¡Liberar a Desalojo de Mumia Palestina! 12 los pobres 12 Abu-Jamal 12 Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Vol. 63, No. 21 May 27, 2021 $1 A Pride call to action: June 14-21 DEFEND TRANS YOUTH! By Martha Grevatt face many obstacles in sports— none of which have to do with the participation June 1 marks the start of Pride of trans athletes, and all of which stem month. Ex-President Donald Trump from patriarchal discrimination. has been out of office over 130 days. But Twenty states have bills to deny the relentless attacks on the trans com- lifesaving therapy, including trans-af- munity, especially on trans youth and firming counseling and hormone trans women of color, show no signs of replacement therapy, to trans ado- letting up. lescents. Arkansas’ misnamed “Save In 33 state legislatures, 117 bills that Adolescents From Experimentation Act deny basic civil rights to trans people (SAFE)” became law after the legislature have been passed or introduced. This overrode Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto. makes 2021 a record-breaking year Other bills would block trans-posi- for such bigoted legislation, according tive school curriculum, prohibit school- to the Human Rights Campaign. Most teachers from referring to students by of these bills target trans youth, who their gender identity and prevent state already have a disproportionately high ID cards, such as driver’s licenses, from rate of suicide. reflecting a person’s gender identity. List your local actions at www.tinyurl.com/DefendTransYouth All but two of the 33 states have bills These legislative assaults come on the to bar trans athletes from participation heels of previously passed “bathroom in sports not consistent with their sex bills” that have kept half of all trans assigned at birth— especially girls and youth from using a bathroom corre- women’s sports. The bills perpetuate the sponding to their gender identity. Cops and colonizers myth that trans women pose a danger All this is going on in spite of Biden’s to other women and girls— that they March 8 executive order stating “all are really men who dress as women students should be guaranteed an edu- because they are sexual predators seek- cational environment free from discrim- out of LGBTQ+ Pride! ing access— or that they have some ination on the basis of sex, including Statement of LGBTQ+ Caucus While the COVID pandemic confined us sort of unfair competitive advantage. discrimination in the form of sexual Workers World Party in our homes this past year, it did not stop Governors in three states have signed harassment, which encompasses sexual the police terror or victimization of Black, such bills, with innocuous-sounding violence, and including discrimination As we head into Pride month 2021— Brown and Indigenous people in the U.S. names like “Fairness in Women’s Sports on the basis of sexual orientation or after more than a year of being locked We witnessed the Louisville, Ky., police Act,” into law. gender identity.” down due to the COVID-19 pandemic— murder of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman Neither science nor statistics support These harmful bills must be we are still plagued by twin epidemics of who was an emergency medical technician these backward stereotypes. “I think stopped— but only mass struggle can that these exclusionary responses are stop them. rampant racist police terror against the at the beginning of the pandemic. And a solution in search of a problem,” said Black and Brown communities and U.S.- this week, we commemorate the one-year Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, interim Black and Brown trans lives matter! armed Israeli bombings and murder of anniversary of the assassination of George director of GLSEN, an LGBTQ+ youth Not even halfway into the year, 2021 Palestinian people in the West Bank and Floyd, a Black man, by Minneapolis police. advocacy organization. “There is no cate- has seen at least 26 violent murders of Gaza. Tony McDade, a transgender Black man, gorical dominance by trans athletes, but trans people, a large majority of them As the LGBTQ+ Caucus of Workers was killed by the Tallahassee, Fla., police we do understand the categorical bene- Black, Indigenous and Latinx trans World Party, we call upon all of our sib- shortly after Floyd was killed. The police fits for young people who play sports.” women. If the trend continues, 2021 will lings in this movement to demand “Cops terror against Black and Brown people (CNN, April 15) Girls and women do be the most violent year for trans people and Colonizers Out of LGBTQ+ Pride!” Continued on page 8 Continued on page 8 Editorial 50 years later 10 Electoral defeat for police 3 McDonald’s strike 3 Mumia’s On the picket line 8 message 10 1619 Project attacked 11 SPECIAL PRIDE CENTERFOLD Texas racist death penalty Trans liberation and socialism 2, 4 Leslie Feinberg on self-defense Free Palestinian students! Intoxication culture Decriminalize methadone Madeline Davis Ga. ICE center shut down WW PHOTO: LIZA GREEN Leslie Feinberg 6-7 Palestine 5, 9 Delegation in Syria 9 Colombia 11 Page 2 May 27, 2021 workers.org Victory in closure of Georgia detention center this week ◆ In the U.S. By Dianne Mathiowetz Atlanta Defend trans youth!..........................1 Cops and colonizers out of LGBTQ+ Pride! ......1 On May 20, Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Victory in closure of Georgia detention center....2 Mayorkas released a statement that Georgia immigrant rights advocates, current and former immigrant detain- Black Lives Matter sparks FOP defeat at polls ....3 ees were overjoyed to hear— the Irwin County Detention McDonald’s workers go on strike...............3 Center in Ocilla, Ga., would close “as soon as possible.” Texas execution exposes death penalty racism ...4 Operated by for-profit corporation LaSalle Corrections, Methadone: Harm or help? ...................4 which runs detention facilities elsewhere including in Louisiana and Texas, Irwin’s ill treatment of detainees has Trans liberation and socialism .................6 produced multiple lawsuits claiming injuries and deaths. CeCe McDonald: the right to self-defense........6 Georgia Detention Watch, a coalition of legal, community Intoxication culture and the working class.......7 and immigrant activists, had exposed numerous violations A salute to Madeline Davis ....................7 of detainees’ human rights in the facility for several years, Dawn Wooten, left, at a news conference in Atlanta Sept. 15, with no apparent federal response. On the picket line........................... 8 2020. Located in southern Georgia, about 200 miles from The state of Mumia .........................10 Atlanta, the 1,200-bed-capacity center held both men and Educators oppose reactionary legislation .......11 women immigrants. Serious issues of medical neglect, Federal Congressional hearings took place, and a dele- unsanitary living conditions, inedible food, overcrowding, gation of elected representatives met with detainees. Early ◆ Around the world punitive use of solitary confinement and indifferent, if not in 2021, women started being transferred from Irwin to callous and racist, treatment by Irwin personnel led to pro- Stewart Detention Center, an all-male facility, in Lumpkin, Solidarity to free Palestinian students...........4 test actions inside and outside the facility. Ga., operated by CoreCivic. Stewart has its own long, egre- Palestinians, allies fight Israeli apartheid ........5 In September 2020, nurse Dawn Wooten bravely took gious history of violations, including detainee deaths from Gaza resists, hits Israel hard...................9 action and blew the whistle on Irwin management, pub- COVID and other forms of medical neglect. Observers of Syrian elections in Damascus .....10 licly calling them out for failure to heed COVID protocols When President Joe Biden came to Atlanta April 29 for including providing PPE, such as masks, and testing for a rally marking 100 days in office, he was interrupted by a Colombian general strike ....................11 detainees as well as staff. At a press conference in front of group of former detainees from Irwin and immigrant advo- ICE headquarters in Atlanta, hosted by Georgia Detention cates, chanting and carrying a banner demanding “End ◆ Editorial Watch Sept. 15, Wooten spoke of the gynecological pro- Detention Now!” Biden was forced to repeat his campaign ‘What's Going On?’ 50 years later .............10 cedures performed on women without informed consent. promise of shutting down private detention centers and These involved unnecessary or unwanted hysterectomies. asked for “five more days.” Security then removed demon- ◆ Noticias en Español This bombshell news was followed by over 40 women strators from the rally. ¡Liberar a Palestina! . 12 filing a federal lawsuit, not only claiming medical abuse by Mayorkas’ statement declares that “detention facilities Dr. Mahendra Amin, but retaliation by LaSalle employees and the treatment of individuals in those facilities will be Desalojo de los pobres.......................12 at Irwin against those who told their stories. Some women held to our health and safety standards,” indicating that Mumia Abu-Jamal..........................12 were quickly deported, while others were moved to deten- those who fail those standards will see similar action. tion facilities in other states. More demonstrations took Detainees know if that were true, they would have all place in Atlanta and Ocilla, declaring “Believe the Women” been closed May 20. ☐ and “Shut Irwin Down!” Workers World 147 W. 24th