Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Cops Hold Black Children at Gunpoint

For 10 minutes, cops pointed guns at 12-14 years old Black boys who lay on the ground, sobbing and begging for their lives.

Left Voice

April 25, 2017
Facebook Twitter Share

Left Voice’s second issue, “Women on the Front Lines”, is now available for purchase. For every magazine sold, we are donating $1 to a worker controlled factory in Argentina.

In Grand Rapids, Michigan, several police officers held 5 young black boys at gunpoint for over 10 minutes. The boys were between 12 and 14 years old– middle school students. They were returning home after a game of basketball when the cops surrounded them with police cars, took out their guns and ordered the children to get on the ground.

As the boys lay on the concrete, they cried out “What did we do? ” and “I don’t want to die.” One boy pleaded for the cops to put their guns down and another sobbed. This went on for 10 whole minutes.

The cops had responded to reports of armed teens in the area. However, there was no evidence that the group of children stopped by the police were armed. The cops say that they “fit the description” for the armed teens the police were looking for, but the description was so generic, it could have fit almost any Black boy in the neighborhood.

Watch the video here:

This incident occurred in March, but the footage was just released by the police department. The mayor and the police chief have since apologized. However, the police chief also said that the officers acted professionally. The police involved have not been reprimanded. In fact, the police union vehemently defended the cops and argued that no change of policy is needed. That is why Left Voice argues that there should be no cops in our unions, as the police unions defend our oppressors and not the interests of the working class and oppressed.

These kinds of incidents are already everyday occurrences. This is unique only in that there is a video. We can expect that occurrences like this one will increase under the Trump administration with his promises of “law and order.” We, the working class and oppressed, must organize against police violence at our workplaces, schools and neighborhoods.

Facebook Twitter Share

Left Voice

Militant journalism, revolutionary politics.

United States

20 Years Since the U.S. Invasion of Iraq: A Reflection from a Socialist in the Heart of Imperialism

A Left Voice member and anti-war activist reflects on the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and how he learned to hate U.S. imperialism.

Sam Carliner

March 20, 2023

Train Derailment in Metro Detroit Illustrates That Capitalist Control of the Railroads Is Fundamentally Unsafe

With the capitalists in control of the railroads, they will destroy the environment and poison and kill workers. The catastrophe in East Palestine will not be the last if we don’t nationalize our railroads and put the safety of people and the environment over profit.

Emma Boyhtari

February 28, 2023
East Palestine, Ohio in the distance at night, smoke and fire springing up due to the train derailment.

The Ohio Train Disaster Is on Biden’s Hands

Just months after President Biden and Congress blocked railway workers from striking over dangerous working conditions, the exact type of disaster that workers predicted has come to pass. The fate of East Palestine must be a wake-up call for the labor and climate movements to fight for the nationalization of the railroads under workers’ control.

B.C. Daurelle

February 15, 2023
US President Joe Biden speaks during a State of the Union address with US Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, right, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Biden is speaking against the backdrop of renewed tensions with China and a brewing showdown with House Republicans over raising the federal debt ceiling.

Biden’s Populist Speech Can’t Cover Up Capitalist Crisis

Biden tried to paint a picture of a United States that has come back stronger after the pandemic. But despite his populist rhetoric and laundry list of policies, none of these measures can address the real needs of the vast majority of the working class and poor who have been exploited and oppressed for much longer than the last two years.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

February 8, 2023

MOST RECENT

Protesters gather during a demonstration on Place de la Concorde in Paris on March 17, 2023, the day after the French government pushed a pensions reform using the article 49.3 of the constitution. - French President's government on March 17, 2023 faced no-confidence motions in parliament and intensified protests after imposing a contentious pension reform without a vote in the lower house. Across France, fresh protests erupted in the latest show of popular opposition to the bill since mid-January.

Battle of the Pensions: Toward a Pre-Revolutionary Moment in France

President Macron's use of article 49.3 to push through an unpopular pension reform bill has opened up an enormous political crisis that has changed the character of the mobilizations against the French government. We are entering a "pre-revolutionary moment" that can change the balance of power between the classes in France.

Juan Chingo

March 21, 2023

It is Possible to Win: The Pension Reform Crisis in France

A French socialist reflects on the way forward after Macron invites Article 49.3 to pass pension reform.

Paul Morao

March 20, 2023

“We are your economy”: Trans Youth Walkout and Speak Out

The following is a speech by a young trans person as part of an action called for by NYC Youth for Trans Rights.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

March 20, 2023
Three tables full of food, with signs hung above them. One says "The People's Pantry: FREE FOOD." Banners hung from the tables say "Free CUNY" and "Cop Free School Zone"

CUNY Administration Cracks Down on Student and Worker-Run Food Pantry

Students and workers opened "The People's Pantry" seven weeks ago as part of a broader anti-austerity campaign at CUNY, leading to several direct confrontations with the administration.

Olivia Wood

March 19, 2023