Chicago, IL – Palestinian icon Rasmea Odeh; Black youth leaders Veronica Morris-Moore and LaCreshia Birts; Black Liberation Movement veteran Frank Chapman and Eric Koene, a striking worker from the Kohler plant in Wisconsin, appeared together on the stage of the 24th Annual People’s Thanksgiving.

(For the text of Frank Chapman’s speech, and more information about the Kohler strike, see http://www.fightbacknews.org/2015/12/5/people-s-thanksgiving-2015-frso-speech-frank-chapman and http://www.fightbacknews.org/2015/12/6/chicago-event-raises-money-striking-kohler-workers )

People’s Thanksgiving started in 1992 as part of a protest movement against the 500-year commemoration of Columbus ‘discovering’ America. In truth, the European powers came to the New World to colonize, leading to the genocide of the native peoples. Thanksgiving is based on the myth that God gave this land to European settlers. At the People’s Thanksgiving Dinner, thanks and recognition are given to fighters for justice.

This year, Rasmea makes it to People’s Thanksgiving

Nesreen Hasan, one of the emcees this year, and an activist with the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, noted in her introduction of Rasmea Odeh, “One year ago, the People’s Thanksgiving honored Rasmea who couldn’t be present because she was sitting in jail in Michigan. We forced the judge to grant her bail, and so she is here with her supporters today.”

Odeh then spoke about her struggle and solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, explaining, “The methods of brutality against Blacks in the U.S. are the same as the methods used by the Israeli occupation against Palestinians.” In October, her lawyers filed an appeal of the conviction she received. Speaking about this, she said, “I am confident we will win my appeal, but if we don’t win this one, with your support we will continue until we find justice.”

Black youth highlighted

Veronica Morris-Moore and two others from Fearless Leading by the Youth accepted an award recognizing their victory, winning a Trauma Center for Chicago’s South Side. The award was entitled the “In Struggle Award.” The subtitle was, “For those who dare to stand in a strong sun and cast a sharp shadow.” This line was a quote from Robert Moses, one of the early Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) activists who traveled to the Mississippi delta to work in the most dangerous communities to carry out voter registration in the early 1960s. “In Struggle” was the way many of SNCC’s field secretaries signed their regular organizing reports.

FLY has been previously honored at the People’s Thanksgiving, in 2007, when they first formed. FLY co-founder Damian Turner was among those who accepted that award. When Damian was killed in a tragic shooting in 2010, FLY launched the fight to demand the university build a Level 1 Trauma Center. After five years of struggle, they have scored a victory.

Another young woman who came forward this past year is LaCreshia Birts. She spoke about the movement of Black youth to challenge police brutality and police crimes. Since the uprising in Ferguson, Missouri, the youth movement has generated many new faces in leadership roles in Chicago. Birts, the youth organizer for the Chicago Alliance, is one of the best known. As part of the Alliance campaign for CPAC, she called for protests against IPRA, the so-called Independent Police Review Authority, when a whistle-blower exposed them for their refusal to find police shootings unjustified.

As part of Black Youth Project 100, Birts has been one of the main organizers of the fight for justice for Rekia Boyd, murdered by Chicago cop Dante Servin. In November, she stood before thousands at a Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) rally. She called on them to support the struggle for community control of the police, just as the Alliance has supported the CTU’s demand for an elected school board. After her speech, the CTU rose to that challenge, endorsing the Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) legislation as the solution to the crisis that has erupted over the murder of Laquan McDonald.

In her remarks, Birts spoke about the facts of life for African Americans, compared to U.S. propaganda, which says that they have progressed past racism since the 1960s. Birts talked about the reality that conditions have worsened for Black people facing national oppression and racist discrimination.

“Part of the reason nothing changed is because we forgot to change people, as we changed the system. We forgot to educate the masses about what was wrong with the system,” Birts noted.

Explaining her involvement in the Alliance and its campaign for an elected, civilian police accountability council (CPAC), she went on, “Part of the reason I like CPAC is that it does that it changes our relationship to the system. It empowers community members to change the system and hold it accountable.

“Because if we're fighting for change, part of us should be changing, too.”

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