
workforce, 60.2 percent of physicians, and more than 80 percent of
nurses, alongside other gains achieved by women.
Problems in the capitalist system
Alyson Kennedy, a union militant for more than four decades, speaking
separately with Mujeres, said the problems workers face in the United
States are the result of the capitalist system. She said that this made
the fight to confront the high cost of living a priority.
Kennedy said that millions of workers face increasing difficulties, with
no immediate solution.
A member of the National Committee of the Socialist Workers Party,
Kennedy is right in the middle of the long battle by employees of
restaurants and stores to win a minimum wage of $15 an hour, a small
amount compared with the cost of living today in the strongest
capitalist power on the planet.
It’s impossible to survive if you earn less than $15 an hour, because
you can’t afford the high rents; people in this situation have to apply
for subsidies through food stamps; and some women put off having
children because of the huge cost of childcare. In face of this picture,
she emphasized, the government, far from helping, has cut social welfare
payments.
During their stay in Cuba the U.S. delegation will visit sites of
historical and cultural interest.
On Tuesday they visited the Orlando Pantoja Elementary School in the
Plaza of the Revolution district, where they met with school officials
and students and learned about the work being carried out in an
Educational Center for Women and the Family.
According to the delegation’s itinerary, a meeting is planned with the
five antiterrorist fighters [the Cuban Five], who served long prison
terms in the capitalist nation. On May Day they joined the historic
march marking International Workers Day in the Plaza of the Revolution.
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