TRUMP ATACA EN CASA Y EN EL EXTRANJERO 12 Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Vol. 59, No. 13 March 30, 2017 $1 Unite on May Day Stop war on migrants By Teresa Gutierrez This article was edited from a talk given at the March 18 special forum of Workers World Party in New York City in honor of International Working Women’s Month. I have had a Google alert for immigration news for years. I have never been so heartbroken and over- whelmed from the news as I am now. Somewhere in every neighborhood and barrio, a mi- grant is living in fear. Pregnant women are preparing to have their babies at home so they won’t go to the hos- pital. Parents are not sending their children to school. Children do not want to go to school. Services that cater to immigrants are seeing a sharp decline. Migrants are missing doctor appointments. Demonstrators chained Lawyers are receiving more requests to have appoint- ments by phone. themselves together Jan. 26 You can go to court on a traffic violation or to the De- and blocked traffic in front of partment of Homeland Security for your regular check- the Immigration and Customs in and get detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Enforcement (ICE) headquarters You can speak at a press conference and get picked up in San Francisco. by “la migra” (Latinx slang for ICE), which happened to PHOTO: REYNA MALDONADO a Dreamer recently. The nation saw the video made by the 13-year-old daughter of Rómulo Avelica-González of ICE agents Midwest socialist conference rocks picking him up as he dropped her off at school in Los WW PHOTO Angeles. All that time, she was sobbing. The Midwest Conference for Liberation and As teachers console their students, they also have to Socialism, hosted by Workers World Party and ask, “Have you talked to your parents? Do you have pow- the Wayne State University chapter of Students er of attorney?” for a Democratic Society, took place March 24-26 Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly had to admit in Detroit. that Trump’s policies were creating such a fearful cli- The gathering drew mostly militant young mate that more Muslims were seeking refuge in Canada revolutionaries from many states who want to than ever. Video shows migrants trekking to wooded ar- not only overturn Trump, but the entire capitalist eas to cross into Canada “illegally,” grabbing their pass- system he represents. Look for more coverage in ports from the hands of ICE agents as they victoriously future issues of Workers World. jump into Canada. This morning there was a notice that DHS is auditing a bakery with many Brandworkers, giving them eight days to come up with proof of status or be fired. [Brand- Outage outrage in Detroit 2 workers are members of an organization of retail and food workers “dedicated to protecting and advancing their rights.”] Fascists f*cked in Philly 3 Factory or home raids are a possibility, with criminal charges of “identity theft.” No place is safe. Millions are living right now in abject fear, with the Anti-healthcare bill: DOA 4 anxiety of not knowing what will happen to them. I will not say they are cowering, because this is a brave and heroic community just by the nature of their getting to Sister Warriors of Revolution 6 this country. Things have horribly changed since Jan. 20. Not just Continued on page 10 Ramona Africa speaks on Mumia 7 Subscribe to Workers World North Carolina: ‘As goes the South...’ 7 4 weeks trial $4 1 year subscription $30 Sign me up for the WWP Supporter Program: 9 workers.org/articles/donate/supporters_/ U.S. war crimes in Syria, Iraq Name ____________________________________________ Editorial 10 Email ______________________________Phone __________ Kaepernick a ‘distraction’? Street _________________City / State / Zip_________ Workers World 212.627.2994 Puerto Rico 3 Cuba 9 Haiti & Palestine 11 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl, NY, NY 10011 workers.org Page 2 March 30, 2017 workers.org Detroit’s lights out: Who’s to blame In the U.S. By Kris Balderas-Hamel Unite on May Day: Stop war on migrants ...................1 Roseville, Mich. Detroit’s lights out: Who’s to blame ........................2 Philly self-defense routs fascist rally ......................3 March 14 — I’m waiting and hoping that today is the day power is restored to our neighborhood and we can Santander Bank owes reparations to Puerto Rican people 3 leave this awful motel. It’s been seven days and six nights. Mass protest kills the anti-health-care bill.................4 In the meantime, I’m trying to put it all into perspective. Ida Gibbs Hunt and the Pan-African Movement...........5 I’m very grateful a work check came through right be- Commentary African-American women pilots making history ..........5 fore the outage. I’m grateful we were able to evacuate to Cuban women meet in NYC ..............................5 a motel. I’m grateful my bird is OK, and that my spouse like Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria. They have ‘Love was in the air’ tribute to warrior sisters..............6 and I have retained some semblance of sanity during this lost everything. trying time, although there have been a lot of tears, too, I am wealthy as sh-t compared to them, and my in- Mona, Pam & Monica: Harriet’s granddaughters ..........6 mostly on my part. come is pretty low. Ramona Africa speaks on Mumia Abu-Jamal..............7 I’m grateful the home we love hasn’t been broken into The day of the massive windstorm, Wednesday, HB2 one year later: The struggle grows and continues ....7 and we can eventually go home. I’m grateful that we have March 8, was International Working Women’s Day and David Rockefeller: The working-class truth ...............8 vehicles, not just one, but two. my spouse’s birthday. The explosions I heard when the Cuba Solidarity conference pushes actions ...............9 I think of the Detroiters, the majority Black, many power went out were the transformers, DTE workers told Rasmea Odeh forced to accept plea agreement..........11 very poor and oppressed, who could not escape. I think us. The company says it was the high winds of up to 75 of those people with babies and young children, and the miles per hour that caused the outage to over 800,000 Around the world elderly, and I wonder if there is a death toll because of this customers in southeastern Michigan, affecting millions U.S. war crimes escalate in Syria, Iraq .........................9 power outage. I know that in the communities people are of people. Cops deny assassination attempt on Aristide ...............11 looking out for each other, helping each other, doing what Freezing temperatures added to the crisis people faced. human beings naturally do when there is a catastrophe of Editorial DTE and media are to blame any kind. Why is Colin Kaepernick unemployed?......................10 I think of how my mental health has been stretched But the outage wasn’t just caused by the wind. The to the limit and all the discomfort and misery of being outage was caused by the utility’s refusal to upgrade and Noticias en Español confined to a small room. The smallest thing can be an modernize its equipment, by its refusal to have under- Trump ataca en casa y en el exterior .....................12 occasion to burst into tears and fantasize about militant ground wiring — even though the customers, of course, actions at DTE Energy Co. headquarters and doing what would be the ones paying for it — and by its refusal to has to be done. Thankfully those episodes don’t last for reverse layoffs and hire more workers. If ever there was a long — except for the militant actions part. need for work and workers, here it is! I think of the 245 million people around the world who But we don’t live in a planned society that even consid- are migrants, who are displaced from their homes or are ers such possibilities. The owners of these companies see refugees. Many have nothing but the clothes on their no profits in upgrading power lines and equipment. They back. They are far from home, having fled U.S.-backed think: Why invest profits [money they stole from work- or U.S.-funded weapons of mass destruction and the rav- ers] in upgrades when we may have to wait years for a aged conditions these caused. payoff? And what they really want is a high value on this I think about those who have died on the high seas or year’s bottom line. survived to enter a hostile country, a racist place with no After six full days, DTE Energy claims it has restored Workers World welcome. They have come from places where electric- power to all but a few thousand people (most of them in 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl. ity and the entire infrastructures have been destroyed Detroit). Workers and those who came from other states New York, NY 10011 thanks to U.S. imperialism and its NATO partners. Places Continued on page 4 Phone: 212.627.2994 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.workers.org Vol. 59, No. 13 • March 30, 2017 Closing date: March 28 2017 Editor: Deirdre Griswold Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, Kris Balderas-Hamel, Monica Moorehead, Minnie Bruce Who we are & what we’re fighting for Pratt; Web Editor Gary Wilson Hate capitalism? Workers World Party fights for a degrading people because of their nationality, sexual or Production & Design Editors: Coordinator Lal Roohk; socialist society — where the wealth is socially owned gender identity or disabilities — all are tools the ruling Andy Katz, Cheryl LaBash class uses to keep us apart.