Chicago, IL – 500 protesters gathered on the evening of January 5 outside Chicago Police headquarters on the Southside of Chicago in a demonstration of Black and brown solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

The rally and march drew a diverse array of participants from across the city. The action connected the struggles of Palestinians with oppressed communities in Chicago who endure a violent occupation at the hands of Israeli-trained police forces. Protesters called for an end to U.S. aid for Israel and an end to the genocide and occupation in Palestine.

Introduced by leaders of US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), the rally’s speakers represented community groups from throughout the city.

Activist Jasmine Smith of the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Torture (CFIST) emphasized the inherent criminality of a system that murders civilians at home and abroad. “Joe Biden is a terrorist. They call us terrorists but anyone in power right now is a terrorist and a criminal.” Referring to the police headquarters behind the speakers, Smith noted, “This is the same police station withholding evidence that could free our wrongfully convicted loved ones.”

Angel Naranjo, an organizer with SDS and a child of immigrants to the U.S., provided an important perspective on the chronic underfunding of immigrant communities. “This government will approve billions for weapons to kill Palestinians, but put up a fight when we demand fully funded schools,” Naranjo said. Calling for deeper solidarity among oppressed youth, and linking it to the Palestinian struggle, he concluded, “Unity is not a given in the face of injustice, it must be fought for. Black and brown students don’t just share a common enemy, we share a common goal: Free Palestine!”

Frank Chapman, a former political prisoner and NAARPR executive director, linked police brutality against Black and brown people with the crimes of the U.S. and Israeli governments. “Joe Biden and Netanyahu are international criminals,” he said of the genocide in Gaza. “We're looking at it on TV. People under the rubble. This is horrible, and this government is complicit in it. We’ve got to stop this government from aiding and abetting this genocide.”

Turning to popular resistance by the targets of racist state violence in the U.S. and Palestine, Chapman declared, “You can't tell me as an oppressed person how to resist. Don't call me a terrorist. You've been terrorizing me all my life.” He concluded, “We ain't neutral here – we want Palestine to win.”

Once the rally in front of CPD headquarters finished, participants marched out to the surrounding neighborhood of Bronzeville, the historic heart of Black Chicago where many families first settled during the Great Migration.

Demonstrators joined in a series of chants underscoring the central themes of the gathering, including one linking Chicago Police with Israeli occupiers: “CPD! KKK! IOF! They're all the same!” They also condemned U.S. government support for the Gaza siege at the expense of its own citizens: “Money for jobs and education! Not for wars and occupation!”

Marchers stopped outside nearby McDonald's and Starbucks locations, denouncing these corporations for their support of Israeli apartheid and the Israeli occupation forces, and calling for both to be boycotted. Local residents registered their support for the Palestinian cause, flying Palestinian flags from nearby storefronts and waving to the protesters from upper-floor apartment windows. Despite a heavy-handed police presence, the march concluded without any arrests.

The January 5 protest was part of a week of action called by the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

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