Denver, CO – On Saturday, April 27, the Auraria Encampment for Palestine entered its third day. Despite police violence and the arrest of 44 protesters the day before, campers were in high spirits to continue.

The encampment is organized by Students for a Democratic Society with community support from the Colorado Palestine Coalition. Throughout the day, hundreds of students, faculty and community supporters spent time at the camp. At 1 p.m., there was a rally featuring speakers from SDS, supportive city council members, and veteran organizers from groups such as the American Indian Movement.

“When we went to the United Nations to develop an indigenous people’s presence at the UN in the 1970s and the 1980s, our greatest ally was the Palestine Liberation Organization,” said Dr. Glenn Morris, a professor at CU Denver.

Morris continued, “Those people in Boulder, those people in Colorado Springs, at DU, at Regis, there should be this on every campus – they don’t have enough cops to deal with all that!”

Then the encampment received a visit from Angela Davis, founder of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression(NAARPR) and national leader of Black liberation movement since the 1960s. “As a person who has been active in the movement to develop solidarity with Palestine since the 1960s, this is the movement we’ve all been waiting for,” said Davis to thunderous applause.

SDSers who had just been released from jail from the previous days’ arrests, returned to the camp immediately after release to speak to the crowd. By the end of the night, the encampment had grown significantly, and protesters celebrated one more night of maintaining the camp.

#DenverCO #CO #StudentMovement #SDS #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #NAARPR #AngelaDavis #Occupy4Gaza #Feature

The organizers’ main objectives for this conference are to continue to build the struggle for police accountability as well as stand in solidarity with the movement to free political prisoners. So far over 60 organizations from Florida to California have endorsed this conference and are slated to attend. At the conference, those attending will be hearing from activists in various movements, including addresses from Angela Davis as well as Chicago community leader Frank Chapman, Field Organizer from the CAARPR. Attendees will also hear from the families of police crime survivors and Chicago police torture victim families. There will be workshops ranging from building strategies for community control of the police to the fight against racist and anti-LGBTQ violence.

It hasn’t been since the Black Lives Matter conference in Cleveland, Ohio in 2015 that have we seen a conference dedicated to gathering so many activists in the Black freedom and other movements. As of July of this year, over 487 people have been killed by police. In 2018 that number was 992 and in 2017, 987, according to the Washington Post data on police shootings. These senseless killings show the need for radical reform and why it’s important to align all progressive forces that can be united to build a national fightback against police crimes.

“We are expecting hundreds of attendees and various fighters of the Black liberation movement, labor movement, movement to free political prisoners, along with other movements fighting for democracy and civil rights, to attend the reestablishing of the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression,” said Frank Chapman of the CAARPR. “This conference will put forth a national agenda to win community control and fight for democracy in all movements.”

To register for the conference: https://naarpr.org/product/refounding-conference-registration/

#ChicagoIL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #PoliticalPrisoners #AngelaDavis #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #CAARPR #NAARPR

Chicago, IL – Longtime leader in the Black liberation movement and the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Frank Chapman, condemned the January 4 decision of the Alabama-based Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to abruptly cancel their plan to present Angela Davis with the Fred Shuttlesworth Award. Fred Shuttlesworth was a prominent leader in the civil rights movement.

Chapman stated, “Angela Davis and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth were dearest friends and co-leaders in the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression at the same time that I served as its executive director.”

“It is very shameful and cowardly that she is being denied an award that bears the name of Fred Shuttlesworth because she opposed the racist, Zionist regime in Israel for their continued persecution of Palestinian freedom fighter Rasmea Odeh. This particular U.S. cultural center dishonors Fred Shutlesworth, Angela Davis and our movement,” continued Chapman.

According to a statement from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, because of “Ms. Davis’ statements and public record, we concluded that she unfortunately does not meet all of the criteria on which the award is based.”

Organizations supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestine have been waging a vendetta campaign against political figures who demanded justice for veteran Palestinian American activist Rasmea Odeh. A powerful movement that brought together Palestinians and progressive people across the U.S. prevented her imprisonment on trumped-up charges, but she was deported.

#ChicagoIL #International #AntiwarMovement #InJusticeSystem #Palestine #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #Israel #AngelaDavis #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #FrankChapman #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression

Chicago, IL – Nearly 700 Chicagoans united to celebrate the coming home of over three dozen wrongfully convicted torture survivors during the People Power Weekend, hosted by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression on June 16 and 17.

On June 16, 100 community members gathered at Trinity United Church of Christ to hear powerful testimonies from police torture survivors about the horrendous abuse inflicted by Chicago Police Department officers. The following day, a crowd of 600 people returned to Trinity U.C.C. to welcome home the released torture victims and demand an all-elected Civilian Police Accountability Council in Chicago.

The Welcome Home Rally featured keynote speaker Dr. Angela Davis, former co-chairperson of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and lifelong activist and prison abolitionist. Davis spoke about the history of the Alliance, the connections between racism and violence, police crimes and the elephant in the room: capitalism. She called for the abolition of the criminal justice system because it is beyond reform. Davis also specifically mentioned the struggle for Palestinian liberation as the “model for freedom struggle to the rest of the world” and called for international solidarity to strengthen national liberation movements. She noted, “The Alliance has always worked in support of Palestine, most recently against the deportation of Rasmea Odeh.”

Davis closed out her remarks by stating despite Chicago’s “difficult stories,” the city “represents hope” and said, “the city is a great place to be if you are a radical activist.” “This is the place to be if you want to bring about change in this country.”

Other speakers included Armanda Shackleford, mother of Gerald Reed and Alliance member for nearly 20 years. Shackleford spoke about how Chicago Police detectives brutalized her son and forced him to sign a false confession, leading to his 27-year incarceration. Barbara Ransby (Resist Reimagine Rebuild Coalition), Aislinn Pulley (Black Lives Matter-Chicago), and Michael Brunson (Chicago Teachers Union) were also speakers.

The People’s Forum on Police Crimes and Torture, held on June 16, featured an 11-person panel of torture survivors and their families. Panelists included La Tanya Sublett, a woman tortured by Detective Jon Burge who was beaten to the point of miscarriage; Enrique Valdez, a torture survivor who became emotional discussing the night he was brutalized by Detective Kenneth Boudreau; and Tyrone Williams, a torture survivor who was recently held incommunicado by Judge Vincent Gaughn for speaking one word during a Jason Van Dyke hearing in March. The survivors spoke with great difficulty as they recounted their experiences with detectives using methods like electrocution and physical assault.

All of the panelists were CPAC supporters and spoke about the need for community control of the police in order to end police torture. Bertha Escamilla, the mother of police torture survivor Nick Escamilla, said, “We need to make sure something is done to these police officers. If CPAC was around when my son was tortured, none of this would have happened because they would’ve been in jail instead of our sons.”

People Power Weekend comes weeks after the Community Discussions About Civilian Oversight, five hearings held by the Public Safety Committee of the city council to discuss four pieces of police accountability legislation. CPAC dominated the discussion, receiving the most support from community members and activist at every hearing.

Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression Field Organizer Frank Chapman calls these developments historic, stating, “We must now muster new forces and harness this new energy our movement has created to storm the citadels of power and begin the liberation of our communities from the powers that be.”

#ChicagoIL #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #AngelaDavis #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #ChicagoAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression

![Armanda Shackleford speaking](https://i.snap.as/MfeGwaPk.jpg “Armanda Shackleford speaking Armanda Shackleford speaking at hearing on the civilian component of the police accountability system in Chicago. She is the mother of Gerald Reed, tortured into confessing 27 years ago by members of the gang of cops under Detective Jon Burge.

(Photo by Mike Siviwe Elliott)”)

Chicago, IL – In the past two years in Chicago, over 50 cases of wrongful convictions have been thrown out of court, and most of the Black and Latino men involved have walked out of prison, or had their charges dismissed. These cases have been overturned because of the exposure of crimes by officers of the Chicago Police Department, including many cases of people’s confessions that were exacted through torture. According to attorneys involved in these cases, there are hundreds more that will be making their way through the courts in the coming years.

These victories are happening because of years of struggle by the families of the victims, and by the movement against police crimes that emerged in the past five years, along with the wave of protests of the Black Lives Matter movement. The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression is hosting a Welcome Home Rally for the men and their families on June 17, Father’s Day, at the historic Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago’s South Side. The keynote speaker will be Angela Davis, the best-known spokesperson for the prison abolition movement.

Among guests speaking at the event will be the Professor Barbara Ransby of the Resist, Reimagine, Rebuild Coalition; and Alderman Carlos Ramirez Rosa, who sponsored the bill in Chicago City Council to create an elected, civilian police accountability council (CPAC). Then there will be well-known torture survivors or their family members, including Jaime Hauad, recently released from prison after 21 years; Esther Hernandez, whose sons Juan and Rosendo are wrongfully imprisoned by the dirty cop Reynaldo Guevara; and Armanda Shackleford, whose son Gerald Reed has done 27 years, a torture victim of the Jon Burge gang.

Police crimes don’t stop, neither does the fight for community control

On June 7, cops shot 24-year-old Maurice Granton in the back as he ran from them in the Bronzeville neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. Granton had committed no crime when the police began chasing him. Activists from the Chicago Alliance went to the neighborhood to help organize the community to resist police terror. Nataki Rhodes, co-chair of the Alliance, said that on Saturday, June 9, the police moved to force the group to close up a table collecting signatures in support of community control of the police. “We were talking about CPAC, and the police threatened to arrest us. The community defended us, and made the police back down, and restored our table.”

This scene unfolded in the wake of a month long series of confrontations in City Hall, and in neighborhoods around the city, between community organizers and allies like the Chicago Teachers Union, and politicians working with Mayor Rahm Emanuel to continue the system of police impunity.

Frank Chapman, field organizer of the Chicago Alliance, described the series of five hearings held by the City Council Public Safety Committee. “What’s new is that for the first time in this movement we are bringing into the forefront a united front of Black people, Latino, Palestinians, other oppressed people of color, faith-based organizations, peace and solidarity groups, organized youth movements and organized labor to stop police crimes by supporting CPAC.”

Chapman continued “We successfully beat back attempts on the part of the mayor and the city council to kill CPAC in committee.”

There will also be a forum on Saturday, June 16, at Trinity church, featuring more of the victims of police crimes, including Bertha Escamilla, whose son Nick was also a torture victim of the Burge gang and served over 20 years; Sara Ortiz, mother of William Negron, recently exonerated in a murder case brought by Detective Guevara after more than 20 years in prison; and Mark Clements, among the most well-known of the Burge victims, released from prison in 2009 after 28 years for a crime he didn’t commit.

The two days will be a celebration of this historic release of more wrongfully convicted men than anytime in U.S. history, as well as a rally to continue and escalate the fight for CPAC.

https://tinyurl.com/WeekendOfPeoplePower

#ChicagoIL #PoliceBrutality #PoliticalPrisoners #AngelaDavis #Antiracism #ChicagoAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #CPAC

Chicago, IL – 500 people gathered at the University of Illinois at Chicago campus, June 28, to support “Justice for Rasmea Odeh.”

Odeh was convicted in federal court in November of 2014 of a trumped up immigration charge that alleges she wrongly filled out her application for citizenship 10 years earlier. She was sentenced to be stripped of citizenship and deported, but first the 68-year-old icon of the Palestinian struggle will face 18 months in a federal penitentiary.

The rally was brought together with the involvement of Angela Davis, one of the best known figures of the Black Liberation Movement of the early 1970s. She added her voice to the demand of “Justice for Rasmea” which rang out from the hall.

Davis, herself a former political prisoner, urged people to mobilize to Cincinnati in September when Odeh’s appeal will be argued before the Sixth Circuit Court.

Odeh spoke about her experience under Israeli occupation and her fight for justice against the U.S. government attack on her. The crowd and the stage included activists from Black Lives Matter and the Palestinian movements, and both Davis and Odeh spoke about the linked struggles for liberation. Clearly pointing to the role of U.S. imperialism as the main oppressor of the people of the world, Odeh said, “The liberation of African Americans will result in the liberation of all oppressed nations.”

Davis and Odeh shared the stage with Frank Chapman, field organizer of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Chapman spoke of the August 29 march that will happen in Chicago to demand an elected, civilian police accountability council (CPAC). Both Davis and Odeh expressed support for CPAC and the march. Chapman said, “People talk about this as a tragic time. That's not how we see it. We are living in a momentous time in which people are rising up and fighting back!”

The audience included victims of police crimes, including Howard Morgan; Martinez Sutton, brother of Rekia Boyd; and Bertha Escamilla, whose son spent many years in prison as a result of being tortured into confessing to a crime.

The chairs were filled mainly with young people, although Davis recognized in the audience Josephine Wyatt, who along with Davis, co-founded the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression in 1973. It was Mrs. Wyatt’s 95th birthday.

#ChicagoIL #AngelaDavis #RasmeaOdeh #FrankChapman #PoliticalRepression

Chicago, IL -500 people gathered at the University of Illinois at Chicago campus, June 28, to support “Justice for Rasmea Odeh.”

Odeh was convicted in federal court in November of 2014 of a trumped up immigration charge that alleges she wrongly filled out her application for citizenship 10 years earlier. She was sentenced to be stripped of citizenship and deported, but first the 68-year-old icon of the Palestinian struggle will face 18 months in a federal penitentiary.

The rally was brought together with the involvement of Angela Davis, one of the best known figures of the Black Liberation Movement of the early 1970s. She added her voice to the demand of “Justice for Rasmea” which rang out from the hall.

Davis, herself a former political prisoner, urged people to mobilize to Cincinnati in September when Odeh’s appeal will be argued before the Sixth Circuit Court.

Odeh spoke about her experience under Israeli occupation and her fight for justice against the U.S. government attack on her. The crowd and the stage included activists from Black Lives Matter and the Palestinian movements, and both Davis and Odeh spoke about the linked struggles for liberation. Clearly pointing to the role of U.S. imperialism as the main oppressor of the people of the world, Odeh said, “The liberation of African Americans will result in the liberation of all oppressed nations.”

Davis and Odeh shared the stage with Frank Chapman, field organizer of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Chapman spoke of the August 29 march that will happen in Chicago to demand an elected, civilian police accountability council (CPAC). Both Davis and Odeh expressed support for CPAC and the march. Chapman said, “People talk about this as a tragic time. That's not how we see it. We are living in a momentous time in which people are rising up and fighting back!”

The audience included victims of police crimes, including Howard Morgan; Martinez Sutton, brother of Rekia Boyd; and Bertha Escamilla, whose son spent many years in prison as a result of being tortured into confessing to a crime.

The chairs were filled mainly with young people, although Davis recognized in the audience Josephine Wyatt, who along with Davis, co-founded the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression in 1973. It was Mrs. Wyatt’s 95th birthday.

#ChicagoIL #Palestine #PeoplesStruggles #PoliticalPrisoners #AngelaDavis #PoliticalRepression #RasmeaOdeh

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Angela Davis on the grand jury witch hunt against anti-war and international solidarity activists. This solidarity statement and many more, from a range of progressive organizations and leaders, can also be found on at Stopfbi.net.

Statement from Angela Davis Against FBI and Grand Jury Repression

By Angela Davis, November 17, 2010

On September 24 the FBI raided homes of 14 activists in movements in solidarity with oppressed workers and peoples of Latin America and Israel/Palestine. I consider these raids to be an assault on democracy. While the immediate targets of the raids were activists in movements in solidarity with trade unionists and others facing violence in Colombia and the Middle East, their purpose is to disrupt the unity of progressive movements by sowing suspicion, distrust, and an aura of guilt by association. I am not too young to remember the dark days of McCarthyism in our country, and I know very well what the effect of such government reprisals can be.

The FBI seized computers, cell phones, boxes of papers and personal possessions from all 14. They served grand jury subpoenas on many of them. The FBI announced they were investigating possible “material support” to terrorist groups. But it appears that their real purpose is to disrupt the growing unity of the majority of Americans who are critical of the wars and occupations being carried out today in Iraq and Afghanistan, who oppose U. S. support for violence against trade unionists in Colombia and against Palestinians by the Israeli government in Israel, on the West Bank, and in Gaza. The only way the FBI’s actions make any sense at all is to see them as an attempt to isolate and intimidate any who would dissent from government policy or speak out against injustice. These raids violate the spirit and the letter of the Bill of Rights. They endanger the freedom of the entire U. S. population.

We learned bitter lessons from the FBI’s COINTELPRO repression in the 1960s, in which African American leaders, including Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and leaders of the Black Panther Party such as Fred Hampton, were targeted for assassination. Progressive movements were targeted for disruption.

I urge President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to

• Direct the FBI to return the belongings seized.
• Dissolve the grand juries threatening an inquisition against peace and solidarity activists and movements.
• Cancel all subpoenas to appear before the grand jury in Chicago.

I would like to work with my Congressman Barbara Lee to support initiatives in Congress for the repeal of provisions of law that define solidarity with human rights abroad as “material support” for terrorism. The rights of all Americans must be preserved to peaceably assemble and petition their government to end support for repressive and militarist governments abroad, and states that commit war crimes and terrorist acts against their own or other people struggling for basic human rights.

#UnitedStates #FBI #September24FBIRaids #grandJury #AngelaDavis