Opinion: Imperialist Army Sergeant Daniel Scott Perry is a Predatory Enemy of the People

By Ed Dalton

Murdering people in Afghanistan was not enough for Sergeant Daniel Scott Perry. His bloodlust and fascist hatred for the people compelled him to go out hunting for Black Lives Matter protesters, having been riled up into a fever by the reactionary ramblings of President Donald Trump.

Hours after Tribune of the People broke the story exposing Garrett Foster’s killer, Perry’s attorney published a press release, admitting that his client killed Garrett Foster and claiming self-defense. It is not self-defense if you threaten protesters online for months while working yourself up to make the kill. The lawyer’s claim that Perry feels for Comrade Garrett’s family is a complete mockery! If he cared for the family or had any remorse at all for his miserable and malicious action, he would not have come out the very next day to torment, threaten, and intimidate mourners at Comrade Garrett’s vigil, at the very scene of the crime. 

While we cannot comment on the speculation that Perry is connected to Austin Police Department (APD), we can say that APD feels a connection to him, an affinity even. For starters, they showed Perry the utmost care and support, knowing he had just killed a man. Of course, Perry is white and in the imperialist military, unlike Mike Ramos, who did not have a gun and had not just killed someone. Garrett Foster was also white, and had once been in the military, showing that this alone is not enough to make the system value a person’s life. Far from it, the system values the anti-people, hateful and racist ideology of men like Perry and sees Black people as disposable along with anyone standing with them. Predatory recruitment practices of the US imperialist military focus on using Black, brown and poor people as cannon fodder, like in the case of Vanessa Guillén. There are only two sides to this fight, US imperialism in one corner, and the people of the world in the other.

Trump has threatened to use the Army to massacre protesters, and he has now done so, albeit in an unofficial capacity, by stoking the fires of reaction that burn in the ignorant and repulsive hearts of his most zealous followers.

The people of Austin will never forget Garrett Foster or his remarkable and courageous fiance Whitney Mitchell. The sooner they can forget Perry the better, but who can forget? As long as the fight is still ahead of us, Perry is the very symbol of reaction, of everything the movement for Black lives is against. The necessity now is to fight, to remember that Comrade Garrett right beside all the comrades marching that night promised to to stand on the “front line every time.” That line is now squaring off against Sargent Daniel Scott Perry. It is still not likely that APD will be compelled to act in the interest of the people, against one of their fellow murderers in a different uniform. That is, unless the pressure is overwhelming.

Revolutionaries do not believe in justice from the capitalist state, they believe in people’s justice, which comes in many forms fought for and conquered by the people. The revolution always collects its blood debts. US imperialism, the system that makes monsters like Perry, owes the biggest blood debt of all and it will be collected with the revolutionary triumph of the working class all around the world.  The people and the revolutionaries represent the future, and carrion like Perry represent the past.

The fight for Black lives is inextricably woven with the fight against US imperialism. Rise and keep rising until the name Garrett Foster is immortalized from coast to coast and around the world. Perry narrowly escaped facing immediate people’s justice when activists in the crowd returned fire, he got lucky that night, but his luck has run out. Now the movement knows his name and his face, it must continue protesting, louder and angrier than ever, it must fight to the bitter end.

US Army Sergeant Daniel Scott Perry is an enemy of the people!

Honor and Glory to Garrett Foster who died serving the people and defending Black lives!