Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

AfricanAmerican

By Robyn Harbison

Car caravan in Saint Paul, Minnesota calls for solidarity with all oppressed peoples. | Fight Back! News/Photo credit: KingDemetrius Pendleton \[studio at the George Floyd Square 3730 Chicago Avenue Minneapolis Minnesota 55407\]

St. Paul, MN – On January 13, about 250 people gathered in below-zero temperatures to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. weekend by participating in a car caravan, followed by a rally at the State Capitol.

Near the Saint Paul Western District Police Department, surrounded by strip malls, protesters called for no business as usual during a genocide, as drivers and passengers decorated cars with signs carrying slogans like “Solidarity with all oppressed peoples” and “Justice for Marcus Golden! Murdered by SPPD nine years ago!”

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By Antonia Mar

Marchers take to the streets on MLK Day in New Orleans. | Fight Back! News/Hayden Legg

New Orleans, LA – On Monday, January 15 on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police (NOCOP) hosted an MLK Fight Back March starting at A.L. Davis Park at noon. About 100 members of the community came out in attendance, even marching in the rain as showers briefly passed over the demonstration.

They chanted “New Orleans, we’re on a roll, we’re fighting for community control!” as they took the streets down Claiborne Avenue and MLK Boulevard.

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By Loretta VanPelt

Left: Speakers Jae Yates and Sabry Wazwaz. Right: Event attendees. | Fight Back! News/staff

Minneapolis, MN – 150 people gathered at Redeemer Lutheran Church in North Minneapolis on January 4 to listen to an in-depth discussion about the link of the Black liberation struggle and the struggle for liberation in Palestine.

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By Joe Iosbaker

Participants in the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression conference.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Chicago, IL – Celebrating 50 years since it was founded in Chicago, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR), gathered here again, November 3-5.

The National Alliance is new wine in an old wine skin. Executive Director Frank Chapman, the legendary Angela Davis, and a small band of movement veterans from the 1970s and 1980s were surrounded mainly by a sea of college and even high school students, young workers, Gen Z and Millennials. Most of the conference attendees were Black, Latino, Arab, Asian and Pacific Islanders.

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By staff

Seattle SDS demands the University of Washington increase oppressed nationality student enrollment.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Seattle, WA – On Thursday, October 5, the Progressive Student Union at the University of Washington held a rally to begin a campaign to increase enrollment of Black, Latino and native students at the university. Over 20 students gathered at the steps of Suzzallo Library to demonstrate their support for the demands.

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By Eric Struch

Mayor Johnson presents Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. and Mama Akua N'Jeri with a pro

Chicago, IL – Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. has spent his entire life fighting to carry forward the revolutionary legacy of the Black Panther Party. Chairman Fred Hampton Sr. was assassinated in hail of bullets from a combined Chicago Police Department, FBI, Illinois States Attorney’s Office death squad on December 4, 1969. The 4:30 a.m. raid was part of a nationwide counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO) against the Black Panther Party and other revolutionary organizations.

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By Regina Joseph

Tallahassee, FL – On Saturday, August 5, several racist white patrons fucked around found out when they attempted to publicly lynch an African American dock worker who asked the groups of whites to move their tugboat. The tugboat was in the way of a riverboat, the Harriott II, trying to dock. The thugs began raining down blows on the African American dock worker, who fought back but was outnumbered. Then, over a dozen African Americans rushed towards the pier and handed down one of the most viral asswhoppings of all time. The event, now dubbed by many on social media as Alabama Sweet Tea Party, Augustteenth, and Bloody Saturday (reminiscent of Blood Sunday), is inspiring hope, laughs and memes.

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By David Jones

Atlanta, GA – Hundreds of Black organizers from across the country convened in Atlanta, June 23-25, for the “National Black Radical Organizing Conference” organized by Community Movement Builders. With the theme of “Unity in Our Lifetime,” the conference linked the struggle for self-determination to the Pan-African movement, uniting organizers both old and new around the demand for Black liberation in our lifetime.

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By staff

Ben Frazier

Jacksonville, FL – Hundreds gathered Tuesday afternoon, June 27,in downtown’s James Weldon Johnson Park across from City Hall to remember Ben Frazier, a well-known civil rights activist and elder in Jacksonville, Florida who passed away this past Saturday, June 24, after a bout with cancer.

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By staff

Milwaukee vigil for George Floyd.

Milwaukee, WI – Thursday, May 25 marked the three-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder by killer cop Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis. George Floyd’s murder sparked a rebellion in which millions took to the streets in the U.S. and around the world. His murder resonated in Milwaukee, a city with countless victims of police crimes. To commemorate George Floyd and all victims of police crimes in Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR) organized a vigil.

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