CPUSA members add street heat on Wall Street

CPUSA members brought an energetic contingent determined to help make "good trouble" with broader working class and democratic forces at the recent March on Wall Street called for by Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network.

The day marked 62 years since Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech at the 1963 March on Washington.

Thousands of leaders and activists from across the civil rights and labor movement marched. Together, they highlighted big business backing for Trump and MAGA's attack on African Americans, immigrants, and the multi-racial working class as a whole.

Communist Party members held up banners and placards specially designed for the action.

Opposition to the administration's attacks on DEI and affirmative action, its racist mass deportation drive and armed takeover of U.S. cities, and the special targeting of Black mayors took center stage.

The assault on federal workers, collective bargaining rights, voting rights, and public education were likewise among the central issues animating the marchers.

Trump "is illegally imposing his anti-democratic, racist, and anti-migrant will on communities that don't accept his dictatorial ambitions and the chaos of his anti-scientific administration," one attendee said.

32BJ organizer Alvin Carter told Wall Street bankers, bondholders, and CEOs writing checks for political campaigns and super PACs, "You are the reason that we have folks who aren't voting for voting rights in the halls of Congress today!"

AFSCME President Lee Saunders reminded the marchers of Dr. King's proclamation in 1963 that the U.S. had written its citizens of color a "bad check." MLK said that check came back marked "insufficient funds."

"That is why we are here on Wall Street today," Saunders added. "If anyone has the power to make good on that check, it is the billionaire bankers and big corporations."

Shaylyn Cochran of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law pointed out 300,000 Black women have been removed from the workforce by Trump's executive orders.

The administration's cancelling of collective bargaining rights for over 1.3 million federal workers, where Black union members are especially concentrated, amounts to the largest act of union busting in U.S. history.

"When the Trump administration terminated its contract with the unionized workers, it terminated its contract with the American people," AFGE President Everett Kelley protested.

Party members also distributed materials to help build the campaign to boycott Target. Following Trump's election, the $40 billion retail corporation quickly terminated DEI initiatives it had formerly established in response to massive Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. The Target boycott has led to significant drops in foot traffic and profits, and the replacement of the company's CEO.

"If we do not get out and march, if we do not speak up, [Trump] will completely erase the freedoms our parents and our grandparents fought, bled, and died for," Rev. Al Sharpton declared from the stage.

"Wall Street's profits, in part, are built on the super-exploitation of African Americans," CPUSA co-chair Joe Sims reflected on the days' events. "Not only is there a racist wage differential, but they targeted Black and Brown homeowners during the subprime swindle and made billions. They owe us."

Check out the March on Wall Street photo album.

Images: People's World