Milwaukee, WI – On November 4, more than 150 protestors joined the march and car caravan put on by Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR). The protestors joined up at Sherman Park, an important landmark in Milwaukee that experienced an uprising against police violence in 2016. Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES) set up a table for letter writing, to demand justice for “ThEE ThrEE”, two men and one child shot and killed by the same Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah.

Speakers from El Pueblo and the Party for Socialism and Liberation echoed demands for COVID resources and an end to evictions. Teamsters Locals 344 and Local 200 came out with a “Black lives matter” banner to stand in solidarity with the fight against police crimes. Members from the Young Workers Committee of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council were also there to show support for MAARPR’s demands.

The group of various organizations marched to the Milwaukee District 1 Police Department to demand police accountability and a civilian police accountability council, or CPAC. On the way to District 1, the route snaked through working-class neighborhoods on Milwaukee’s predominantly Black Northside, prompting community members to join the march in unity with the demands.

At District 1 PD, a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Lauryn Cross, gave a speech highlighting the need for people’s power and revolution.

“Here at Freedom Road Socialist Organization we understand the need for monumental change. And that is done by building people’s movements in the streets to force change. Power isn’t given, it is something that must be taken,” Cross said. “Building organized power in your own communities, in the streets, in your workplace is the only way to advance a struggle so powerful that it makes the need for revolution irresistible.”

The march ended at Dontre Hamilton Park, the community’s name for Red Arrow Park, where Hamilton, a Black man, was shot and killed by Christopher Manney in 2014. A moment of silence was had in remembrance of Hamilton before the event ended.

#MilwaukeeWI #ImmigrantRights #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #US #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #Elections #2020Election #MilwaukeeAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #PostElectionProtestForAPeoplesMandate

Los Angeles, CA – More than 3 million voted by mail and in person on November 3 in Los Angeles. District Attorney Jackie Lacey was defeated in a hard-fought race for district attorney of Los Angeles County, the most populous in the United States. Reform candidate George Gascon beat Lacey.

For the past three years, Black Lives Matter-LA has led weekly protest rallies at the ‘Hall of Injustice’ office demanding prosecution of killer cops and chanting, “Jackie Lacey must go! Jackie Lacey will go!” The weekly protests were attended by many Black and Chicano families whose sons and daughters have been killed by LAPD, LA Sheriffs and other local police departments. Many organizations joined this campaign including members and families from Centro CSO, based in Boyle Heights. Centro CSO members also organized a very successful rally and get-out-the-vote rally in East LA on October 25 asking voters to oust Trump and DA Lacey and vote for LA Measure J, which also won. Measure J will allocate 10% of the large LA County budget for human social needs, not more for police and jails.

In the past eight years, with over 600 mostly Black and Chicano young men killed, DA Lacey has only prosecuted one cop. She also pushed for the death penalty and led to the mass incarceration of Blacks and Chicanos. She was given millions for her campaigns by the LAPD Police Protective League, the Association Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs and the District Attorney's organization, which also threatened to not support winning candidate George Gascon. In fact, Gascon did win by calling for an independent department to investigate police killings and opposing the death penalty.

On Election Day, November 3, in Boyle Heights at Salesian High School and Boyle Heights Senior Center, the Chicano voters came in a steady stream. At the historic Salazar Park in East Los Angeles, lines of voters waited to enter the gym to vote. Centro CSO members handed out literature saying “Afuera con Lacey” and “Lacey must go” to warm reception.

Centro CSO united with BLM-LA since its beginning five years ago and to promote Black and brown solidarity. Centro CSO continuously supported the Jackie Lacey must go campaign. Lawn signs were put up in major street intersections of Boyle Heights and ELA with the slogan “DA Jackie Lacey must go.” The group White People 4 Black Lives put up giant billboards with pictures of young Chicanos killed by LAPD and LA Sheriffs like Jesse Romero and Anthony Vargas.

On November 4, an enthusiastic victory rally was held in front of the Hall of Injustice to shouts of “Jackie Lacey, you are gone.” Black and Chicano mothers spoke of their loved ones killed by LA-area police and celebrated the defeat of Lacey. BLM-LA activists Melina Abdullah, Akili, Jan, Tabatha, Joseph and many more greeted the joyous multinational crowd. BLM-LA asked Carlos Montes of Centro CSO to speak at the rally. He greeted the crowd with chants of “Jackie Lacey is gone, now Trump must get out now.” He urged the protestors to continue the struggle against racist police killings.

“We voted, we organized,” said Montes. “Now we will continue to build a movement in the workplace, in the community and schools to build a movement for revolution in this country while we support people abroad fighting against the U.S. empire.”

This is a victory for the Black and Chicano families, BLM-LA, WP4BL and the many groups that supported the long, hard campaign to oust the pro-cop, now former, DA Jackie Lacey.

Centro CSO is proud to be part of this struggle and will continue to fight and demand community control of police, jailing of killer cops and an end to police killings of Blacks and Chicanos as we fight for Chicano self-determination. As Black Lives Matter-LA leaders like Melina Abdullah proclaim, we are building a struggle for liberation! Join Centro CSO.

#LosAngelesCA #OppressedNationalities #US #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #Elections #2020Election #LosAngelesDistrictAttorneyJackieLacey #GeorgeGascon

Trump learned a lot back in 2000 when the Supreme Court used ‘hanging chads’ to declare Bush the president. Like Bush, Trump will stop at nothing, purging Black voters from election rolls, forcing voters to stand in line for hours at the polls, slowing the U.S. mail and refusing to count mail-in ballots.

Together the people must unleash a storm of struggle! If voting is not doing it, then it is time to take it to the streets – we need rallies and marches of working-class and oppressed people, with our allies, advancing democratic demands and challenging this system.

Four years ago, protesting Trump’s inauguration in Washington D.C., the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) Political Secretary Steff Yorek declared, “Our goal is to make the country ungovernable for Trump and the Republicans.” The next day the Women’s March was the largest mass protest in U.S. history. Trump immediately launched attack after attack, and people resisted these with growing numbers of protests.

We have done everything in our power to fan the flames of this resistance, from airport protests slamming Trump’s Muslim ban, to rallies at ICE offices denouncing immigrant children locked in cages, to promoting and leading the growing number of strikes by workers, to opposing Trump attacks on LGBTQ+ people. After the righteous anger of widespread militant protests against the gruesome Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd, it is safe to say there are more people standing up and fighting back in our country than any time since the early 1970s. Say it with us, “Stand up! Fight back!”

So what is next? We are organizing people to keep it in the streets. If Trump refuses to leave, we will need to do things like demand that local, county and state governments refuse to recognize him and act against him. Literally make the country ungovernable.

We have worked to meet Trump’s attacks with unity and people power solidarity! When the people force Trump to concede, it will be a very happy day! Then we advance to the next phase of struggle.

Regardless of how Trump leaves office, our next target is a president who also dances to the tune of Wall Street bankers.

With the economic and health crisis ongoing, we cannot return to the old ways of doing things. With Biden in office, little is going to change unless we demand it and back it up with people power, including the organized forces of the working class. Biden is not going to save us. We must initiate the changes we want through our own movements and with leadership consciously acting independently of both parties of Wall Street.

Biden’s record is clear; he pushed poor people off welfare, he locked up Black men and others at record numbers, and he enthusiastically went to war against countries and peoples that Wall Street considered too independent or too strong. To make change, we need to advance a people’s agenda like the one at the March on the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, August, 2020.

Of the many reforms people want, like immigrant rights and reversing climate change, three stand out. We immediately need health care for all to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. We need extended and expanded unemployment (Bring back the $600 now!) to pay rent and bills. Most importantly, we need to end police killings and police terror with community control of the police.

The fact is that we need to be rid of Trump. His brand of brutality and reaction is not only a concrete threat to real people’s lives; the constant loss of ground is an impediment to making progress on many issues, with the potential to demoralize the rising tide of struggle. That said, we are not confused about the nature of Biden or that fact that reforms do not go far enough. Working and oppressed people cannot get our dreams and aspirations met within the existing system – we need something different and better.

If you read Fight Back! for news, then you know we are building movements, trying to win immediate demands, all the while asking organizers and activists to build the fight for revolution by signing up with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Turn your righteous anger into meaningful activism for revolution, socialism and liberation. Join the FRSO.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #PoorPeoplesMovements #StudentMovement #InJusticeSystem #Labor #OppressedNationalities #WomensMovement #LGBTQ #US #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #HousingStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice #Antiracism #Elections #2020Election

“Our main goal as a group is to defeat Donald Trump. He is the key figure in promoting racist killings of Black, Latino and indigenous people, whether by vigilantes or the police,” said Ryan Hamann, one of the co-chairs of the Coalition.

Hamann continued, “But we need to also be clear in demanding that Joe Biden and the Democrats stop these killer cops who operate in Democrat-controlled cities like right here in Milwaukee. We must continue to build the people’s movements, especially against police crimes and for community control of the police.”

The Coalition is working to unite the families of victims of killer cops, particularly in Milwaukee and the surrounding areas, to attend and speak at the event on August 20.

The Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression, a member organization of the Coalition, is an integral part in the fight for justice for victims of killer cops locally. They’ve led or participated in many of the actions demanding justice for “Thee Three” – Alvin Cole, Jay Anderson and Antonio Gonzales.

“What we’re hoping to do during the DNC is shine a spotlight on the fact that killer cops exist everywhere, whether it’s a big city like Milwaukee or a small town like Oshkosh. We want to bring together as many families as possible from across Wisconsin,” said Lauryn Cross, a leader with the Milwaukee Alliance.

“We want to make sure their cases get the national attention and pressure that they deserve. Cops are killing Black, Latino and indigenous people without consequence. They’re occupying our communities all across the country. We can’t breathe,” said Cross.

#MilwaukeeWI #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #InJusticeSystem #Labor #OppressedNationalities #WomensMovement #LGBTQ #US #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #HousingStruggles #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #Elections #CoalitionToMarchOnTheDNC #2020Election #JoeBiden

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention.

On April 8, Senator Bernie Sanders suspended his 2020 Democratic primary campaign. The Sanders campaign has inspired millions of working class and oppressed people, including an overwhelming majority of young people. The movement-building emphasis of the Sanders campaign is what truly sets it apart from anything seen in the U.S. since perhaps Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition in the 1980s.

What Sanders’s candidacy demonstrated again in 2020 is that working and oppressed people in the U.S. want more than what they’ve been afforded under the current system. His candidacy has solidified the fact that the change that people here so desperately need cannot come from the electoral arena. The ruling class who is in control of these mechanisms will not allow a self-proclaimed socialist to attain the highest office in government. However, this exact thing is why Sanders’ insistence on a mass movement of people is so significant.

History has shown that only when masses of people have united around demands, organized themselves into movements, and demonstrated for their causes in workplaces, on campuses, and in communities across the country have they ever been able to win change. The Coalition to March on the DNC exists to bring together as many of those progressive movements as possible in an effort to demonstrate the kind of future that is necessary for the masses of working and oppressed people in the U.S.

We have always sought to build the broadest possible coalition, whether that means revolutionary organizations, non-profits, labor organizations, or any other element within the people’s movements. Most of our points of unity can be connected to the types of things that Bernie has been promoting for his entire life. The Coalition to March on the DNC is a natural landing spot for his supporters who want to keep building the people’s movements.

Defeating Donald Trump is going to be on the minds of most people heading into November. Doing this in a practical sense can take a number of different forms. While some will look to the ballot box as the only option, others will work to develop broader networks, building stronger bases in their workplaces, communities and schools, and seek to challenge Trump and his reactionary policies more directly.

Bernie has always been clear about one thing: regardless of who it is that occupies the White House, without a mass movement at the grassroots level, nothing meaningful will be accomplished. The Coalition to March on the DNC as a temporary alliance of the various people’s movements serves as the most immediate extension of this call to continue organizing.

The start of the DNC has been moved from July 13 to August 17 due to the coronavirus. The Coalition intends to lead a mass demonstration within sight and sound of the Fiserv Forum, including a rally with many speakers and a march. The event will begin at 10 a.m. on Monday, August 17, the first day of the convention. All progressives, socialists and people’s movements are encouraged to make plans to join the Coalition to March on the DNC in Milwaukee this summer. For more information, please visit the Coalition’s website at www.marchondnc.org.

#UnitedStates #US #PeoplesStruggles #Elections #BernieSanders #DonaldTrump #CoalitionToMarchOnTheDNC #2020Election

Jess Sundin, a leader in the fight against police crimes says, “Amy Klobuchar is a racist. When she was Hennepin County District Attorney, she always sided with law enforcement against the interests of community members. She never charged a single cop in 40 cases of police murder of civilians. She sent an African American child, Myon Burrell, to prison for life, despite evidence that he was not involved in the crime she prosecuted him for.”

Sundin continued, “The people of Hennepin County, especially Black and brown folks, know that Klobuchar has always believed we are guilty until proven innocent, and has never heard a police lie that she didn’t believe. She used her injustices against our communities as fodder for her senate campaign, and she’s still doing that in her run for the White House. I hope anyone who opposes racism will join me in opposing Klobuchar for president.”

Another Minnesota activist with nothing good to say about Amy Klobuchar is Wyatt Miller, of the Twin Cities-based Anti-War Committee. Miller states, “From her moves to criminalize the BDS movement [Boycott, Divest and Sanction, against the apartheid Israeli government], to her support for neo-Nazi militias in Ukraine, to her outrageous claims that Trump hasn’t gone far enough in his dangerous attempts to provoke a new Cold War with China, Amy Klobuchar wants us to know that she represents the interests of U.S. war hawks and imperialists. As a prosecutor, she sided with the FBI’s repression of anti-war activists, including several here in Minnesota. Peace and justice-loving voters should reject her candidacy as a continuation of the violent status quo.”

#MinneapolisMN #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #US #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #PoliticalPrisoners #Minnesota #PoliticalRepression #Elections #AmyKlobuchar #2020Election