Salt Lake City, UT – On May 6, the U.S. 10th Circuit heard the name Dillon Taylor for the first time.

Jacksonville, FL – A crowd of more than 200 people, practicing social distancing and mostly wearing face masks, gathered in front of the Duval County courthouse, May 8, in response to the brutal murder of Ahmaud Arbery in nearby Brunswick, Georgia. The Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC), Northside Coalition, and the New Florida Majority put the demonstration of solidarity together; UNF Students for A Democratic Society (SDS) was represented as well. Even community members from Brunswick, where Arbery was killed, drove down to attend the demonstration.

Minneapolis, MN – Over 1000 people attended an online panel hosted by the United National AntiWar Coalition, May 9. In a panel entitled, “U.S. Sanctions During the COVID-19 Pandemic, a Global Threat” leaders representing six countries facing harsh U.S. sanctions highlighted the leading role of the United States in undermining the healthcare infrastructure of sovereign states in order to foment regime change.

“Trayvon Martin, Emmett Till. How many Black lives will you kill?” This was one of many chants heard across downtown Tampa on Saturday, May 9, as protesters gathered to demand justice for Ahmaud Arbery. The South Georgia resident was murdered by two white supremacist vigilantes, father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael, while he out for a jog.

Appleton, WI – There’s a fear in polite American culture to engage in conflict. Strong words are discouraged, anger is derided, and extremism is posed as the singular problem; this unites all the various gasbags who turn our culture into such a toxic environment, where concepts like truth and justice have little hope to survive.

On May 10 the Communist Party of the Philippines condemned the murder of five peasants by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), in Sorsogon province.

Green Bay, WI – While Wisconsin business owners and their political allies claimed local COVID-19 cases were on the decline and pressed to repeal Governor Ever’s Safer at Home order, manufacturing plants in Brown County were experiencing a huge outbreak of the deadly viral disease amongst the workers. Cases at three meatpacking plants – JBS Packerland, American Foods Group, and Salm Partners – have accounted for over half of the county’s cases, even as the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union fought for and won vital hazard pay, safer working conditions, and personal protection equipment (PPE) for its members, following concerns raised by the immigrant advocacy group Voces de la Frontera.

Chicago, IL – Close to 400,000 students in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) are in their seventh week of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this haze of attempting to teach the children of Chicago one thing is becoming crystal clear: disparity. According to NBC Chicago 52% of coronavirus deaths are of African American people and 25% are Latinos. Working-class African American and Latino neighborhoods on the South and West Sides are being hit much harder than predominantly white neighborhoods downtown and on the North Side.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns the brutal murder Ahmaud Arbery, a young African American man in southern Georgia, who was killed by racist vigilantes on February 23.

Employment report understates total job losses

San José, CA – On Friday, May 8, the U.S. Department of Labor released their monthly Employment Report for the month of April. The report said that the official unemployment rate soared from 4.4% in March to 14.7% in April, a jump of more than 10% in just one month. This is the highest monthly unemployment rate on records going back to 1948, and the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s when unemployment peaked at about 25%.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Coalition to Advance a People’s Agenda.

Michael Lucas, editor of Northstar Compass and leader of the International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with the Soviet People, died in Toronto on May 4. He was 94.

New Orleans, LA – On May 4, a coalition of Louisiana’s transgender community organizers extended a solidarity grant to activist sisters and siblings in Uganda. The gesture makes clear that trans and gender non-conforming (TGNC) people are standing together against coronavirus all around the world.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

Chicago, IL – 500 cars from around Chicago converged on the State of Illinois Building as Governor J.B. Pritzker held his daily COVID-19 press briefing May 7. The horns could be heard clearly from inside the building.

On May 8, 1945, at 11:01 pm Central European Time – already May 9 in the USSR – the German surrender took effect, ending World War II in Europe. The war with Germany and her fellow members of what we now call fascist allies in Europe – Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Slovakia and Finland – had already claimed the lives of perhaps 50 million people. In the ensuing years, oceans of ink have been spilled by right-wing historians and polemicists in an attempt to distort or even minimize the significance of this date. The purpose of this rewriting of history is in some cases to defend fascism, but in many more it is simply to diminish the prestige of the Soviet Union, the first socialist state. We think it is appropriate to call to mind a few facts.

Minneapolis, MN – The Twin Cities Anti-War Committee sent a letter to Minnesota’s Representative Ilhan Omar, May 6, urging her to withdraw her support for a letter that furthers AIPAC’s lobbying efforts to continue sanctions against Iran.

Los Angeles, CA – The violent attack happened on April 27. The video released was not caught on LAPD Hollenbeck patrol vehicles, nor on body cameras. Instead the video was recorded by a neighbor witness in Boyle Heights.

Madison, WI – On a sunny May 1 afternoon which marked both May Day and A Day Without Immigrants, a caravan comprised of about 20 different vehicles made its way to the Capitol Square in a careful procession in support of a timely cause.