North New Jersey DSA
November 22nd, 2021
The Executive Committee of the North New Jersey Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America is disgusted by the acquittal of Rittenhouse.
This decision demonstrates how the U.S. government protects white supremacist violence. It demonstrates the political system’s disrespect for and resistance to the Black-led movement for liberation.
Unfortunately, these conclusions aren’t new, and neither is the harm they cause. We give our unyielding solidarity to those struggling to dismantle white supremacy. A capitalist society will always defend those that protect its interests and uphold its hegemony. This acquittal may only embolden more white supremist vigilante action. Just the same, its now that we must embolden our stance against such injustices
We ask chapter members to uphold the commitments laid out in DSA’s National Political Platform, including:
For all of the working class to achieve collective liberation we must constrain, diminish, and abolish the carceral forces of the state — from prisons and police themselves, to their manifestations in all forms throughout society. Each step forward in reducing the size, power, and authority of the repressive forces of the state expands the space for mass, organized, and collective action of the working class, and clears ground for us to build the institutions of a society to serve our communities with real justice and equality.
We are committed to the horizon of abolition and the path leading us there. Our demands:
- Defund the police by rejecting any expansion to police budgets or scope of enforcement while cutting budgets annually towards zero
- End the criminalization of working-class survival
- Freedom for all incarcerated people
- Demilitarize the police and end colonial policing of our cities and neighborhoods
- Freedom of working-class self-organization and democratic political action
- Invest in community self-governance and care, not cops
Solidarity,
NNJ DSA