By Fighting Words Staff
On August 5, the world was thrilled to see members of the Black community exercise their “Black Panther Party right of self-defense” on a dock in Montgomery, Alabama. When a group of quasi-Klan white boaters assaulted a Black boat captain who had repeatedly asked them to move their boat parked illegally in a designated spot for a tour boat filled with Black passengers, they punched and kicked him even after he had fallen to the ground.
Onlookers from the dock and the boat rushed to his defense. One 16-year-old, now forever carrying the title of “Black AquaMan”, jumped from the boat, swam to and climbed onto the dock to join the struggle. Even a folding chair used by the community in the battle has found renown. Only when the racists were thoroughly pummeled did the cops finally step in and arrest some of the racists.
A similar stirring event occurred on August 24, when arch-racist and fascist Donald Trump was arrested, fingerprinted, and had his scowling mug shot taken at Fulton County jail in Atlanta, Georgia. Along with 18 other conspirators, he faces 37 charges of scheming to nullify the 2020 votes of the city of Atlanta, with its large Black population, its proud history in the Civil Rights and Black Liberation struggles and its strong Black political leadership. This includes the Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Trump had been arrested by the Federal Justice Department three times before this, including once for trying to overturn the 2020 election. In none of those cases did the Justice Department dare to force Trump to undergo fingerprinting and a mug shot. But in Fulton that billionaire faced the same treatment as the mostly poor defendants charged with property crimes, trying to survive in this capitalist society.
However, it is unclear if Willis will be able to continue this search for justice for the Black community and the working class as a whole in Georgia. On the same day that Trump was arrested, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a new law passed by the racist dominated state legislature. Kemp himself was threatened by Trump for not participating in his insurrection scheme. But that did not stop Kemp. The Los Angeles Sentinel reports:
Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia signed a new bill in May proposed by Republican state legislators, creating a new commission, the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission. Members of the commission will have the power to remove or sanction Georgia prosecutors for neglect or other violations of their duties. Many Georgia state legislators believe the new bill targets Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The new bill goes into effect October 1, and Republican state lawmaker Clint Dixon said this past Thursday he would file a complaint to have Fani Willis removed from her position because of charges brought against former President Donald Trump. Dixon believes the indictment of Trump is politically motivated and sparked by “Willis’ goal to become some sort of leftist celebrity.”
“Once the Prosecutorial Oversight Committee is appointed in October, we can have them investigate and take action against Fani Willis and her efforts that weaponize the justice system against political opponents. This is our best measure, and I will be ready to call for that investigation,” Dixon said.
It is not known if a DA Willis firing will spark the same “Montgomery boat dock” spirit of struggle among the people and see thousands pour into the streets in Georgia and nationally. Nevertheless, the investigation itself has exposed details of the insurrection scheme to not just invoke voter suppression, but to impose vote suppression on the Black community, where their 2020 votes would be nullified, and Trump electors would be selected instead for the January 6 Electoral College vote count.
Black vote counters in Fulton County like Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss were threatened if they did not falsely “admit” to vote fraud. Election officials were pressured to throw out all of the Fulton County results, allowing Trump to win the state vote.
This same scheme was implemented in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and elsewhere, but Fulton County Georgia was the only locale to fully stand up to it and force many of the conspirators to face trial.
Some activists may point to the limitation of electoral rights, where workers and the oppressed are forced to choose between candidates selected by and groomed by the ruling billionaire class. Nevertheless, the entire class struggle absolutely depends on our defense of the hard-won Constitutional rights of the Black community, to ensure that it has the same democratic rights as the rest of our class.
It is clear that the 2024 Trump campaign intends to repeat this same scheme in the next election, which, if successful, would be a devastating blow to the entire working class and all oppressed communities. Testimony has already revealed that in 2021 Trump planned to use the Insurrection Act to send the military into cities and towns to put down any opposition to his fascist coup, potentially sparking a race war.
The Fulton County prosecution provides a legal backbone to reinforce the upcoming struggle that must be engaged in the streets. Race war must be met by class war! The left must prepare now!
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