Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

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Trancita Ponce from Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition speaks to a crowd gathered outside the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland, California before packing the courtroom in solidarity with Guillermo Medina Reyes.

Oakland, CA — On Tuesday, June 16, over 50 people gathered in person and via Zoom to support Guillermo Medina Reyes at his Mental Health Diversion Court hearing in Alameda County.

Medina is a Bay Area tattoo artist and longtime organizer for the rights of detained immigrants and incarcerated people, having organized hunger and labor strikes during his detention at Golden State Annex in McFarland, California from 2021 to 2023.

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Colorado Springs, CO – On June 23, the Colorado Springs Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (COSAARPR) held a march through the streets of Colorado Springs demanding justice for one-year old Kohen Wiley, who was murdered by Mississippi police. The march ended at Colorado Springs Police Department headquarters where protestors lit candles, and a moment of silence took place.

COSAARPR was joined by various community organizations and churches including General Strike US, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Vista Grande Community Church of Christ.

“The FRSO condemns the murder of one-year-old Kohen Wiley and echoes the demands to bring Hunter Foster to justice” said Jessie Proffit of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Brandon Rincon, the founder and chair of COSAARPR, stated, “Kohen Wiley should be alive. Kohen Wiley was stolen from this world by a racist and rotten police system that has stolen too many lives for us to list.”

The action started at Dorchester Park in downtown Colorado Springs. Chants of “Justice for” were quickly responded with “Kohen Wiley!”.A crowd favorite, “Indict, convict, send those killer cops to jail! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!” was heard all throughout downtown. A crowd of about 20 or so people marched downtown holding signs demanding justice for Kohen Wiley.

#ColoradoSpringsCO #CO #InjusticeSystem #KohenWiley #COSAARPR

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Blue Chip slot attendants and dual rates demanding union recognition on the casino floor.

Michigan City, IN – Slot attendants at Blue Chip Casino Hotel Spa marched on management Tuesday, June 23, to demand voluntary recognition of their union with Teamsters Local 135.

Joined by Teamsters from Locals 135, 364 and 142, approximately 15 slot attendants and supporters marched through the casino before presenting a union recognition letter to General Manager JC Rieger on the gaming floor. The letter was read aloud before being handed to Rieger, who accepted the demand letter but offered no response.

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Salt Lake City protesters demand 'Hands off Cuba!'

Salt Lake City, UT – On Saturday, June 20, at an event organized by the Utah Anti War Committee, dozens of community members gathered at an overpass to demand hands off Cuba.

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NYC protest demands justice for Eudes Pierre.

Brooklyn, NY – Community members and the family of Eudes Pierre gathered Thursday, June 25, for their fourth monthly picket at the NYPD’s 71st Precinct. Alongside Pierre’s family, organizers from the New York Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NYAARPR) demanded justice for Eudes Pierre and put up wanted posters of the officers who murdered him in 2021.

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Denver, CO – On Saturday, June 20, thousands of people took to the streets of Denver to celebrate Juneteenth. As the parade departed from Denver’s Manual High School in the late morning, the participants were met by a sea of onlookers primarily donned in black, green and red. As the procession made its way through the streets of Denver, spectators cheered on the parade by waving and raising their fists.

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Wyatt Miller of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee speaking at press conference.

Minneapolis, MN – On July 24, pro-Palestine and police accountability advocates as well as local media gathered in the Minneapolis City Hall rotunda around a banner that read, “Drones out of MPLS. Drones out of Palestine. Say no to Skydio.” The Twin Cities-based Free Palestine Coalition (FPC) proceeded to hold a press conference calling on Minneapolis City Council to reject a proposal that would enact a trial program of so-called “drones as first responders” supplied by U.S. drone manufacturer Skydio.

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Minneapolis, MN – On June 17, the Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over-Sentenced Families Council-MN (WIAOFC-MN) and Twin Cities Coalition for Justice (TCC4J) held a press conference and rally demanding accountability, justice, safety and fairness for all Black youth.

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Tallahassee, Florida protest against police crimes.

Tallahassee, FL – On June 20, the Tallahassee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (TallyAARPR) held its Angelversary rally and vigil at the Lynching Historical Marker at Cascades Park to honor the lives of those killed by racist violence.

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Aurora City Council votes to create the Public Safety Accountability Office.

Aurora, CO – On Monday, June 8, the Aurora City Council voted on Resolution 2-68 to create the new “Public Safety Accountability Office.” The office will investigate incidents involving public departments, including the police. It is supposed to have unrestricted access to department records, release its findings to the public, and assign a family contact when someone is seriously injured or killed.

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Santa Ana CA – The afternoon of Saturday, June 19, 25 people, including members of Community Service Organization Orange County (CSO OC) and concerned community members, gathered to demand accountability and transparency after yet another resident was killed by Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) earlier that week.

Chants of “Justice for Jaden Michaca!” and “¡Basta policías asesinos!” could be heard over rush hour traffic at the intersection of the apartment complex where Jaden Michaca was killed.

Michaca was only 15 years old when SAPD officers shot him to death the night of June 14. Early reports from the department offer no details of the officer-involved shooting but justified the officer’s actions by stating that the “suspect” had a knife and was under the influence when they responded to a domestic call. Community members immediately called out SAPD’s statements online and in person, condemning the department for the killing and advocating for stronger community oversight of the department.

David Pulido, a member of CSO OC, opened the event with “We’ve seen enough of these police statements and met enough of their victims to know that we should not trust the police! They criminalize the victim by focusing on drug use and property damage to mark them for death!”

A school counselor who knew Jaden Michaca attended the protest and countered early attempts by police to paint him as a criminal. She stated Michaca “had the biggest heart of any kid I’ve worked with, he was sweet and kind, but he happened to be in a body that looked a little bit older, and that of a Chicano male. I can’t deny that that was a factor in what happened.” Michaca’s death is one of many cases of Chicanos being killed by police across Orange County, including three teenage police shooting victims in the last seven months.

The protesters waved signs that demanded justice for the victim, including others that read “Release the names! Release the tapes!” They demanded the immediate publication of all unedited body camera footage, the full autopsy report, and the names of the officers who killed Michaca.

Attendees marched around the intersection of South Main and West Macarthur Boulevard, chanting “Jail killer cops!” while people driving by honked in support. A white cross decorated with fresh flowers and handwritten messages from the family had been set up near the intersection earlier that week to honor Jaden Michaca’s life.

Family members of Albert Arzola, a 19-year-old killed by Anaheim Police Department (APD) in December 2025, attended to show their support for Jaden Michaca’s family. Albert’s sister Pearl Arzola emphasized, “Jaden Michaca was a young kid, and instead of de-escalating the situation, the cops chose more violence! We need more accountability over Santa Ana PD, a young 15-year-old boy should not die because cops are trigger-happy.”

“I don’t know if you saw that the mayor of Santa Ana, she brushed this shooting off like it was nothing. What the fuck?” yelled CSO OC member Luis Herrera. The community booed and responded “Shame!” He then encouraged the crowd, “We need to unite and organize ourselves to fight for justice, because only through organized struggle can we win community control of the police!”

Abe Quintana of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) brought a historical perspective, stating “We know that there is a long history of racist police killings and violence that targets Chicano communities and immigrants from Mexico and Central and South America. The racism and exploitation we experience exist because they are rooted in the oppression of Aztlan, so we need to fight for our self-determination!”

CSO OC organized the protest, which was also attended by PSL, members of Union Del barrio (UDB), and community members who knew Jaden Michaca. CSO is a grassroots, working-class organization that fights for community control of the police and legalization for all the undocumented. They hold general meetings every third Thursday in Santa Ana and can be reached on Instagram @cso.oc or on Facebook, CSO Orange County. Their police crimes hotline is 714-367-6350.

#SantaAnaCA #CA #OrangeCounty #CSOOC #JadenMichaca #OppressedNationalities #InjusticeSystem

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Juneteenth in Chicago.

Chicago, IL- Activists rallied in Federal Plaza, June 20, to celebrate Juneteenth and raise demands to defend voting rights and stopping police crimes, including wrongful conviction, police torture, and CPD-ICE collaboration. The National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression had called for a day of action in response to the gutting of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court.

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Brooklyn, NY – Organizers from the New York Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression gathered in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn on Friday, June 19, to speak out against police crimes that disproportionately affect Black and brown communities of New York City.

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Workers march during the June 3 general strike against the labor package.

Lisbon, Portugal – On Thursday, June 18, thousands of workers marched outside the Assembly of the Republic demanding that the right-wing government kill the anti-worker “labor package” they were poised to vote on. The next day, in a vote that shocked most pundits, the labor package was voted down by the legislators even though there is a right-wing majority in the assembly.

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North Charleston, SC – On June 19, organizers with the Lowcountry Action Committee (LAC), a branch of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, rallied on the corner of Remount and Craig Streets, a few hundred yards from the site where Walter Scott was murdered by ex-North Charleston Police Officer Michael Slager 11 years ago, in 2015.

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Lawrenceburg, IN – Workers at Batesville Products Inc. (BPI) have been on strike since May 11 after voting unanimously to withhold their labor and demand recognition of their union, Teamsters Local 135.

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Adelanto, CA – On Saturday, June 13, immigrant rights organizations from around Southern California held a caravan and rally outside of the Adelanto Detention Center. The rally was led by Centro CSO, alongside CSO Orange County, NELA for Democracy, Defend Migrant Alliance – SOCAL, and No Camps California. The rally took place as part of the Legalization for All Network’s Weekend of Action with the main demand being to shut down all detention centers.

For weeks, detained immigrants have carried out hunger strikes at the Adelanto Detention Center in Adelanto, California and the Delaney Hall Detention Center in New Jersey. To show their solidarity, dozens of protesters outside the Adelanto Detention Center waved signs, and chanted “Free them all!” The hunger strikes were called by immigrants due to the lack of medical treatment and the inhumane treatment within the centers.

Verita Topete, co-chair of Centro CSO’s immigration committee, said, “Six years ago, I stood outside the Adelanto protesting while my father was detained inside. A hunger strike was happening at the time as people risked everything in order to demand dignity, safety and humane treatment. Six years later, history is repeating itself. We are back here in solidarity with the hunger strikers at Adelanto and Delaney Hall in New Jersey.”

The protesters hung posters of detainees who have died while in ICE custody, with several of those lives being taken inside the Adelanto Detention Center. Speakers emphasized just how inhumane the conditions are, and the lack of medical treatment detainees face.

Centro CSO in particular uplifted their campaign to free Alex Hernandez who has been wrongfully detained in Adelanto for months. CSO has led call-in days and other actions to demand Hernandez be freed and reunited with his family.

Rain Mendoza from CSO Orange County stated, “It's important to show solidarity with the courageous striking detainees and all immigrant detainees in detention centers. The treatment they are facing inside the detention centers is absolutely unacceptable. People are dying inside! We demand all detention centers be shut down. Free our people now”

If you would like to join the struggle to defend immigrant rights in Los Angeles and win Legalization for All, you can follow @CentroCSO on Instagram to find out about upcoming meetings and actions.

#LosAngelesCA #CA #CentroCSO #ImmigrantRights #DetentionCenter #Adelanto

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Decorah, IA –Community members, students and local advocates are organizing against the Winneshiek County Fair Board’s decision to book the country band Confederate Railroad for this summer’s fair, arguing that the group’s Confederate imagery promotes racism and exclusion.

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Gilroy, CA – On June 14. around 300 protestors hit the streets in Gilroy to protest against ICE’s plans to open a detention and processing center in the southern part of Santa Clara County near Gilroy, California. At around a million residents, San Jose is the largest city in Santa Clara County, one of the nine counties of the San Francisco Bay Area. Local activists say the detention center will impact all Bay Area residents.

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Washington, D.C. – Horizon Air flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA), voted 99.8% to authorize a strike at the wholly-owned Alaska Air Group regional airline, on June 16. The vote is the result of seriously delayed bargaining and months of outrageously low economic proposals from Horizon management.

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