Chicago, IL – Frank Chapman is Field Organizer for the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, a leading organization in the fight against police crimes in Chicago. The Alliance created the legislation for the elected, Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) that is gaining support among progressive candidates for the Chicago city council. The Alliance also has led the mobilization of over 400 people since the Sept. 5 start of the trial of Jason Van Dyke, who shot Laquan McDonald 16 times in October 2014.
Tampa, FL – Tampa activists protested at a Tampa area funeral home, Sept. 21, the location of the remains of torturer Jon Burge. The protesters demanded that the torture victims of Jon Burge be freed. They also called for the conviction of killer-cop Jason Van Dyke.
Black liberation is a not a state of mind that can be characterized as “Black Marxism” or the “Black Radical Tradition.” Nonetheless, there is an ideological need to settle accounts on this question of the identity between the “Black Radical Tradition” and Marxism.
Chicago, IL – The memory of murdered Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, Sr. was marked at a “Streetz Party,” August 30, at 2337 W. Chairman Fred Hampton Way (also known as Monroe Street), the site of his martyrdom. Chairman Fred Hampton, Sr. would have been 70 years old on August 30 of this year.
Chicago, IL – 300 people came out to rally for justice for Laquan McDonald, Sept. 5, at the courthouse at 26th and California to mark the opening of the first-degree murder trial of police officer Jason Van Dyke.
Minneapolis, MN – A rally coinciding with the opening day of the Chicago murder trial of Jason Van Dyke, the white cop who killed Laquan McDonald, took place in north Minneapolis, Sept 5. The protest was one of many taking place across the U.S. to demand justice for Laquan McDonald and community control of the police. The rally was organized by the Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice 4 Jamar.
Minneapolis, MN – A solidarity rally demanding justice for Laquan McDonald has been called for Sept. 5, at 6 p.m. on Broadway and Fremont Avenues in north Minneapolis.
Tampa, FL – Members from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) from the Universities of South Florida (USF) and North Florida (UNF) held a Black Lives Matter event, Aug. 30, at the campus of USF. The rally was in direct response to the numerous instances of racist incidents and white supremacy on campus, including the placement of white-supremacist flyers on the MLK Jr. statue at the university, as well as the writings of racial slurs in a residential hall. The lack of acknowledgment and confrontation towards these problems by university administrators prompted members of SDS to demand accountability from USF.
Jacksonville, FL – It was a very violent weekend in Jacksonville. There was a shooting at the Raines High School versus Lee High School football game on Friday, August 24, and the following day, August 25, there was a shooting at the Jacksonville Landing during a video game tournament, leaving families and friends all over the city mourning. The Jacksonville city council typically meets the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month, and although rescheduled due to voting in the statewide primaries, the city council meeting on Wednesday, August 29 was attended by many angry community members and activists that wanted answers.
Minneapolis, MN – Minister Toya Woodland, her son and supporters held a press conference and speak-out at the Hennepin County Government Center, August 21, to demand that the charges against her be dropped. Woodland faces charges of terroristic threats, simply for being a mother standing up for her son against systemic racism.
Jacksonville, FL – Over the next month, the Jacksonville City Council will review and vote on Mayor Lenny Curry’s proposed $1.3 billion budget for 2018-2019. With mayoral elections less than a year away, Curry hopes his budget will pass the Council and pave the way for his second term in office.
Tallahassee, FL – Last weekend, Nia Wilson, an 18-year-old African American woman was brutally murdered by a white man, John Lee Cowell, in an Oakland, California Bay Area Rapid Transit station. Cowell also stabbed Nia’s sister, Malika Harris, who has been released from the hospital.
Jacksonville, FL – About 150 people came out to a Trans Lives Matter rally, June 27, in front of Jacksonville courthouse to demand justice. The event was sponsored by many organizations including Jacksonville Community Action Committee, Coalition for Consent, Jacksonville Transgender Action Committee, Equality Florida, and Transgender Awareness Project. This rally was to honor the lives of the three black transgender women murdered here in Jacksonville.
Minneapolis, MN – Around 300 people protested outside the Fourth Precinct police building in North Minneapolis, June 24, to speak out against the cops who killed Thurman Blevins the night before.
Oshkosh, WI – On June 16, United Action Oshkosh (UAO) hosted a celebration of the Juneteenth holiday. Roughly 30 people from the area attended the event where UAO offered free food and drinks, provided an extensive selection of music, and some works celebrating important Black and African historical figures, ranging from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Thomas Sankara.
Chicago, IL – Karl Marx was born May 5, 1818 in the town of Trier, Prussia. He was not born into a revolutionary family but he was born in revolutionary times, in the wake of the French Revolution and the decline of the Prussian Empire. The French Revolution came to Trier during the Napoleonic wars. It tore the city out of the Holy Roman Empire and for two decades before the birth of Marx, it replaced the feudal society, with its chartered privileges, with a government in which all citizens were equal under the law. It was a turbulent period in which all the old, feudal orders of Europe were trembling in the face of bourgeois led popular revolutions.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following April 16, 1968 statement from Mao Zedong on the assassination of Martin Luther King.Statement by Comrade Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, in Support of the Afro-American Struggle Against Violent Repression
Chicago, IL – A prominent leader of the movement against police crimes, Frank Chapman, of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, condemned the March 27 decision by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry to not prosecute the Baton Rouge, Louisiana cops who murdered Alton Sterling in July 2016.
