A statement from the Massachusetts Jobs with Justice team on the epidemic of Black folks being killed, both by police and/or transphobes.

Dear Friends,

As a society, we have been here before. The epidemic of Black folks dying at the hands of police is not a new epidemic and despite this, it is clear we have learned nothing new. America’s legacy of white supremacy and racist capitalism still stands, even in the wake of the murders of Tony McDade, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, David McAtee, and countless others killed by police. We say their names to honor their lives and their dignity in a world that denies the dignity of Black life.

We want to acknowledge Tony McDade again, specifically as a Black Trans man killed by police. We also want to intentionally uplift the lives of Iyanna Dior, Nina Pop, and Dominique Rem’mie Fells, all Black trans women. Iyanna Dior was brutally assaulted by a mob yelling homophobic slurs in Minneapolis. She thankfully survived but not without sustaining serious injuries. Nina Pop was murdered in her Missouri home in early May, and Dominique Rem’mie Fells was murdered just a few days ago, the sixth trans woman of color to be killed in the last month. With Pride month upon us, we look back to its’ roots. We look back to the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, a series of riots and demonstrations against discrimination, hate, and police violence towards LGBTQIA+ folks, which most often targeted trans women, queer people of color, and homeless queer youth. We remember two of the founders of the LGBTQIA+ liberation movement— Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans woman, and Sylvia Rivera, a trans woman of Puerto Rican and Venezuelan descent. Their fight is still being fought to this day, and we at Massachusetts Jobs with Justice are committed to working to better support our Black LGBTQIA+ siblings and amplify their voices. We state this unequivocally: all Black lives matter, and that MUST include Black trans lives.

At Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, we see white supremacy rear its ugly head every day in the lives of Black workers dealing with discrimination, assault, wage theft, harassment, threats of incarceration, and the willful neglect of our elected officials. We see it in the faces of Black children who have been deprived of the resources they need to succeed while being subjected to a daily police presence in their public schools. We see it in the racial disparities in healthcare that have made the current Coronavirus epidemic disproportionately devastating to communities of color.

We have seen it in the case of a Western Massachusetts man — a Black worker, an African immigrant, a union member, and a vital part of his community — who we met after he was shot in his home by police during a wellness check. The police falsely charged him with assault, and, a year later, we are still mobilizing allies and standing beside him as he navigates a seemingly interminable series of court appearances to defend himself yet again against the same system that brought armed assailants to his door. We know firsthand that although the murders that have prompted the recent rebellion happened elsewhere, it is undeniable that so-called “liberal” Massachusetts is just as toxic for Black people as any other state.

It is also undeniable that in the Commonwealth as well as in the rest of the US, the primary institution our government relies on to carry out the genocidal logic of white supremacy is the police. That has always been true, from the policing’s origin in antebellum slave catching, to the role the police played in resisting desegregation in the 20th century, to the nearly unmitigated killing spree happening in our country today. Police have always had a monopoly on state-sanctioned violence against Black people.

Additionally, we are especially disturbed by the way that police have co-opted the rhetoric of the labor movement to protect themselves from the consequences of their actions. In the wake of the most recent killings, police unions have once again closed ranks around the killers to protect their own. As people who believe in the power of unions to defend and empower the working class, we are disgusted when police use their unions to defend the murder of Black people.

It is far past the time for us to collectively hold police, their unions, and their supporters in state, local, and federal government accountable for the massacre of our Black siblings. We join with our partners and our allies throughout the US to demand an end to police violence against Black people.

Of course, it isn’t as easy as just speaking the words. We must take decisive action to curb the ability of law enforcement officers to act with impunity. Because capitalism and white supremacy are so inextricably intertwined, we need to address the economics of the problem. We must defund police departments and redirect those precious resources to our public schools, mental health services, and housing programs. We are also calling on state and local officials to pass legislation requiring police officers to carry liability insurance, which would mean that officers with records of racist brutality would become an unsustainable economic burden on the departments that have so long protected them.

The mass mobilizations that have happened in every region of Massachusetts over the past week give us hope that our movement is ready to make real, systemic change to defend Black lives. We have seen an uprising of activists and organizers in the streets and on social media, educating the public and agitating people to get clear on their values. Predictably, we have also seen the police respond with the typical lies, violence, and disregard for civil rights — but even those attacks, while horrifying, have done nothing to curb the rebellion.

Right now, as momentum continues to build and anger and sadness spill over into political action, the greatest threat to the struggle for racial justice is that we leave our work unfinished as the news cycle moves on to fresh tragedies and crises. In the current rebellion lie the seeds of revolution, but those seeds will not grow without care. All of us at Massachusetts Jobs with Justice are committed to nurturing the uprising for Black lives in our organizing, direct action, and advocacy.

We are committed to standing up for our right to protest without repression from the state. We are committed to making sure that killer cops can’t find sanctuary in the broader labor movement. We are committed to looking inward and eradicating internalized racism within our own organization. We are committed to seeing this through to the very end.

In the coming weeks, there will be more protests, and, in addition to those, we’ll be sharing more ways to take action. In the meantime, you can contribute to the Massachusetts Bail Fund to get protesters out of jail and back on the streets.

Please stay safe out there — we need you!

In Solidarity,

The Massachusetts Jobs with Justice Team