This statement was written by Joe Iosbaker on behalf of the Labor Committee of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression – caarpr.org.

Carol and Aaron Ammons are African American elected officials in Champaign, Illinois. Trump’s Department of Justice has come after them, trying to drive them from office and to stop their efforts against racism and their support of the democratic demands of the Black community.

I believe Carol and Aaron Ammons

Aaron Ammons is my union brother. He’s a fighter for workers’ rights, for Black liberation and social justice.

He has the great fortune to have a soul mate who is also a freedom fighter: his wife, State Representative Carol Ammons.

Aaron and I met as members of the executive board of SEIU Local 73. We were both employees of the University of Illinois. I worked for the Chicago campus, and Aaron for the Urbana-Champaign campus.

Aaron went from organizing his co-workers for better wages and working conditions to running for and winning election as an alderman in the city of Urbana, and then winning election as Champaign County Clerk in 2018.

Carol was elected to the General Assembly in Springfield in 2014.

Theirs is a great story of the African American freedom struggle.

Mississippi up north

Today we have a racist culture war emanating from Trump’s presidency. It was a shock when I heard that Aaron and Carol were indicted by a grand jury for alleged misuse of campaign funds and state grants.

It was a shock, but it should not have been a surprise.

Illinois is a racist state. I live in Chicago, where the 21-year reign of Mayor Richard J. Daley caused the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to refer to the city as “Mississippi up north.” This week, marchers went into Marquette Park to commemorate 60 years since Dr. King marched there. In Dr. King’s words, “I've been in many demonstrations all across the South, but I can say that I had never seen, even in Mississippi, mobs as hostile and as hate-filled as in Chicago.”

Illinois is the only state in the country that has a Torture Commission in the state legislature. It was created to deal with the hundreds of cases of young Black and Latino men who were beaten and even electrocuted by Chicago police officers, led by the sadistic, racist Detective Jon Burge, into confessing to murders they did not commit.

Carol Ammons and the fight for reparations

Supporters in the Black Liberation movement in Illinois see the hand of the Trump administration in the indictment handed down by a grand jury.

Everyone knows that Trump has it in for Chicago, the city that sent Barack Obama, the first Black president to the White House. Everyone remembers it was his white racist anger at a Black man in the White House that propelled Trump to run for president in the first place. Furthermore, Trump hates on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson as well as Governor Pritzker for their defiance of his racist anti-immigrant attacks.

Trump’s Department of Justice joined a lawsuit against the city of Evanston for discrimination against white people for its reparations program, a program that aimed to address harm caused by discriminatory housing policies and disinvestment in Black communities over the past century.

Kamm Howard, director of Reparations United, said he believes Representative Ammons is facing false charges from the federal government in retaliation for her support in the General Assembly of reparations. There are several bills and other motions in Springfield to make amends for the enslavement of Black Americans, and the systemic racism still present in the U.S. today. Representative Ammons even travelled to Ghana, where she pledged to dedicate her public life to raising awareness of the transatlantic slave trade and advocating for reparative justice for people of African descent.

Indictments

“But they’ve been indicted,” say the corporate-owned media! “There was an investigation by a grand jury,” said the leadership in Springfield.

I know a little about grand juries. In 2010, because of activism against the criminal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, I was among a group of anti-war activists raided by the FBI and subpoenaed to a federal grand jury. The pro-Israel types in the Department of Justice thought they could intimidate the burgeoning BDS (boycott, divestment and sanction) movement. The Joint Terrorism Task Force tried to smear us with the lie that we were providing “material support to foreign terrorist organizations.”

They failed, because the anti-war movement rallied in our defense. We were also able to get unions representing over a million members and 14 members of Congress to speak out that ours was a civil liberties case.

What exactly is a grand jury?

A grand jury is an infamous prosecutorial tool. It’s an anti-constitutional instrument which returns indictments 99% of the time! Among prosecutors and civil liberties advocates, there’s a well-known adage: A grand jury will indict a ham sandwich. In other words, an inanimate object.

Grand jury proceedings are secret.

Grand jurors hear one side only; prosecutors draft and read the charges to the grand jurors who are not instructed on the law or screened for bias.

Defense counsel is barred from the grand jury, and no judge is present.

You don't have the right to have your lawyer present; to see the evidence presented against you; to cross-examine witnesses; to refuse to testify.

Most European countries stopped using grand juries decades ago because they are essentially tools for the prosecution.

Don’t believe the hype.

Aaron and Carol Ammons have done nothing wrong. All people of good conscience should oppose the railroad that the Trump Department of Justice has brought to threaten these courageous elected officials.

#ChicagoIL #IL #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #CAARPR #SEIU

Chicago, IL – On Wednesday morning, July 22, Chicago’s City Council voted to place five referendums on the ballot for the November 2026 and February 2027 elections. Only three referendums can be on a single ballot. Two referendums, the Community Power Over Policing (CPOP) ordinance and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed referendum to tax the rich, are now ineligible for the February 2027 ballot.

“This is a setback for the movement,” said Frank Chapman, field organizer for the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), which is leading the CPOP campaign.

CPOP, if the majority of voters mark “yes”, would make the citywide Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) directly elected and give it power over the police budget and contract negotiations, among other powers.

“But we brought three rows of people here at a moment’s notice,” Chapman continued. “We will find a way to get this referendum on the ballot because the power of the people is stronger than the people in power.”

“Certain alders are trying to keep the people of Chicago from having the power to hold police accountable,” CAARPR member Gabriel Miller said during public comments. “This is happening at a time when the Trump administration is inflicting the biggest attacks on Black political power since Reconstruction.”

“It’s insulting when you don’t listen to the people of this city when they tell you what they need,” said Jake Hanawalt, a high school special education teacher and a member of the Chicago Teachers Union, in the public comments section.

“The people put together referendums about taxing the rich and holding police accountable, and you all don’t want to hear that. Instead you want to talk about a monument,” Hanawalt added.

In spite of the public comments, the majority of city council members voted to pass all three referendums for the February 2027 ballot. The referendums will ask voters if they want a monument to celebrate Chicago’s cultural influence, if city council should have a legal office separate from the city’s Law Department, and if the city should collect debts from its sister agencies such as the Public Schools, the Transit Authority, the Housing Authority and the Parks District.

#ChicagoIL #IL #InJusticeSystem #CAARPR #CPOP #CCPSA

Chicago, IL – On Thursday, July 25, a press conference was held outside of the monthly Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) meeting welcoming the two new commissioners, as well as continuing to demand CPD be held accountable for collaboration with federal agents during Operation Midway Blitz. The meeting took place at Benito Juarez High School, in the predominantly Chicano working-class neighborhood of Pilsen. The press conference was held by the Immigrants’ Rights Working Committee of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (IRWC of CAARPR).

“Commissioner Anjanette Young and Commissioner Guzman, welcome to your new position on the CCPSA. We, the Immigrants Rights Working Committee, have been diligently attending every single CCPSA meeting since the launch of our campaign to end CPD-ICE collaboration,” said Helena Fuentes of the IRWC.

Fuentes added, “We implore you to please, lean into your humanity and compassion, and not only consider our campaign, but please act.”

“Despite months and months of asking this commission to step up, and take an active role, the work hasn't been done yet. Since the commission's last meeting, more evidence has continued to raise serious questions about CPD compliance with the welcoming city ordinance,” said Elianne Bahena, a district councilor who, during the height of Gregory Bovino’s terror in the Little Village neighborhood, was kidnapped by federal agents.

Bahena continued, “Today as two new commissioners, Commissioner Young and Commissioner Guzman, we ask for this to be an opportunity for this commission to reaffirm its purpose. We hope the commission takes this opportunity to truly listen to our communities.”

Lifetime member of the National Alliance Against Racist Political Repression (NAARPR), Frank Chapman, stated, “We can only straighten out this problem by getting rid of the police having the power of life and death over our communities. We take a big step in this direction when we initiate this campaign to put this [Community Power Over Policing] referendum on the ballot.”

After the press conference, community members entered the school and gave public comments. Various community members raised the recent ICE kidnapping in the Albany Park neighborhood, which ended in a car collision.

#ChicagoIL #IL #InjusticeSystem #ImmigrantRights #OppressedNationalities #PoliceAccountability #CAARPR #NAARPR

Chicago, IL- Activists rallied in Federal Plaza, June 20, to celebrate Juneteenth and raise demands to defend voting rights and stopping police crimes, including wrongful conviction, police torture, and CPD-ICE collaboration. The National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression had called for a day of action in response to the gutting of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court.

Mayor Brandon Johnson made an appearance and asked the crowd, “Are we ready to put an end to racist repression?” He pledged to continue his fight for affordable rents, living wages and to defend public education against politicians putting the interest of corporations over that of the working class.

Johnson continued, “We have to ensure that the voting rights, particularly for Black folks, are protected, because if they undermine voting rights, they undermine labor rights, reproductive rights, civil rights,” he said. The crowd cheered him when he closed his speech, “But we’re not going to allow that in Chicago, are you with me?”

Frank Chapman, NAARPR’s executive director, made it clear in his remarks that the working class can defeat this backwards federal administration, but only through the largest united front possible.

“We are going to exercise our inalienable right to overthrow all institutions, and all government obstacles that stand in the way of our full rights under the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments,” Chapman said.

“We are going to overturn all of those institutions that oppress our people and deny our people the right to vote and the right to exist as equal citizens of this country and equal participants in this democracy. And our people are not a narrow, isolated group – our people are Black, brown, LGBTQ, white and working class.”

Kobi Guillory, a middle school science teacher and executive board member of the Chicago Teacher’s Union, reminded the crowd that the reason slavery ended was because Black people fought back.

“Millions of Black people left the plantation, therefore taking away the labor that the plantation owners relied on, and then took up arms with the union army, and that is what broke the back of the Confederacy,” Guillory said. “And it’s that tradition of struggle that we have to celebrate today.”

Elijah Edwards, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2858, pointed out in his remarks that there were over 200 slave rebellions during the time of chattel slavery in the United States. “Solidarity existed during slavery, solidarity exists today,” Edwards said. “And only through solidarity will we defeat them.”

Reverend Ciera Bates-Chamberlain, executive director of Live Free Illinois, has organized and led church congregations in the fight against Trump’s deportations. At the rally, she led chants of, “We ain’t free until we’re all free!”

“Juneteenth is more than a celebration,” Bates-Chamberlain said. “Juneteenth is a moment of confrontation. And in that moment of confrontation we are reminding people, declaring, and demanding to set our people free.”

To raise the demand for freedom for the wrongfully convicted, Jasmine Smith of the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Police Torture called two different currently incarcerated survivors of wrongful conviction on the phone and held the mic up to her phone to allow them to address the crowd from inside prison.

One of the survivors is Samuel Elam, who was wrongfully convicted for a 2011 home invasion and robbery. Elam recently suffered a heart attack in Menard Correctional, where he has been held for over a decade. Despite receiving specific instructions for care from the doctors at the hospital where he was sent, Elam has been denied consistent medical attention, and his family members who have called into the prison on his behalf have been blocked from contacting him.

“They are violating every right and administrative rule in this correctional facility,” he said, over the phone. “What they’re doing is killing us, and they are killing us slowly. This is not rehabilitation; these are torture chambers.” Smith echoed Elam’s statement about the prisons in Illinois: “I call them slave ships!”

Lara Haddadin from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) stated,

“Our struggles have always been interconnected,” she said. “ICE has come for all of us. Whether it’s a Black man being pulled over and put into a head lock by an ICE agent, a Palestinian protester abducted by ICE after speaking out against genocide, or a Latina rapid response member shot at for attempting to document ICE activity.”

Haddadin pointed out that the attempt to overturn birthright citizenship is “part of a coordinated effort to disenfranchise and limit voters of color. It’s an authoritarian power grab. And now Trump's deportation machine is an extension we see clearly of the prison industrial complex that the American economy relies on so heavily today.”

The protest here was organized by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), with a number of endorsing organizations, including the Arab American Action Network, National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, and Good Kids/Mad City.

#ChicagoIL #IL #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #NAARPR #CAARPR

Chicago, IL – The struggle for justice for survivors of police torture continues in Chicago. June 18 saw another defeat for Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen Burke, who is notoriously known for working hand-in-glove with the Chicago Police Department.

In 1991, Johnny Plummer was just 15 years old when he was beaten into a confession for a murder he didn’t commit. His torturers were Detectives Kenneth Boudreau and Michael Kill. Boudreau has 70 convictions to his name where survivors have accused him of torture; 28 of those men have since been exonerated for successfully proving they had been forced into confessions.

Plummer’s defense has always been that he was beaten into signing a confession by Kill and Boudreau, beaten in the abdomen with fists and a flashlight. He has declared this since the first moment his family came to the Area 3 police station after his two days in police custody. When Plummer saw a doctor at the Audy Juvenile Home, he told the doctor he had been beaten into signing the false confession. The medical examiner recorded Johnny’s account in his notes and, for 35 years, Plummer has been saying that he reported his torture to the doctor.

At his multiple trials since he was wrongfully convicted, that medical report did not surface.

Attorney Karl Leonard with the Exoneration Project explained to the presiding judge for Plummer’s case, Judge Tyria B. Walton, that a special prosecutor took this case in 2022 and requested all medical records from the state’s attorney’s office. “This year (2026) we received those files and finally saw the medical report from August 22, 1991,” Leonard stated.

Judge Walton’s opening question for counsel was to identify the issue at hand before the court. In his opening statement, Assistant State’s Attorney Miles O’Rourke claimed there was no Brady violation in 1991 and spent time showing that in the early years of trials and appeals, Plummer and his attorneys said nothing in court about not receiving medical records.

A Brady violation is when prosecutors fail to disclose impeaching evidence to the defense.

Judge Walton had previously been giving more support to the prosecutors, but as the defense brought out more information, Judge Walton reminded the court of the three things that are needed to establish a Brady claim: One, the evidence must be favorable to the accused because it is exculpatory (tends to prove innocence). Two, the prosecution suppressed or failed to turn over the evidence, even if the suppression was unintentional. And three, the evidence was “material,” meaning there is reason to think that the outcome of the trial would have been different.

State’s Attorney O’Rourke argued a number of times that there was no Brady violation and claimed that the defense had all the medical records. In the dramatic high point of the proceeding, Judge Walton identified that there was a first subpoena filed in 1991 and a second subpoena filed in 2022, and stated that the court was advised by the petitioner that they didn’t have the medical records.

O’Rourke interjected, “We didn’t have it either.”

Judge Walton continued, “Then in 2026, the records surfaced in a file review.”

Addressing O’Rourke’s outburst, Walton explained that the Brady language is unyielding: whether the withholding was intentional or not, there was definite cause for a Brady violation.

She went on to say that with the surfacing of the medical records earlier this year, she concluded the state’s attorney’s office had already been in possession of those records, though it may not have been in the possession of this particular counsel present at court.

After this, the state stopped arguing there was no basis for a Brady finding.

In response to the developments in court, Frank Chapman of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression stated, “When do facts matter? How can it be that something that happened 35 years ago is just now getting in front of a judge?”

Chapman recalled the words of Johnny’s mother, Jeanette Plummer, who died in May never seeing her son on this side of freedom. She had spoken out against injustice ever since he was wrongfully convicted. In 2012, at a forum on police crimes organized by the Chicago Alliance, she challenged the system of racist policing.

“How could they torture a 15-year-old child?” Chapman said, “Clearly we can’t trust the court system to bring justice. We must trust the movement to do this. Without the movement, we wouldn’t even be getting a hearing and keeping up his hopes for freedom.”

The next hearing for Johnny Plummer will be on Tuesday, June 23 at 1 p.m. at the George Leighton Courthouse (2650 S California Avenue) in room 304.

#ChicagoIL #IL #JohnnyPlummer #InjusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Featured #NAARPR #CAARPR

Chicago, IL – Activists mobilized to City Hall on Wednesday, June 17, to speak out against a proposed ordinance that would impose extreme fines on the parents of youth who congregate in public spaces.

The ordinance was introduced at the last minute by reactionary Alderperson Raymond Lopez in response to news cycles focused on a racist narrative attacking primarily Black and brown youth for nighttime gatherings dubbed “teen takeovers.”

Lopez’ proposal would have penalized working-class parents for their children’s activities, including $1000 fines for curfew violations, intoxication, marijuana use, alcohol possession, and begging in public places, as well as for participating in what are loosely defined as “open air gatherings.”

Lopez additionally sought to impose $10,000 fines for flipping, standing on, or hanging off the side of vehicles.

Frank Chapman, executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, criticized the ordinance during public comment, pointing out the way similar laws have always criminalized Black and brown youth.

“This ordinance is about punishment, not public safety,” Chapman said.

Jasmine Smith, a co-chair of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, spoke against the ordinance at the city council meeting, criticizing the attempt to penalize low income parents for vaguely defined violations.

As a mother and a grandmother, Smith spoke from experience. “These parents are not going to pay no $1000 fine for their kids being caught in the streets or drinking or whatever else is in that ordinance,” she said.

“A lot of these kids' mothers and fathers are in prison from crimes they did not even commit,” Smith said. Chicago’s well-documented history of police torture has earned it the title of wrongful conviction capital of the United States.

“We the taxpayers are a billion dollars in on civil law suits for wrongful convictions,” she added.

Smith also pointed out that many of the same alderpersons cosponsoring the curfew penalty ordinance fought against increases to funding for youth jobs and community peace keeping programs in the most recent budget.

The ordinance was ultimately defeated by a vote of 33-16. This marks a third unsuccessful attempt by reactionary alderpersons to enact a segregationist curfew after Brian Hopkins introduced similar ordinances in July of 2025 and January this year.

“They're going to keep trying and we have to keep beating them,” said Chicago Teachers Union member Kobi Guillory after the meeting. “These curfew ordinances and the racist narrative of ‘teen takeovers’ are attacks on Black and brown children, just like the defunding of schools and other public services. As working and oppressed people we have to recognize these attacks and fight back.”

#ChicagoIL #IL #InJusticeSystem #CAARPR

Chicago, IL – Survivors of police torture, family members and supporters of Johnny Plummer packed a Cook County Courtroom on Tuesday, May 26 to witness the cross examination of the former Chicago Police Department detective who Plummer says beat him into confessing to a murder he had nothing to do with.

Plummer was 15 years old when detectives came to his house in the middle of the night to bring him in for questioning. Starting at 4 a.m., Plummer was held for two hours before being seen by detectives. Over 20 hours later, he signed a confession that was used to convict him for murder.

Plummer has been in prison for over 34 years and has maintained that he only signed the confession after being beaten by Detective Boudreau and another, Michael Kill, with fists and with a flashlight on his face and body.

In a previous trial regarding Plummer’s wrongful conviction, his lawyers had requested medical records from CPD showing that Johnny had been injured while held at Area 3. CPD responded by saying that no such records existed. Recently, those same medical records were recently sent to Plummer’s lawyers from CPD, apparently by accident, according to the lawyers.

Although the doctor who had examined Plummer and recorded the injuries is now deceased, the release of the medical records prompted the judge in Plummer’s case to allow for new evidentiary hearings to go forward. In addition to Tuesday’s hearing, the judge agreed to two more hearing dates in June.

Supporters watched as the detective, Kenneth Boudreau, was shown photos of the Area 3 Violent Crimes building that he led in the 1990s. The first of the photos depicted a holding cell called “the cage” with what appear to be Black mannequin heads with dreadlocks hanging from the wire fencing. Another photo showed two black hands in handcuffs with the phrase, “Another happy ending” written beneath them.

When Plummer’s attorney asked Boudreau if he ever objected to these props being displayed in his building, Boudreau said he never did. “In Chicago, cops have a term ‘head’ to describe suspects,” he said. “The doll heads could have been dark humor.”

Plummer’s brother, Coston Plummer, was present at the hearing and said he wants the world to know the extent of this corruption and injustice within CPD.

“They tortured so many Black and brown men for decades,” Plummer said. “This should go down as one of the darkest points in Chicago history.”

Boudreau was the head of Area 3 violent crimes in the 90s, where he worked under disgraced police commander Jon Burge to torture and wrongfully convict hundreds of Black men on the South Side of Chicago. In 2005, Boudreau, Burge and several other police detectives who worked under Burge all pled the 5th in a federal grand jury investigating claims of widespread police torture under Burge’s command.

“Boudreau has 75 people who don’t even know each other saying the exact same story about the way they were tortured by him,” Coston Plummer said. “And now he’s enjoying his life and getting a pension. I think that’s unjust.”

Leaders of the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Police Torture (CFIST), held a rally outside the courthouse after the proceedings, demanding freedom for Plummer and all survivors of police torture, and that Boudreau, Kill, and all the complicit CPD detectives and states attorneys be held accountable for their crimes.

“We are in a system where justice is always delayed,” said Jasmine Smith, a co-chair of CFIST, which is a campaign of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR). “But we are going to continue to fight until justice will no longer be denied for any of our survivors.”

Every step of the way since he was 15, the system has failed him,” Coston Plummer said. “They can never make it whole, but they can acknowledge what has happened and let him and countless others go.”

Coston and Johnny Plummer lost their mother, Jeanette Plummer, earlier this month. Jeanette Plummer fought for her son’s freedom since he was kidnapped nearly 35 years ago. In the past ten years, she has also been active in the movement to stop police crimes and pass legislation to create an all-elected civilian police-accountability body.

In her final days, their mother was still fighting to free Johnny, Coston Plummer said. “Johnny had called her and she was dying, trying to lift up her arms to grab the phone and speak words,” he said. “She died fighting for her son and believing in her son.”

#ChicagoIL #IL #InjusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #CAARPR #JohnnyPlummer #PoliceAccountability

Chicago, IL – On Tax Day, April 15, a crowd of protesters gathered in Chicago to oppose Google’s complicity in Israel’s genocide and occupation of Palestinians and ICE’s attacks on immigrant communities. Protesters demanded no taxes for war or for ICE, legalization for all, U.S. out of the Middle East, no war with Iran, and the end to U.S. aid to Israel.

Protesters stood in front of Google’s building in the West Loop holding signs and banners reading “Michael Frerichs, stop buying Israel Bonds,” “Like Zionism, apartheid cannot last,” “We need a regime change in DC, not Iran or Venezuela” and “End CPD and ICE collaboration.” While speakers rallied the crowd, others gathered petition signatures from the passersby to demand Illinois divest its public funds from Israel.

“Google has been complicit in genocide in the Gaza Strip and in Palestine. Google’s Nimbus project provides the Israeli military with AI technology and cloud computing services to help the Israeli military choose targets and bomb them in the genocide that has killed over 70,000 people directly and thousands more indirectly,” said Husam Marajda with USPCN.

“We demand that Google immediately stop all business with the Israeli military and the federal government that is committing mass violence here in the U.S. through ICE, but is also committing war crimes in Iran.”

Maya Sánchez with IRWC described Google’s role in the kidnapping of our immigrant neighbors, stating, “Google is not some neutral tech company, it is an active participant in systems of oppression. Google holds contracts with the U.S. government including DHS [Department of Homeland Security] and ICE.”

She continued, drawing the connection between U.S. and Israeli aggression towards Palestine and attacks on immigrant communities in the U.S.: “What happens in Palestine and Iran is not separate from our struggles with ICE here at home. The same systems of surveillance and control abroad are used here in the states. Spyware and other technologies developed for the military are used for policing and immigration enforcement. The IOF uses Palestine and other parts of the Middle East as a testing ground for surveillance and violent technology in America.”

Caeli Kean with AWC called for ongoing mass protests in response to these injustices, shouting, “We are not helpless, because we have the numbers, and we can unite and fight back. The observable truth is that millions of people across the country are standing with immigrant communities against ICE and across the world, billions of people are standing with Palestine, with Venezuela, with Cuba, and other oppressed nations and people!”

The action ended with protesters chanting, “Money for jobs and education! Not for war and occupation! Google, Google, it is time! We charge you with genocide!”

The rally was organized by Anti-War Committee – Chicago (AWC), US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), and the Immigrants Rights Working Committee (IRWC) – a committee of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

To hear about future actions opposing imperialist wars and attacks on immigrant communities follow @antiwarchicago, @uspcn, @caarprnow on social media.

#ChicagoIL #IL #AntiWarMovement #AWCChicago #USPCN #CAARPR

Chicago, IL- 50 survivors of wrongful convictions and police torture, family members and community packed into a small South Side church for a town hall meeting on police torture and wrongful conviction on the evening of March 21.

The town hall was organized by the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Police Torture (CFIST), a campaign of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) and featured a panel of survivors of police torture and wrongful conviction and their family members.

Chicago has a unique history of police torture dating back to the 1970s, when disgraced police commander Jon Burge and his “midnight crew” of racist detectives began a decades-long pattern of torture, targeting mostly Black men on Chicago’s South Side. Today, corrupt detectives in CPD and their allies in the Cook County states attorney’s office continue to tear families apart and draw them into conflict with the system.

“I’m in this fight because I was victimized,” said Robert Johnson, who was released from prison last month after serving nearly 29 years for a 1996 murder he had nothing to do with.

“I’m a survivor,” Johnson said in his remarks on the panel. “I think about these brothers that are still locked up every day. It’s hell in there.”

Jasmine Smith, a co-chair of both CFIST and CAARPR, set the tone for the event by asking the panel, “What needs to change in order to stop this pattern of police torture and abuse?”

Clayborn Smith, a wrongful conviction survivor and litigator, said change will not come from the current political parties. “Neither Democrat nor Republican actually want to do anything about [police torture and wrongful convictions],” Smith said. “They never talk about all the wrongfully convicted people locked up while the real criminal is on the streets.”

Adolfo Davis, who was sentenced to life without parole at age 14 and spent 27 years in prison, agreed with Smith about the need for mass action beyond mainstream political parties. “We know who politicians are,” Davis said. “We need us to change anything.”

Davis continued, calling out the racist tactics used by the ruling class to divide oppressed peoples. “They made us believe immigrants are our enemy,” he said. “It was all a plan to control us. Stop being tricked.”

“Change starts from you, the people, “ said Mark Clements, who spent 28 years in prison after being tortured into giving a false confession by Burge and his “midnight crew.” Today, he is an organizer with the Chicago Torture Justice Center and sits on the board of The Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC).

Clements called out the economic basis for mass incarceration and racist policing, and called for mass action to fight back. “From the days of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, we saw that when you affect their economics, they are open to change,” he said. “This system operates around money.”

Annette Gomez, wife of Elias Gomez, not only uplifted her husband’s case of 30 years of wrongful conviction, but she also reminded the room that this struggle is larger than just one case. “We have to continue to fight not just for my husband, but for your brother, and your cousin, and your nephew,” she said. “It doesn’t stop here.”

#ChicagoIL #IL #InJusticeSystem #PoliceCrimes #CAARPR #CFIST #TIRC

Chicago, IL – El sábado, 31 de enero, acompañado por activistas comunitarios que han estado en las calles defendiendo a los inmigrantes contra la ocupación de ICE, el alcalde Brandon Johnson firmó una orden ejecutiva histórica.

La orden ejecutiva hace Chicago la primera ciudad que requiere a la policía investigar y referir agentes federales para procesamiento penal por delitos graves.

“Nadie está sobre la ley. No hay ninguna cosa como la ‘inmunidad absoluta’ en Estados Unidos,” dijo el alcalde Brandon Johnson. “La ilegalidad de los agentes de inmigración militarizados de Trump pone en peligro inmediato las vidas y el bienestar de los residentes de Chicago. Con la orden de hoy, le estamos advirtiendo a ICE en nuestra ciudad. Chicago no se sentará mientras Trump inunda nuestras comunidades con agentes federales y aterroriza a nuestros residentes.”

El gobierno federal ha dicho que está planeando otro surgimiento de ICE en el área de Chicago este marzo. El llamado del alcalde Johnson al procesamiento penal es en respuesta a la ausencia de consecuencias legales tras el tiroteo contra Marimar Martínez en Chicago y los asesinatos de Silverio Villegas González en Franklin Park, un suburbio de Chicago, y el de Renee Good y Alex Pretti en Minneapolis.

Frank Chapman de la Alianza de Chicago Contra la Represión Racista y Política dijo, “Estuve orgulloso de acompañar al alcalde Johnson ayer cuando firmó una orden ejecutiva histórica que ordena al Departamento de Policía de Chicago involucrarse activamente en hacer que los agentes de ICE rindan cuentas, presentando denuncias hacia la oficina del fiscal de estado.”

La fiscal estatal, Eileen Burke, es bien conocida por fallar en luchar contra ICE. Ha evadido demandas para investigar y cerrar la instalación de ICE en Broadview, con reportes de tratamiento inhumano hacia detenidos. Burke también ha rechazado la prosecución del agente de ICE quien asesinó a Silverio Villegas González, un trabajador inmigrante baleado por ICE después de dejar a su niño en la escuela en Franklin Park en septiembre.

#ChicagoIL #IL #ImmigrantRights #ICE #CAARPR #NAARPR #BrandonJohnson

Chicago, IL – On Wednesday, February 25, a coalition of organizations fighting for human rights and democracy in the Philippines rallied outside of the Philippine Consulate to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the ousting of Marcos Sr. and the People Power Revolution, to confront continued corruption in the Philippines, and to hold the Philippine Consulate accountable for its neglect of Filipino migrants.

“Imperyalismo!” “Ibagksak!” “Marcos mismo!” “Babagsak!”

“Imperialism!” “Will topple!” “Marcos!” “Will topple!” chanted protesters.

The action commemorated the 1986 People Power Revolution (EDSA), in which the Filipino people fought against corruption and ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whose rule saw grave human rights violations including extrajudicial imprisonment, torture, and the murder of 3240 Filipinos. Speakers emphasized that despite the ousting of Marcos Sr. in 1986, the struggle against corruption in the Philippines is ongoing and that collusion between the U.S. and Philippine government must end.

“Patience has never liberated a generation! Compliance has never protected democracy! Those crowds at EDSA were not waiting for permission, they flooded the streets!” declared a member of Anakbayan at UIC, a youth and student organization building international solidarity and fighting for the liberation of the Philippines.

Throughout the program, multiple groups performed songs about the struggle for national liberation in the Philippines. During one of the songs, Aklasan, the crowd was encouraged to sing along to the chorus:

“Bawat sipag, bawat lakas

Ay umaklas!

Diwang dungo’t ulong yuko’y

Itinayo

Ang maliit na ginahis

Ay nagtindig”

“Every effort, every force

Rose up!

Subdued spirits and bowed heads

Were lifted up!

The small that were subdued,

Stood up!”

Speakers from Malaya Chicago and Tanggol Migrante continued by uplifting the struggle for immigrant rights in the United States, citing the experiences of Filipino immigrants in detention who are experiencing medical neglect and incompetence from the Philippine Consulate.

One of the stories uplifted was that of Tita Rebecca, a 71-year-old Filipina grandmother who was held in ICE detention for nine months and repeatedly denied proper medical care or examination before being secretly deported without notice to her family. Throughout Tita Rebecca’s time in ICE detention, the Philippine Consulate proved to be unhelpful to her family and organizers, refusing to speak with her family and actively working with ICE to keep details of her deportation concealed.

“Lahat ng sangkot!” “Dapat managot!”

“Everyone involved!” “Must be held accountable!” chanted protesters.

Speakers also told the story of Chantal Anicoche, a Filipina-American youth activist taking part in an immersion trip who was kidnapped by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) following the U.S. backed bombing of the Mangyan people in Mindoro that killed five people. After a nearly month-long international campaign, Chantal Anicoche was freed and able to safely return home to the United States.

Organizers commenced the rally with more chants and a group photo.

“The people, united, will never be defeated!”

“El pueblo, unido, jamás será vencido!”

“Ang tao, ang bayan, ngayon ay lumalaban!”

Organizations participating in the event included Malaya, Migrante, Tanggol Migrante, Bayan, Anakbayan at UIC, Anakbayan Chicago, Philippine-U.S. Solidarity Organization (PUSO) Chicago, Chicago Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (CCHRP), Anti-War Committee Chicago (AWC), and the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR).

#ChicagoIL #IL #Anakbayan #Bayan #CAARPR #AWC #CCHRP #PUSO #International #Philippines

Chicago, IL— Hundreds of protesters gathered in downtown Chicago’s freezing wind on Saturday, February 7 to honor one month since the murder of Renee Good at the hands of ICE and to demand justice for those killed by ICE. The protest was called by the Coalition Against the Trump Agenda in response to a national call for action from the Legalization for All Network.

In Chicago, the demand for justice and accountability is targeted at Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen Burke, who has consistently stood on the side of corrupt and violent police officers and against the people’s movements.

A week ago, prompted by the growing public demand for ICE accountability, Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order directing the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to watch for illegal activity by ICE agents and report felony charges to the State’s Attorney at the mayor’s direction. Burke opposed the order in an internal memo to her staff, calling it “inappropriate,” and claiming it would interfere with her office’s ability to prosecute federal agents.

Nick Sous, an organizer with the Arab American Action Network (AAAN), called out Burke’s hypocrisy in his remarks at the protest, “The only thing in the way of Eileen Burke prosecuting killer cops or ICE agents is Eileen Burke.”

In her first week in office in December 2024, Burke dropped the charges against Oak Lawn Police officer Patrick O’Donnell, who had helped beat Arab youth Hadi Abuatelah within inches of his life, along with two other officers in 2022.

Johnnie Showers, a member of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and wife of wrongful conviction survivor Devon Showers, also spoke at the protest. Showers has seen the corruption of CPD and the state’s attorney’s office firsthand in her struggle to free her husband and called for solidarity in the fight to hold both ICE and CPD accountable.

Showers said that ICE and CPD are “working together against us, the working class, the ones that pay their bills,” Showers said. “They are kidnapping us and killing us in the jails. So we need to stand in solidarity and make sure we stop them. We need to fight back.”

Marien Casillas Pebellón, executive director of the West Suburban Action Project (PASO), addressed the crowd and raised the collective demand for accountability for the continued violence on the part of ICE agents and the entire Trump administration against our communities.

“We want ICE out of everywhere,” Pebellón said. “We want those in charge prosecuted. They accuse us of being criminals. The criminals are in the White House right now”

Angel Naranjos, a leader in the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, closed the rally with spirited remarks, “If the past few weeks have taught us anything, it’s that things must change and they must change fast.”

Naranjos continued, “Donald Trump and his corporate media love to say that we are domestic terrorists when we confront ICE—that we should protest peacefully. But we say it is right to rebel.”

After the program, the protesters took to the streets and marched north to Trump Tower, chanting a message for Trump and all his criminal ICE agents, “Lock them up! Lock them up!”

#ChicagoIL #IL #ImmigrantRights #ICE #CAARPR #ReneeGood #AlexPretti #L4A #AAAN

Chicago, IL – Dozens of community members gathered on Thursday, January 29 at Malcolm X Community College to demand city officials hold Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers accountable for their violence against Black and brown communities and collaboration with Immigrants and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) set this year’s goals for itself, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), and the CPD superintendent.

The meeting began with public comments. Community members demanded that the CCPSA publish all communications regarding CPD and ICE collaboration; an end CPD crowd control during immigration enforcement activities; an end to pretextual traffic stops; an end to CPD’s use of tactical teams; that the CCPSA choose a candidate for COPA head that has a strong record of being pro-accountability; and the removal of all current and former Oathkeepers and other members of white supremacist groups from the police force.

Omar Flores, co-chair of the Immigrant Rights Working Committee (IRWC) of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) and a survivor of ICE’s violence, described the varied forms of harassment he has experienced.

“These things should not be allowed! We see plenty of instances when CPD is supposedly coming out, when the people are showing their righteous anger at what is happening, we see CPD do nothing when it comes to ICE violating our rights,” Flores said.

“It’s your guys’ job to be creative in this moment, because people’s lives are literally counting on it, as we’re seeing in Minneapolis,” Flores urged the CCPSA.

Brian Young, Jr., a resident of the historically Black and brown 25th Police District, expressed their disappointment at the CCPSA's history of inaction.

“We've been coming here since 2024, when Dexter Reed was killed by police officers over pretextual traffic stops, when this young man was killed and gunned down like a fucking animal in the streets,” Young Jr. said. “I organized and I came here with the community to demand an end to pretextual traffic stops – that was pushed onto the fucking backburner.”

CAARPR leader Kayla Nguyen described the CCPSA’s hesitance to investigate violations of the Welcoming City Ordinance despite 1500 people demanding an end to CPD and ICE collaboration at the CCPSA special listening session on January 8.

“We want collaborators addressed publicly, and we want them to face meaningful consequences now, because it is a shame that this city continues to wait to take action on wrongs the people know to be true,” Nguyen affirmed. “Why must the people of Chicago fight both our local law enforcement and ICE at the same time? The protection of CPD, not for our people, but for ICE, emboldens these federal killers and results in injuries to our Black and brown communities.”

The CCPSA then voted on their strategic priorities for 2026. These included a new traffic stop policy, preventative alternatives to public safety, and more accountability for collaborators with federal immigration enforcement.

Sandra Wortham was the only commissioner to vote “Nay” to the final priority regarding CPD-ICE collaboration, to raucous booing from the audience. Wortham demanded that the audience remember their decorum, to which audience members shouted, “Maybe you should remember who you protect and serve!”

The CCPSA additionally elected interim COPA chief LaKenya White to the permanent COPA chief position, who accepted all of the presented goals and strategic priorities, as did CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling.

Community members left the meeting hopeful regarding the strategic priorities, but resolved to continue to attend the next CCPSA meeting on Thursday, February 26 to hold the CCPSA accountable to these promised goals.

#ChicagoIL #IL #ImmigrantRights #InJusticeSystem #ICE #KillerICE #CPD #CAARPR

Chicago, IL – On Saturday, January 31, surrounded by community activists who have been in the streets defending immigrants against the occupation by ICE troops, Mayor Brandon Johnson signed a historic executive order.

The executive order makes Chicago the first city to require the police to investigate and refer federal agents for criminal prosecution of felony violations.

“Nobody is above the law. There is no such thing as ‘absolute immunity’ in America,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson. “The lawlessness of Trump’s militarized immigration agents puts the lives and well-being of every Chicagoan in immediate danger. With today’s order, we are putting ICE on notice in our city. Chicago will not sit idly by while Trump floods federal agents into our communities and terrorizes our residents.”

The federal government has stated they are planning another ICE surge in the Chicago area in March. Mayor Johnson’s call for prosecution is in response to absence of legal repercussions in the wake of the shooting of Marimar Martinez in Chicago and the killings of Silverio Villegas González in the Chicago suburb of Franklin Park, and Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Frank Chapman of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression said, “I was proud to stand with Mayor Johnson yesterday when he signed an historic executive order ordering CPD to actively engage in holding ICE agents accountable by filing complaints with the States Attorney office.”

State’s Attorney Eileen Burke is well known for her failure to stand up to ICE. She has dodged demands to investigate and close the Broadview ICE facility, notorious for reports of inhumane treatment of detainees. Burke also refused to prosecute the ICE officers who killed Silverio Villegas González, an immigrant worker shot to death by an ICE officer after dropping his child off at school in Franklin Park in September.

#ChicagoIL #IL #ImmigrantRights #InJusticeSystem #ICE #BrandonJohnson #AlexPretti #KillerICE #CAARPR #Feature

Chicago, IL – Over 20,000 Chicagoans marched in downtown Chicago, Sunday, January 25, through the cold and heavy snow, in response to the brutal murder of Alex Pretti and the ongoing occupation of Minneapolis by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The protest, organized by the Coalition Against the Trump Agenda (CATA), demanded charges for Jonathan Ross and all DHS agents involved in murders, that Congress cut all funding to ICE, and an end to collaboration between the Chicago Police Department and ICE.

The fire of resistance is burning everywhere

Lawerence Benito, the executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) said, “When Silverio was murdered here in Chicago, when Keith Porter was murdered in LA, when Renee Good was murdered, and yesterday, when they murdered Alex Pretti in Minneapolis – we know that these are not isolated incidents. Over 50 people have died at the hands of ICE.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson marched alongside protesters.

Mayor Johnson stated, “Let's send this message to Minneapolis: Chicago stands with Minneapolis. We stand with this country to defend the honor of working people, Black people, brown people, white people, Asians. We are coming together as one to defend our humanity. Let them hear you, Chicago! Let’s keep organizing, let's keep pushing, and let's stand together.”

Illinois's 25th District Senator Karina Villa drew connections between the murder of Laquan McDonald and the murder of Renee Nicole Good. Villa stated, “This is a state inflicted violence. This is systemic abusive power. This is a government that is recklessly spending instead of investing in education, healthcare and housing.”

Frank Chapman, field organizer of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) said, “Our fellow freedom fighters in Minnesota, they are the hope on the horizon. They have shown us the golden dawn of another day. And we're not talking about them same old bullshit days of racism. We’re talking about a new day of freedom for all the people! That's what our fight is about. We are not just trying to save a democracy that wasn’t working in the first damn place – that ain’t what we doing. We're fighting for a system that’s gonna work for all of us, because we gonna make it work.”

“We should not be paying for our own occupation!” said Diane Castro of the Chicago Teachers Union.

Gianna Escareno, one of the co-chairs of CATA and outreach chair of the Immigrant Rights Working Committee (IRWC) of CAARPR, highlighted the importance of broad solidarity and coalition across different struggles, such as the movements for Black and Chicano liberation, the movement to free Palestine, women's rights, LGBTQ rights, and immigrant rights movements.

Escareno stated, “We know that Bovino is threatening to send at least 1000 CBP agents to Chicago this March. And just like we followed Minnesota’s lead during the George Floyd uprising, we will follow their lead once again in resisting Trump’s attacks! There is a fire of resistance burning everywhere!”

The crowd marched down Michigan Avenue, taking major streets and gathering supporters as they chanted “We will say it every time, resisting ICE is not a crime!”

The march unified with a faith leader-led vigil at Federal Plaza for Alex Pretti and all victims of ICE before ending with a rallying cry, “We’re not cold, we're not tired, we won’t stop ‘til ICE is fired!”

#ChicagoIL #IL #ImmigrantRights #ICE #CATA #CAARPR #BrandonJohnson #Feature

Chicago, IL – On January 23, Chicagoans across the city targeted various Target locations to protest the corporation’s support for ICE terror.

The Coalition Against the Trump Agenda (CATA) led and mobilized people to the Target in Hyde Park. This included members from the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), Mexican Students de Aztlan (MeSA), U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Anti-War Committee Chicago (AWC) and more.

Outside the Target store in Hyde Park, Kobi Guillory, a member of CTU stated, “We are here in solidarity with our siblings in Minnesota who are right now 100K strong outside of the Target Center saying that Target should stop helping ICE. Target should stop its complicity with the violence that ICE is inflicting on Black and brown communities. Just the other day, Target employees in Minnesota were abducted by ICE in a Target. Did Target take a stand to defend their employees? Did they take a stand to defend the communities who make Target’s profits?”

Guillory continued, “We are demanding that Target honor the Fourth Amendment that you cannot be subject to unlawful search and seizure inside your workplace. This is illegal, what ICE is doing. We the people are going to use our people and we are going to force these corporations and elected officials to do the right thing.”

Inside the Target store, protesters delivered a list of demands to the store manager, including, “Call for an end to the ICE surge in Minnesota, and for ICE to leave the state; we want Target to affirm the Fourth Amendment; we want Target to post signage prohibiting ICE from entering their buildings, and we want Target to publicly call on congress to stop funding ICE.”

#ChicagoIL #IL #ImmigrantRights #ICE #CATA #CTU #CAARPR #MESA #USPCN #AWCChicago

Chicago, IL – Over 600 community members and organizers gathered at the Little Village Arch in vigil and protest in solidarity with the immigrant rights movement in Minneapolis on Wednesday, January 7. Protesters demanded justice for all victims of ICE, ICE out of everywhere, and legalization for all immigrants living in the U.S. as a part of a national emergency call for action called by the Legalization for All Network in response to the murder of Renee Nicole Good.

As a historically Mexican and Chicano neighborhood, Little Village (La Villita) was one of the hardest hit areas of Chicago during Operation Midway Blitz.

Irma Morales, a community organizer from Mientras Haya Amor, Hay Esperanza, rallied the crowd with a rousing speech. “Hoy estamos aquí, para presionar a los departamentos que están a cargo de proteger y cuidar a los residentes de esta ciudad porque para eso se les está pagandom – para proteger y cuidar a los residentes pagadores de impuestos de la ciudad de Chicago, no para proteger a verdaderos criminales (Today we are here to pressure the departments that are charged with protecting and caring for the residents of this city, because that is what they are paid to do – to protect and care for the taxpaying residents of the city of Chicago, not to protect real criminals).”

Morales pointed out examples of ICE’s frequent traffic violations, use of force and violence against Black and brown communities, CPD-ICE collaboration, and the racist killings of innocent people.

“We have Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez back on September 12, who was just dropping his child off at school. And today, this morning, we have Renee Nicole Good, who was just observing and trying to take care of her neighbors,” said Ash Pantoja, co-chair of the Immigrant Rights Working Committee of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (IRWC of CAARPR). They highlighted the contradictions in ICE’s excuses.

“They call this self-defense, but what is ICE really defending themselves from?” said Pantoja.

Johnnie Hayes of CAARPR’s Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Torture (CFIST) held her grandchild as she spoke. “ICE needs to go. They need to go, and they need to be held accountable.” Hayes, whose husband Devon Showers is currently wrongfully incarcerated, drew patterns between corruption on Chicago’s police force, wrongful conviction, and ICE detentions. She called for solidarity between all movements. “We have to stand firm together in solidarity. We have to stand firm in solidarity. We have to stand strong, not just for ourselves, but our children need this. Our children need us to stand up for them.”

In the middle of the rally ,at 8 p.m., attendees joined protests and vigils nationwide in a minute-long whistle in honor of Renee Nicole Good. Throughout Trump’s escalation of raids and attacks on immigrants, whistles have become a symbol of resistance and solidarity in the movement as community members use them as an alert system for ICE presence.

Gio Araujo of the New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Illinois – Chicago, who grew up in Little Village, stated, “The gunshots that were fired in the Twin Cities were heard all across the country. Everyone heard those gunshots, from New York, to D.C., to Chicago! People are mobilizing, because we know what this means and what this is about. This is an upswing of repression against our movement for immigrant rights. They wanna come into our communities and kill our people.”

“We ain’t gonna let that shit happen, because as they bring the repression, so will we bring the defenses,” said Araujo.

As the Little Village Community Council led the crowd in prayer and vigil service, protesters also marched down 26th Street to the mural of La Virgen de Guadalupe, shouting “Say her name! Renee Nicole Good!” and “ICE is just a racist mob, get a real fucking job!” There, they held a moment of silence for all victims of ICE and reminded attendees to call the Family Support Network Hotline at (855) 465-7693 if they spot ICE in their neighborhoods.

#ChicagoIL #IL #ImmigrantRights #ICE #ReneeGood #L4A #CAARPR

Chicago, IL – On December 20, over 175 people gathered in the Chicago Teachers Union Hall to stand in solidarity with Gustavo Petro and the people of Colombia as their country faces an intensification of U.S. aggression.

Petro has had his visa revoked by the Trump administration, and the country is seeing attacks in the form of sanctions, tariffs and military threats. These attacks have been because of his un-fearful stance against U.S. imperialism, from calling out the U.S./Israel’s genocide in Gaza to defending the sovereignty of Latin American nations. Petro is a popular and progressive internationalist.

In attendance were members of the Colombian consulate, progressive Chicago politicians, and leaders in the people's struggle, speaking on what Colombia needs from the people of Chicago.

Our solidarity must be concrete as well

“We must stand in solidarity with Gustavo Petro and the beautiful people of Colombia, as they have stood with Palestinians in Gaza and beyond, with forces fighting for climate and environmental justice, as they have stood with their neighbors in Venezuela who are in the crosshairs of the U.S. military,” said Hatem Abudayyeh from the United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN).

Abudayyeh continued, “Together we will reject sanctions, threats, intervention and war against the people of Colombia.”

Daniel Garcia-Peña, the Colombian ambassador to the United States, spoke on the achievements that Colombia has made under the leadership of Petro. He also spoke of the need for solidarity with the nation during rising tensions. Peña stated, “We are very concerned about what is happening in the Caribbean. It’s a clear sign of how the U.S. is threatening not only Venezuela but all of Latin America, which continue to be seen as a backyard that can be trampled on.”

Garcia-Peña noted “But me and President Petro have been clear, times are different. Colombians and Latin Americans are not going to stand for interventionism as they may have happened in the past. We need each other's solidarity. Palestinians can count on Colombians, but we also need the world to stand with Colombians and our Latin American neighbors in these trying times.”

Speakers from the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), the Anti-War Committee (AWC) and the Coalition Against the Trump Agenda (CATA) also spoke, representing the progressive movements which they work in.

Alderperson Byron Sicho-Lopez echoed the message of late Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton on the need for solidarity. Lopez introduced the resolution commemorating the historic 2024 visit of Petro to Chicago – a city that, much like Colombia, is a beacon of hope in the resistance against the reactionary Trump administration.

#ChicagoIL #IL #International #Colombia #AntiWarMovement #CAARPR #AWCChicago #CATA #CTU #Labor #Teachers

Chicago, IL – Corporate-backed alderpersons pushed through an unbalanced budget to avoid taxing big businesses on Saturday, December 20, but conceded important measures after sustained pressure from working-class Chicagoans.

The final budget package, championed by conservative council members, promises to sell to private debt collectors nearly $100 million debt from water bills, parking tickets and ambulance fees. It also increases liquor and gambling taxes and sells city spaces for advertising. These measures, which have been assessed as fiscally irresponsible by the city’s budget experts, are the last ditch effort by the group of oppositional alderpersons who have fought to avoid instituting a corporate head tax, in which the largest 3% of corporations would pay less than a thousandth of a percent of their profits based on the number of workers they employ.

“If aldermen really listen to the solutions that the people got, we would be in a better Chicago,” said Jasmine Smith, a co-chair of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR).

This wave of reactionary economic policy in Chicago mirrors the sweeping economic cuts to SNAP, health care and public transportation imposed by Donald Trump in his spending plan. Companies like McDonald’s and Google that would have been asked to contribute to the corporate head tax are the same companies that saw record tax breaks from Trump.

“Our federal government is led by a money hungry, immoral, unaccountable exec branch, a bloodthirsty Department of War, and a cowering judicial branch,” said Itohan Osaigbovo, an organizer with the Chicago Black Voter Project who knocked hundreds of doors to talk with Chicagoans on the South and West Sides about the budget. “This is not your typical budget year in Chicago,” she said.

“This alternative budget treats poverty as a business model,” said Rocio Garcia, a leader with the Grassroots Collaborative and the People’s Unity Platform. “You cannot fine your way to financial stability.”

Avoiding the tax on corporations in favor of predatory and irresponsible alternatives will likely lead to a budget crisis halfway through the year, according to leaders of the Public Health and Safety Coalition (PHS).

Countless hours of knocking doors, making calls and pressuring alders created the conditions for Mayor Brandon Johnson to propose a budget that included a tax on large corporations, cuts to CPD vacancies, year-round funding for the youth job programs that have brought Chicago crime to historic lows, funding for the Chicago Department of Public Health, and funding for non-police crisis response and mental health centers, PHS organizers said.

When corporate interests and the alderpersons that represent them came forward with their original alternative proposal on December 15, they sought to slash youth jobs and increase the city garbage tax in order to balance the budget. Working-class and oppressed Chicagoans responded, making thousands of calls and knocking doors in the winter cold to fight back against these regressive measures.

Within days, the alternative budget was amended to remove the garbage tax increase and restore funding to youth jobs. Additionally, the alternative budget still includes cuts to 500 vacant Chicago Police Department positions, funding for public health and non-police crisis response.

#ChicagoIL #IL #PeoplesStruggles #CAARPR #Housing #SNAP #Transportation

Chicago IL – 150 Chicagoans gathered downtown in the biting cold on Black Friday to say, “Tax the greed! Fund the need!” From a wide range of communities, they gathered to speak up for working and oppressed people. They stood united on a broad platform of demands including higher taxes on the rich, more funding for public services, and an end to Trump’s reactionary agenda.

“ICE has already taken far too many resources from our communities,” said Bassem Kawar with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. 

Kawar explained that although ICE employee Greg Bovino has left Chicago, the people still have to fight the ongoing ICE abductions. The 100 remaining ICE agents in the area continue to terrorize neighborhoods, especially in Republican-dominated DuPage County. Trump has threatened to increase the deployment to 1000 agents in March. The movement must prepare for the attacks to escalate in 2026.

“Trump and his cronies have already cut SNAP and Medicare to fund these attacks on our communities and we say that ain't right!” said Kawar.

The rally continued with a prayer by Reverend Juan Pablo Herrera to uplift “the courage of those who choose people over profit and liberation over exploitation.”

“In the Bible, God tells people to make a choice. You have to decide which side you are standing on,” added Reverend Ciera Bates-Chamberlain, executive director of Live Free Illinois. “You’re either on the side of justice or you're on the side of oppression.”

Bates-Chamberlain and other speakers called out corporations, including Target, Amazon and AT&T, that are standing on the side of oppression.

Will Tanzman, executive director of the People's Lobby, broke down the crimes abetted by AT&T’s $150 million contracts with federal agencies. He cited its support for ICE’s surveillance networks and Trump's “big ugly bill” which gives the corporation $8 billion in tax breaks.

“Corporations like AT&T and Amazon have willingly provided federal agencies like DHS with services that aid and abet the terror inflicted on our communities,” said Tomás Lobato, a special education teacher and member of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU).

Lobato also demanded that Chicago alderpersons take a stand. He called on elected officials to support Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed budget. Mayor Johnson aims to tax corporations instead of increasing property taxes and grocery taxes on working people.

Amaziah Burton, another CTU member, explained that her school alone stands to lose over half a million dollars and seven staff members if the budget does not pass. Burton cited the Protecting Chicago's Schools calculator, which predicts $552 million in budget cuts and 7724 layoffs if alderpersons vote against the budget.

Noura Ebrahim with the US Palestinian Community Network called on people to participate in the boycott, divestment, sanction campaign and demand that Illinois treasurer Michael Freirichs divest from Israeli bonds and companies complicit in the occupation and genocide in Palestine.

“The same companies profiting off occupation abroad are profiting off policing, deportation and surveillance at home,” Ebrahim said.

“The people's side abolishes chattel slavery. The people's side gives us the eight-hour workday and civil rights,” Brian Young Jr with the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression linked the fight against the Trump agenda to the historical struggles of working and oppressed people: “We stand today on the people's side!”

#ChicagoIL #IL #PeoplesStruggles #CTU #ImmigrantRights #Trump #CAARPR