About a dozen members of the Long Beach Communist Party USA chapter met at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Long Beach Boulevard on Sunday, April 25 to hand out information and protest recent policing actions.
The members came with signs calling to defund the police and gave literature about the policing practices of the Long Beach Police Department and the platform of Communist Party USA.
“We wanted to bring attention to the recent incidents of state violence that have been happening all over the US,” said Steven Estrada who is running for the Long Beach District 1 City Council seat in 2022.
Another issue the group brought up was the city’s decision to bring unaccompanied minors arriving at the southern border to the Long Beach Convention Center.
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“There shouldn’t be any long-term or even short-term holding centers for these children without an accelerated path for reuniting them and vetting homes that could house them,” Estrada said.
One of Frank Barshers, of the Locust Community Group, issues resides with the Long Beach Citizen Police Complaint Commission’s lack of action against police officers with complaints.
The protesters gave chants of, “no justice, no peace” and “we want peace, not police.”
The group hopes to convince residents to call for money within the police department to be reallocated to health and social services for the city.
Amongst honks in support of the movement, Andrea Antoni-Morr said that she joined the communist party last year during the unrest caused by the death of George Floyd along with the national response to the coronavirus.
“The powers that be are not gonna do right by us if we wish they would, we need to get out there and say we want something different,” she said.
