On the evening of October 19, a number of organizations gathered at Belo Garden Park in Dallas, Texas, for a vigil for Atatiana Jefferson and other victims of state violence. Atatiana Jefferson was murdered in her home while playing video games with her niece by Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean on October 12, 2019. The vigil also commemorated others killed by state violence in the U.S. and abroad.

On the evening of October 19, a number of organizations gathered at Belo Garden Park in Dallas, Texas, for a vigil for Atatiana Jefferson and other victims of state violence. Atatiana Jefferson was murdered in her home while playing video games with her niece by Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean on October 12, 2019. The vigil also commemorated others killed by state violence in the U.S. and abroad.

Chicago, IL – One year after playing a leading role in the George Floyd Rebellion that swept the U.S. in the summer of 2020, the Black-led National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression is convening again in Chicago. The storied organization, originally founded in 1973 from the National Committee to Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners, was reestablished in November 2019. According to Frank Chapman, Executive Director of NAARPR, “We have 13 cities in which there is organizing against police crimes and for community control of the police.”

Not the change we need

Just last year, the halls of power in Minnesota shook when people answered the murder of George Floyd by rising up. We marched on the State Capitol, the county attorney, the state attorney general, the police federation and the interstate highways. Day and night, for weeks on end, we faced riot police, tear gas, National Guard troops and white supremacists. The Third Precinct police station was burned, as were hundreds of other buildings. And fires here sparked protests across the world and transformed the political landscape.

College Station, TX – On September 16, Students for a Democratic Society at Texas A&M University held a protest against the continued presence of a Confederate statue on their campus, racial profiling in the surrounding community, and how TAMU continually fails to meet the needs of Black students on campus.

Desde 2013 cuando la Corte Suprema con mayoría conservadora debilitó la Ley de Derecho al Voto de 1965, Republicanos y derechistas han intentado pasar más y más restricciones jurídicas al voto. El objetivo principal de estos esfuerzos es reprimir los votos de afroamericanos, quienes llevan mucho tiempo luchando en contra del racismo del Partido Republicano moderno. Estos esfuerzos han incrementado tras la derrota electoral de Donald Trump en las elecciones presidenciales del 2020 y la victoria de un senador afroamericano en Georgia. Las mentiras de Trump y sus aliados acerca de fraude electoral se han unido a la campaña para suprimir el voto. Su objetivo no es solamente ganar las elecciones del 2022 y 2024 sino también establecer la fundación para anular futuras elecciones si los resultados no les convienen. La supresión del voto de afroamericanos, chicanos y otras nacionalidades oprimidas es el enfoque de estos esfuerzos.

Ever since the Supreme Court conservative majority weakened the 1965 Voting Rights Act in 2013, Republicans and the right wing have tried to pass more and more legal restrictions on voting. The main aim of these efforts is to suppress the votes of African Americans, who have long fought the racism and reaction of the modern Republican Party. These efforts redoubled in the wake of the 2020 elections with Donald Trump’s loss in the presidential race, and the election of one African American senator from Georgia. Trump and his allies’ lies about voter fraud have merged with this campaign for voter suppression. Their goal is not just to try to win elections in 2022 and 2024, but to lay the basis for trying to overturn future elections if the outcome is not to their liking. Disenfranchising as many African Americans, Chicanos and other oppressed nationalities is at the center of their efforts to turn the clock back.

New Orleans, LA – On August 29, at 11:55 a.m., Hurricane Ida made landfall on the Louisiana coast. The storm arrived on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Like then, working class, Black, and indigenous Louisianans are least able to evacuate and suffer the most damages.

Kenosha WI – On August 21, members of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression joined in a Kenosha rally and march marking the first anniversary of the attempted murder of an African American man, Jacob Blake. Blake, a Kenosha resident, had stopped to break up a fight one year before. When police arrived at the scene to respond to a resident’s call, they immediately assumed Blake was at fault, and seven shots were fired into his back. Blake was paralyzed from the waist down due to this attack. The incident led to what is now known as the Kenosha Uprising.

Jacksonville, FL – Around 40 community members, led by the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) came out to Jacksonville City Hall July 27 to rally and demand a People’s Budget before the city council meeting started.

New York, NY – Over 150 people gathered June 24 demanding urgent action to address the epidemic of violence facing Black trans women.

San Jose, CA – On the evening of June 5, 250 protesters gathered at the San Jose City Hall for another vigil for Demetrius Stanley. Stanley was killed on the night of May 31, after attempting to defend his home from two plainclothes police officers, who never announced themselves as police to him.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR).

On May 25, 2020, the world watched in horror and anger as George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. This was the spark that ignited uprisings and massive protests across the United States and around the world. While a hated symbol of the police went up in flames, people from coast to coast were confronting the police, who tried and failed to repress the protest.

Chicago, IL – The murder of George Floyd and the massive rebellion and protest that followed are the most remembered images of 2020. Unfortunately, images of Black people being lynched and murdered by white people in and out of uniform have been the most haunting images of American history. But the images of rebellion in 2020, of millions of people throughout the USA and the world rising up against racist police repression – and the system of oppression that police tyranny serves and protects – have inspired new hope and courage in the struggle for Black liberation.

Milwaukee, WI – On April 24, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression hosted a press conference to publicly announce their campaign to change the name of Lindbergh Park to Lucille Berrien Park and fund the renaming by defunding the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s overtime budget.

St. Paul, MN – On April 14, union members from many unions across the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area heard reports that the National Guard was using the Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation (SPRLF) building as a staging area to carry out their repression campaign against protesters calling for justice for Daunte Wright.