A symbol for youth of color

Phebe Eckfeldt WW photo: Lal Roohk

The following is excerpted from a talk by Phebe Eckfeldt from the Boston Women’s Fightback Network and Committee to Defend the Somerville 5, which she delivered at a May 13-14 conference, “Preparing for the Rebirth of the Global Struggle for Socialism.”

On April 20, 2005, in Medford, Mass., a town near Boston, five Black high school students went to enjoy an evening at a carnival. They report that when they exited a store, they were stopped by police and accused of being in a gang. One cop punched one of the youths twice in the face, forcing him to defend himself. He was then attacked by several cops who clubbed and beat him. His best friend jumped in to save him, and in the end 10 white police officers were beating the teenagers.

The youths were arrested and charged with numerous crimes.

The police, courts, district attorney, local media and education officials all worked together to cover up this police attack and then frame the young men.

The Committee to Defend the Somerville 5 was initiated by the Women’s Fight back Network—made up of family, friends, community leaders and activists. The youths became known as the Somerville 5, after the high school they were attending. They are Calvin Belfon Jr., Cassius Belfon, Earl Guerra, Isiah Anderson and Marquis Anderson.

The Somerville 5 case has become a symbol in Boston of the determination of young people of color to stand up and fight back against the rampant police brutality not only in our city but across the country.

Racial profiling is a weapon used by the capitalist class to divide us—white from Black, worker from worker, poor from poor —so that we are unable to come together and fight for what we need, like jobs, housing, schools and health care. It is used to scapegoat people of color, especially youth of color, for all the evils and ills of society.

Racial profiling equates Black people with crime. Fake cop shows and fabricated crime statistics bolster this thinking and it seeps into the minds of our class and becomes a real threat to our movement. It divides us. We must fight against this. We must build unity among our class. Racism hurts all poor and working people.

Racial profiling serves to criminalize youth of color. The district attorneys and the courts are right there to feed the youth into the ever-expanding, profit-making prison system where they work as virtual slaves. Police brutality is at epidemic proportions. Their job is to control, intimidate and repress the poor so that we don’t unite against all the injustices of capitalism.

It is imperative that white people in the progressive movement address the issue of racism. They need to show solidarity with youth of color in their battle against police repression. They need to broaden their demands—not just anti-war, but anti-racist also. There are wars going on abroad but there is a war going on right here at home, against the communities of color.

Our party strives to build class unity. It is the only way we will win.