Vaun L. Mayes, a leading activist in Milwaukee's African American community, has been attacked with trumped-up charges resulting from a coordinated campaign of political repression reminiscent of the 1950’s and ‘60’s Counter-Intelligence Program, or COINTELPRO.

The Wisconsin District of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization calls on activists, progressives, and socialists to take a stand against the outrageous politically motivated frame-up of Vaun Mayes by the ATF and Milwaukee Police.

Mayes is currently in custody facing three charges including attempted arson. Federal prosecutors claim Mayes tried to organize people to firebomb a police station and throw rocks at police two years ago during the Sherman Park uprising, but never carried the plans out.

The Milwaukee Police killing of Sylville Smith sparked the Sherman Park uprising in August 2016. Police said Smith pointed a gun at officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown, who was pursuing Smith. During the mass uprising that ensued, protesters demanded the release of body camera footage. The camera footage revealed that Milwaukee Police lied to the public about details of the incident. It showed that Smith had thrown a weapon to the ground before officer Heaggan-Brown fatally shot him.

Officer Heaggan-Brown was charged but acquitted in the murder of Smith. Earlier this year Heaggan-Brown was sentenced to three years in prison for sexual assault.

The police have a long history of using repression, lies, and deceit to cover up their crimes and target political activists. In the two-years since the Sherman Park uprising, Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) has been working with federal agencies to try to file charges against people involved in the protests. The charges against Mayes come at a time when Milwaukee Police have been the subject of national attention for the racist harassment and tasing of Milwaukee Bucks player Sterling Brown. The plot against Mayes is an effort by MPD to take the focus off police crimes that are the cause of mass uprisings in Sherman Park, Ferguson, and Baltimore.

In response to the mass movements demanding police accountability, the federal government is taking steps to protect killer cops and put activists on the defensive. There is no doubt that Trump's racist Attorney General Jeff Sessions wishes to return to the days of COINTELPRO. COINTELPRO was a secret and illegal federal program that targeted the Black Panther Party and other left-wing activists with disinformation campaigns, threats, and assassination. In Chicago, local police worked with federal agencies to carry out the political assassinations of African American liberation movement leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in 1969.

In the frame-up of Vaun Mayes, the Milwaukee Police also worked with federal agencies. This is not the first time the MPD and ATF have carried out a campaign based on lies in an attempt to bring arrests. In 2012 Milwaukee Police and ATF agents worked together on a comically mismanaged operation to take illegal weapons off the streets. The MPD opened a storefront called “Fearless Distributing” in a quiet residential neighborhood. The storefront was robbed of $35,000 in merchandise, including an ATF military-grade machine gun that ended up on the streets, unaccounted for. Police filed bogus charges against at least three people. The charges had to be dropped, according to a report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The operation ended in utter embarrassment for the MPD and ATF.

Mayes is the most recent target of the MPD and ATF collaboration, this time it’s a transparently ridiculous effort to retaliate for the Sherman Park uprising and conviction of killer cop Dominique Heaggan-Brown. Just last month, Mayes posted a report on social media about suspicious activity outside his home, sharing images on Facebook of gas cans with wicks in them someone left outside his home.

Mayes is a well-respected activist, community leader, and youth mentor who is being targeted because of his role as an unapologetic fighter against police crimes, racism, and oppression of the African American community. Mayes was also an active leader in the high profile movement to hold MPD accountable for the killing of Dontre Hamilton in 2014. Mayes has worked tirelessly to fight for the residents in Milwaukee's African American community, which suffers from some of the highest poverty and incarceration rates of any major US city.

The charges against Vaun Mayes, for an act that never happened, are a blatant attempt to silence criticism of Milwaukee Police for their crimes. We must defend Vaun Mayes and the African American liberation movement. We must continue to fight to hold police accountable for their lies and crimes.

Community groups are asking supporters to stand in solidarity with Mayes at his court hearing on Thursday, July 5, at 3:30pm (arrive at 3:00pm for security screening) at the Federal Courthouse room 242, located at 517 E. Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee WI.

#MilwaukeeWI #BlackLiberationMovement #PoliticalPrisoners #PeoplesStruggles #COINTELPRO

Some days ago, Martin Luther King, the Afro-American clergyman, was suddenly assassinated by the U.S. imperialists. Martin Luther King was an exponent of nonviolence. Nevertheless, the U.S. imperialists did not on that account show any tolerance toward him, but used counter-revolutionary violence and killed him in cold blood. This has taught the broad masses of the Black people in the United States a profound lesson. It has touched off a new storm in their struggle against violent repression sweeping well over a hundred cities in the United States, a storm such as has never taken place before in the history of that country. It shows that an extremely powerful revolutionary force is latent in the more than twenty million Black Americans.

The storm of Afro-American struggle taking place within the United States is a striking manifestation of the comprehensive political and economic crisis now gripping U.S. imperialism. It is dealing a telling blow to U.S. imperialism, which is beset with difficulties at home and abroad.

The Afro-American struggle is not only a struggle waged by the exploited and oppressed Black people for freedom and emancipation, it is also a new clarion call to all the exploited and oppressed people of the United States to fight against the barbarous rule of the monopoly capitalist class. It is a tremendous aid and inspiration to the struggle of the people throughout the world against U.S. imperialism and to the struggle of the Vietnamese people against U.S. imperialism. On behalf of the Chinese people, I hereby express resolute support for the just struggle of the Black people in the United States.

Racial discrimination in the United States is a product of the colonialist and imperialist system. The contradiction between the Black masses in the United States and the U.S. ruling circles is a class contradiction. Only by overthrowing the reactionary rule of the U.S. monopoly capitalist class and destroying the colonialist and imperialist system can the Black people in the United States win complete emancipation. The Black masses and the masses of white working people in the United States have common interests and common objectives to struggle for. Therefore, the Afro-American struggle is winning sympathy and support from increasing numbers of white working people and progressives in the United States. The struggle of the Black people in the United States is bound to merge with the American workers’ movement, and this will eventually end the criminal rule of the U.S. monopoly capitalist class.

In 1963, in the “Statement Supporting the Afro-Americans in Their Just Struggle Against Racial Discrimination by U.S. Imperialism,” I said that the “the evil system of colonialism and imperialism arose and throve with the enslavement of Negroes and the trade in Negroes, and it will surely come to its end with the complete emancipation of the Black people.” I still maintain this view.

At present, the world revolution has entered a great new era. The struggle of the Black people in the United States for emancipation is a component part of the general struggle of all the people of the world against U.S. imperialism, a component part of the contemporary world revolution. I call on the workers, peasants, and revolutionary intellectuals of all countries and all who are willing to fight against U.S. imperialism to take action and extend strong support to the struggle of the Black people in the United States! People of the whole world, unite still more closely and launch a sustained and vigorous offensive against our common enemy, U.S. imperialism, and its accomplices! It can be said with certainty that the complete collapse of colonialism, imperialism, and all systems of exploitation, and the complete emancipation of all the oppressed peoples and nations of the world are not far off.

#UnitedStates #BlackLiberationMovement #AntiRacism #AfricanAmericanCommunity #Capitalism #MaoZedong #USImperialism

Jacksonville, FL – On May 11, students from the civil rights group Dream Defenders protested at the sentencing hearing of Marissa Alexander, a young black woman who was convicted of aggravated assault stemming from an episode in 2010 where she fired a warning shot at her abusive ex-husband Rico Gray, who had previously beaten her.

Dream Defenders burst out singing, “We who believe in freedom will not rest until it's won,” as the prosecutor read its last arguments. Cops inside the courthouse converged on the protesters and quickly escorted them out of the courtroom and the courthouse. But that wasn't before Dream Defender Ciara Taylor, senior at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University started the chant, “No justice, no peace!”

“We feel that this case shows the absurdity in our broken system in that a Black woman who is a victim of domestic abuse who defends herself is going to jail for 20 years while a killer like George Zimmerman is walking free,” said Dream Defender organizer Michael Sampson. “This is a clear episode of a racist criminal justice system choosing to make a victim of yet another person of color but as well, this shows also a sexist criminal justice system that doesn't care for the struggles of women and victims of domestic abuse.”

Alexander was sentenced by Florida Judge James Daniel to 20 years in jail under the state’s 10-20-life, mandatory-minimum law.

“Such a law seems to disproportionally affect Black and brown youth,” said Sampson. “The system needs changing and we're gonna organize and mobilize to demand freedom for Marissa Alexander and as well come back stronger and fight back against this tyranny.”

The Dream Defenders are the same student group that marched 40 miles from Daytona Beach to Sanford demanding justice for Trayvon Martin. The same group also shut down the Sanford police headquarters by blocking the doors on April 9. Two days later, Zimmerman was arrested due to public pressure.

“Dream Defenders is a student civil rights group dedicated to defending the dream of Black, brown and other oppressed peoples in this society who are often the victim of this corrupt system,” said Dream Defender Cecelia O'Brien. “We will continue growing and keep defending the dream of oppressed peoples in Florida and nationwide until our voices are heard. We cannot be drowned out.”

#JacksonvilleFL #BlackLiberationMovement #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #MarissaAlexander #DreamDefenders

With the Trayvon Martin case drawing growing national attention to police and vigilante violence against young men of color, members of Occupy the Hood say their program addresses multiple community needs including building strength and stamina to ensure their safety and survival in America while at the same time improving their overall health.

Khalil Coleman of Occupy the Hood said, “It’s time we take back our hoods. In order to do this, we must take care of the health of our people, our communities and our quality of life.”

For more information contact Occupy the Hood-Milwaukee at: mkeoccupythehood@gmail.com or (414) 395-0134

#MilwaukeeWI #BlackLiberationMovement #AfricanAmerican #OccupyTheHood #Exercising

On June 19-21, the founding convention of the Black Radical Congress (B.R.C.) was held in Chicago. Nearly 2000 people came together to exchange experience, and to discuss strategy on how to build the Black Liberation Movement.

By all accounts, the event was a success. Many who came were new activists, from the frontlines of the battles against police brutality, in defense of affirmative action, and the right to housing. Others were veteran activists and leaders who had, and are making real contributions to the freedom struggle.

The call for the B.R.C stated, “Now is the time to build a strong, uncompromising movement for human rights, full employment, and self-determination. Now is the time for a new Black Radicalism.”

Among the participants were activists from Minnesota's low income community. The following interview was conducted with members of the Twin Cities based Welfare Rights Committee and Low Income People Organizing for Power (Duluth).

Fight Back!: What were some of the highlights of the founding convention of the BRC?

Deb Howze: For me, seeing people of all walks of life, folks on welfare, doctors, lawyers, activists, all there for a common cause, how to assert our basic human rights. More than 1500 people were there through Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Some worked on welfare rights, others in the fight against police brutality, some were taking on health care and AIDS issues...

I admired the youth that were there, they were glad to be part of the BRC, they were not afraid to challenge old leaders.

There was a lot of information exchanged, which helps to build the Black Liberation Movement, to unite and fight back against the government.

Derrick Parker: It was very exciting, a very good idea. The plenary really broke it down. One of the speakers that interested me talked about the fight for land in the South. Black people, Black farmers are having their land ripped off and they are discriminated against by banks, and the struggle for land is tied up with the struggle for power. Corporations are turning African American communities into toxic waste dumps, so the demand is being raised to remove these poisons.

When I came back I was really on fire from what I heard. When you hear and see that things being talked about are real, there's the benefit right there.

FB!: Who was there?

DP: Anywhere from socialists, welfare rights activists, feminists, to lawyers. The main goal was to do something together. A strong arm – everybody coming together for the cause. The organizers took a strong stand against homophobia. There was no fear. No matter who you are and what you're doing, our goal is the same.

FB!: Deb, you spoke on the workshop dealing with attacks on welfare. What went on there?

DH: We gave out information about what the Welfare Rights Committee does. We tried to promote the example of what is happening in Minnesota, where we have been bringing together the low income community to fight the cuts.

I posed the question, why not fight back against the government. They're not afraid to fight you, to give you a ticket or to put you in jail. If you are going to jail for anything, it might as well be for doing the right thing. We have to confront the politicians and demand our rights.

What we are fighting around is our basic human rights. With the new Minnesota welfare program, M.F.I.P. our safety net has been ripped. We need to fight to have that safety net in place. Some people afterwards came up to me and said they enjoyed what I said – we gave them our information, and encouraged them to build the fight for welfare rights in their own states.

Jeanette Bobo: All poor people have to work together – all colors, all people around the country are talking the same way, about this welfare stuff.

FB!: Derrick, you went to the workshop on human rights?

DP: We have to raise this thing, of international human rights all over the world. Because it makes the way for equal enjoyment of rights. Everyone has the right to get what the next person gets.

We'll be going to the UN and charging the U.S. government with genocide. The 5 year lifetime limit on welfare will be taken up. So will the 3 strikes you're out – the focus is putting Black people in prison.

By raising these abuses internationally, we have a better chance of winning victory.

FB!: What's going on in this country that made the founding of the Black Radical Congress a necessity?

DP: Because of racism and discrimination. There is more white privilege, whites have a better chance of getting more than a person of color. Persons of color get stopped by police more often. Even cashing a check is harder. So you have to organize something – from the streets, to the banks, to jobs. Some people say it's [racism] not here, racism never went away. We need to unite to deal with this.

FB!: What's about the need to be radical?

DH: To be radical means to go out and educate people on what the real deal is in this country. To stand up, fight back for our basic human rights. For our right to survive. If we don't do that, we are doomed. We need to challenge the rich who run this country.

DP: We need to get to the root of the problem – to pull it up from the roots, so to speak. Radical means to get to the root.

FB!: Overall, was the founding convention a success?

DH: We need to unite and say the BRC was true success. People came out of it with goals, determined to build the struggle back in their own communities. More meetings are being scheduled. We need to come together to study, struggle and strategize.

People came to share views and ideas... there was debates, even angry debates on how should we go forward... in the end there was unity that we needed to build the Black Liberation Movement, to challenge this system, and to get our basic human rights.

#ChicagoIL #PoorPeoplesMovements #InJusticeSystem #Interview #WelfareRightsCommittee #BlackLiberationMovement #Interviews #AfricanAmerican #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #BlackRadicalCongress #ChicagoConvention #BRC #WRC #LIPOP #DebHowze #DerrickParker #JeanetteBobo #LowIncomePeopleOrganizingForPowerPoor

Raleigh, NC – Over 4000 people, the majority African American, marched in downtown Raleigh, Feb. 14, in a show of force organized by the North Carolina NAACP. This is the third year that “HK on J” (Historic Thousands on Jones Street) has taken place, bringing together over 85 grassroots organizations, trade unions, coalitions and churches around a 14-point program for change. The 14-point program is centered around addressing the needs of the African American community, low-income people, immigrants rights and ending the war.

“We are gathering to continue to remind our state legislators and other elected officials that our 14-point agenda and more than 80 action items are still relevant. The people of this state who turned out in record numbers to vote last November want to see real change,” said North Carolina NAACP President Dr. William Barber. “And further, we are coming to further say, in the midst of this current financial crisis, ‘Do not balance this budget on the backs of the poor.’”

Hundreds of students and trade unionists from across North Carolina mobilized for the protest. The program also featured speeches from workers who won union recognition at the Smithfield processing plant and UE union members who occupied their factory in Chicago.

Dr. Barber and other leaders of the HK on J movement urged the thousands in attendance to keep building the grassroots movements for change. In particular, the speakers emphasized the importance of building as broad a movement as possible to oppose massive cuts to social services and people’s needs.

#RaleighNC #CapitalismAndEconomy #PoorPeoplesMovements #Labor #News #HKOnJ #NAACP #BlackLiberationMovement #BudgetCrisis #capitalistCrisis