Buffalo: Confronting the ‘two 250s’

By Alexander Quinn

Buffalo, New York — Some 30 Buffalo community members gathered together July 4 to confront what they called “two closely related 250’s.” One is the 250th year of the genocidal and imperialist U.S., and the other is 250 Delaware Avenue, the local home of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

Members of the working class came together in front of the building housing ICE to speak out against the ongoing abuse migrants are experiencing at the hands of ICE agents. A dozen speakers took to the mic to call out the hypocrisy of celebrating July 4th while ICE continues to kidnap members of working-class communities. 

One speaker noted how their experiences living in Gaza highlighted this hypocrisy. Others spoke on how their communities remain under attack. Yet the limited class consciousness was still palpable. Though every attendee appeared to understand that the U.S. government has been oppressing migrants over a long period, several speakers noted their belief that “America is more than this.” 

Participants holding a revolutionary Marxist view of the ruling-class domination of U.S. society realized they would have to find ways to educate all participants that the crimes of the U.S. regime are not simply caused by a single bad president or his reactionary Republican Party. Instead, this violence and corruption flowing from the current White House is exactly what this system of exploitation was designed to do. 

A new crime was committed against an incarcerated person not far from 250 Delaware Ave. At 40 Delaware Ave., at the Erie County Holding Center, Antonio Pizarro died July 4 after his arrest on a parole warrant June 30. His death is being investigated as a homicide. Information so far is limited.

Our class is angry at the abuses our members experience at the hands of the U.S. state apparatus. Nevertheless, pro-imperialist patriotism, currently intensely promoted during the 250-year celebration by the ruling class, is an obstacle we must expose and strip away its power to deceive the working class. And workers must also lose the illusion that the Democratic Party offers a solution.