There were many excellent Fight Back! stories this year that aren’t listed here — you can see them all at thearchive. (Also see the 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 retrospectives).

If there were other Fight Back! articles you liked this year that aren’t listed here, let us know in the comments!

Rasmea Odeh

This year Fight Back! gave extensive coverage to the important struggle to stop political repression against Palestinian-American leader Rasmea Odeh. Here is a list of the coverage. The struggle to keep Rasmea Odeh free continues – find out what you can do at stopfbi.net.

Stop racist police brutality! #EricGarner #MichaelBrown

As the movement against racist police killings took off this year, Fight Back! reported from the front lines with extensive coverage on the movements for justice for Eric Garner and Michael Brown.

Fight Back! had several eyewitness accounts from protests that rocked Ferguson, MO (more here, here, here, here, here, and here).

This movement reverberated around the whole country and even internationally, with connections being made to struggles around the world including in Palestine. We covered dozens of protests sparked by the police killings of Eric Garner and Michael Brown from Utah to Florida to Milwaukee.

This year activists in Jacksonville, Florida won a victory in the struggle for justice for Jordan Davis. Fight Back! also covered Milwaukee protests demanding Justice for Corey Stingley, as well as protests from Nashville to New Jersey.

In addition to front line coverage, Fight Back! also provided political analysis, arguing that police and vigilante murders of African Americans are rooted in national oppression, and demanding justice for Michael Brown and for Jordan Davis.

Economy

Fight Back! covered the ongoing struggle to restore Extended Unemployment Compensation (EUC) for the millions of unemployed. The bill was bottled up in the U.S. Congress. While unemployment compensation was not forthcoming, the welfare rights movement continued to mobilize in Minnesota and other states.

This year Fight Back! analyzed how even though the economy was growing, working people didn’t benefit and income inequality continued to rise while l abor force participation rate continued to decline.

And like usual, government austerity was good for profits, but bad for workers and oppressed people.

Labor movement

In 2014 Fight Back! continued in-depth coverage of workers’ struggles at UPS. In April Fight Back! analyzed how Teamster leadership hammers through UPS contract despite mass opposition by members. We covered how young UPS workers are fighting back, as well as sharp struggles in New York where UPS workers went out on strike to protest an unjust firing, then in retaliation UPS discharged 249 of the NYC strikers until Teamsters Local 804 and other workers around the country forced UPS to rehire the drivers. In Florida, a rank-and-file Teamster's grievance stops illegal UPS low-wage golf cart delivery.

Fight Back! gave in-depth analysis of howUPS and FedEx are owned by most of the same monopoly banks.

In February protests targeted Staples union busting against postal workers .

Nationally, the Supreme Court case Harris v. Quinn was a wake up call for labor. Fight Back! also analyzed an auto parts strike that achieved a major victory – no more two-tier wages at Lear Corporation, and published lessons from the UAW’s defeat at Volkswagen.

Fight Back! covered this year’s Labor Notes Conference as well as this summer’s AFSCME International Convention. This summer there was also a major commemoration in the Twin Cities as labor activists marked the 80th anniversary of the historic 1934 Minneapolis truckers strike.

In Florida, Immokalee workers demanded higher wages from Publix. In Minnesota, St Paul teachers and supporters protested the school board as part of a militant contract campaign that almost ended in a strike and won victories for teachers.

Oppressed nationalities

In Jacksonville Florida, the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition led struggles to successfully change the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest High School, led protests outside the trial of Michael Dunn, the racist vigilante who murdered 17-year-old African-American youth Jordan Davis, and campaigned to demand the resignation of State Attorney Angela Corey after the verdict.

In San Jose, 34th annual Day of Remembrance was commemorated. In Milwaukee, bridges were built as Black and Brown solidarity rally condemned both deportations and police brutality in Milwaukee. In Tennessee, protesters rallied against Nazis.

In North Carolina there was a huge turnout for the Historic Thousands on Jones Street march, while the Moral Monday movement spread to Florida. Also in Florida, the Dream Defenders confronted lawmakers, Governor Scott, at the opening of the legislative session.

The Chicano struggle continued this year, from the 44th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium, to commemorating the 1968 high school walkouts to the ongoing struggle for ethnic studies in California. In December, veteran Chicano movement leader Carlos Montes announced his intention to run for Los Angeles City Council.

Texas’s execution of Mexican national Edgar Tamayo on Jan. 22 sparked worldwide outrage.

Fight Back! took on racist misconceptions and stereotypes while explaining the real significance of Cinco de Mayo.

Indigenous struggles made gains this year as cities such as Minneapolis changed Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day, and the movement against racist sports mascots grew as thousands said “We’re not mascots”.

Immigrant rights

The immigrant rights movement won a major victory (though partial and temporary) when President Obama was forced to defer deportation for up to 5 million undocumented immigrants via executive action. Fight Back! covered the movement demanding executive action all year. The Legalization for All Network analyzed Obama’s executive action and the ongoing struggle to win legalization and full equality for all.

This victory was won through mass movements taking bold action such as when Milwaukee community members disrupted Obama, and when Milwaukee activists shut down ICE.

In addition to this national victory, there were several local victories against deportations this year, including in Tampa and Minneapolis, as well as a statewide victory for tuition equity for undocumented students in Florida.

When thousands of Central American children fleeing poverty and violence and arrived at the U.S.-Mexican border this summer, Fight Back! provided anti-imperialist analysis of the Central American refugee children: Victims of U.S. intervention in Central America, and also covered protests like one in Minneapolis and one in Tampa demanding that these children not be deported.

Student movement

There were many exciting actions in the student movement in 2014. Fight Back! covered the Freedom Road Socialist Organization’s Student Commission meeting and plans for 2014.

Florida students won a statewide victory Tuition Equity for undocumented students, while students in Tallahassee organized to prevent FAMU-FSU College of Engineering split. Also in Florida, the Dream Defenders confronted lawmakers, Governor Scott, at the opening of the legislative session.

In California, the ethnic studies fight deepened as the fight for Black, Chicano Studies built at CSULA.

In Minnesota, SDS organized a large protest to confront Bush Administration war criminal Condoleezza Rice, while FSU students disrupted FBI recruitment and Milwaukee students disrupted CIA recruitment.

Anti-war/international solidarity movement

The anti-war movement was active in 2014. In January a South Florida rally demanded the closing of Guantanamo now. In Chicago the Anti-War Committee campaigned against Boeing’s killer drones, including running an anti-war activist for a spot on Boeing’s board of directors, and Minnesota activists also confronted a major drones advocate. Arizona protests targeted joint U.S./Colombia military exercises. Protests around the country protested ongoing U.S. war in Iraq and Syria.

When the mass media went into overdrive to promote U.S. intervention in Nigeria in response to the kidnapping of more than 200 girls, Fight Back! published a mother’s anti-war editorial on #BringBackOurGirls.

Palestine

In 2014 Fight Back! covered the ongoing Palestine solidarity movement, including a huge march for Palestine in Washington DC, the campaign targeting Boeing Company for their role in killing Palestinians, and massive protests around the country protesting Israel’s assault on Gaza. In October, Hatem Abudayyeh analyzed the lessons of Gaza, and the tasks of the U.S. solidarity movement.

Political repression

There were several victories against political repression this year, such as when the Cubans 5 won freedom, when Sami Al-Arian was freed at last, and when Lynne Stewart was freed.

Fight Back! also continued to cover the case of the Anti-war 23, noting the fourth anniversary of the September 2010 FBI raids on anti-war & international solidarity activists, and covering the unsealing of documents used for the 2010 raids on anti-war activists.

Fight Back! also covered the Osmakac trial and a panel featuring Lynne Stewart and CeCe McDonald.

Ukraine

This year Fight Back! covered the U.S./NATO intervention in Ukraine and the anti-war movement as well as resistance movement in Ukraine.

The anti-war movement said no to U.S. intervention in the Ukraine, as Western-backed Ukrainian fascists burned trade union building in Odessa and Ukraine’s phony elections made a billionaire the new president.

Fight Back! analyzed the Crimea reunion with Russia, and how the resistance in Donbas challenges U.S. backed Ukrainian fascists. In December Fight Back! published an exclusive interview with a Donbass resistance fighter.

In covering the anti-war movement from Newark to Tucson, Fight Back! also covered the controversy that erupted at a protest at the Chicago Ukrainian Consulate in March with the International Socialist Organization (ISO).

Syria

As U.S. intervention sharpened in Syria, Fight Back! provided coverage of anti-war protests, and provided eyewitness reporting from the Syrian elections in June and then follow up reporting afterward.

Fight Back! also gave analysis of U.S. imperialist goals in Syria: U.S. trying to oust Assad by any means possible, aims for compliant Syria.

Mexico

As the U.S.-backed Mexican government’s repression and impunity deepened the political crisis in México this year, self-defense movements sprouted up in parts of the country. In late 2014, 43 Mexican student activists were disappeared from the rural teachers college in Ayotzinapa, sparking a massive movement that has rocked México. Fight Back! demanded justice for the Ayotzinapa Teacher College students and covered protests in the U.S. calling for justice for the 43 missing Mexican students.

Presente!

Several important people in our movements passed away in 2014, including Leslie Feinberg, Yuri Kochiyama, Jackson, Mississippi Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, long-time rank-and-file Teamster leader Peter Camarata, Amiri Baraka, and people’s songster Pete Seeger.

Fight Back! also covered the passing this year of Israeli war criminal Ariel Sharon.

Culture

Fight Back! reviewed the new movie Cesar Chavez as well as the movie Stalingrad. A review of House of Cards analyzed how the Netflix series exposes the dictatorship of the 1%.

Socialism

In December Fight Back!published a report on Freedom Road Socialist Organization’s 7th Congress and Main Political Report. In February Fight Back!reported on the FRSO Student Commission meeting and plans to build the student movement in 2014.

As the Ebola crisis quickly spread out of control, Fight Back!covered socialist Cuba’s leading role in the international fight against Ebola. This is a result of socialist Cuba’s world-class medical system, which boasts an infant mortality rate lower than the U.S.

Celebrating International Women’s Day and May Day

Freedom Road Socialist Organization explained the reasons to Celebrate International Women’s Day 2014. Fight Back! covered International Women’s Day events from Gainesville to Chicago to Utah to Miami.

Fight Back! also extensively covered International Workers Day (May Day) again this year, including analysis from FRSO, coverage of immigrant rights and workers rights protests and events from Jacksonville to Gainesville to Utah to Milwaukee to Los Angeles to Minnesota to Tucson to San José.

#UnitedStates #YearInReview

During the hearing, about 15 community members and activists crowded into the courtroom on the third floor of the Duval County Courthouse to show their support. Outside, activists held a spirited solidarity picket and carried signs, “Jail killer cops, not justice protesters.”

The news came on the heels of a request by State Attorney Angela Corey's office to delay the court date for Siddie Friar, the one protester charged with two felonies. The rest of the protesters were charged with misdemeanors for obstructing traffic. As of Dec. 29, court records indicate that the state attorney has only filed the two felony charges on Friar. She is scheduled to appear in court for her arraignment on Jan. 12.

This ongoing case emerged from a protest on Dec. 8 that stopped traffic on the Hart Bridge to demand justice for Eric Garner. Garner was the African American man who the NYPD choked, leading to his death. A New York grand jury refused to indict the white police officer Daniel Pantaleo, adding fuel to the flames of a nationwide protest movement against racism and police brutality.

Police seized every phone, camera and other storage device from the 19 bridge protesters after arresting them. Officers claimed they were seizing these personal belongings to use as evidence against the protesters and to identify the people who attended another protest earlier on the same day. As of Dec. 29, several phones and all cameras were still held in evidence.

The Jacksonville Sheriff Office sergeant at the scene originally told protesters they would receive verbal warnings and written citations for their offense, a misdemeanor in Florida. However, activists say the protesters were then arrested after a communication from Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford, who gave the order to arrest everyone.

Local activists say that Corey's office is hoping to make an example of Friar and the other protesters. The Hart Bridge shutdown came amid a citywide campaign launched by the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition demanding Corey's immediate resignation. Many of the Jacksonville 19 are active in the “Angela Corey Out Now” campaign.

Far and away, Corey's Fourth Judicial Circuit leads the state of Florida in direct commitment of juvenile offenders, most of whom are African American. From 2009 to 2013, Corey's office incarcerated 1475 juveniles in the Jacksonville area alone, compared to just 32 in Miami during the same period, according to the Florida Times-Union. In nearly four out of five of those cases, Corey threatened the juvenile defendant with being charged as an adult in order to coerce a plea deal, since adult charges carry harsher penalties.

While Florida and the U.S. incarcerate a disproportionate amount of African American and Latino people as a whole, the situation in Jacksonville is even more disastrous. In the entire state of Florida from 2006 to 2011, 52% of the male juvenile offenders tried as adults were African American, while white male juveniles comprised only 25% of those tried as adults. These inequalities alone are staggering, but in Corey's Fourth Judicial District during the same period, African American males comprised 70% of all juvenile offenders tried as adults, while white males comprised just 18%, according to an April 2014 report by Human Rights Watch.

Local activists will continue rallying support for the Jacksonville 19 throughout their court dates. They are demanding that Corey's office drop all charges on the protesters and return all belongings immediately.

#JacksonvilleFL #PoliceBrutality #EricGarner #DropTheCharges #Jacksonville19

Durham, NC – About 60 people marched to the Durham police headquarters, Dec. 19, to protest attacks by Durham riot police on peaceful protesters in recent weeks. The march kicked off with the chanting of Assata Shakur's words, “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains!”

Led by organizers with Southerners on New Ground (SONG), demonstrators brought with them over 500 petition signatures demanding an end to police repression of activists.

In response to the lack of indictments of police in Ferguson, Missouri and New York in the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, organizers in Durham have led several demonstrations over the last month, the largest of which saw hundreds occupy the streets of central Durham for hours. In several of these demonstrations, Durham police have reacted with force and deployed riot police to suppress the protesters. Adding insult to injury, the Durham police chief has also blamed “outside agitators” for the way protests have unfolded in recent weeks.

As a statement from SONG notes, “In response to a peaceful protest attended by hundreds of Durhamites and local university students, our police department dressed in riot gear, wielded nightsticks used to hit demonstrators at random, and deployed sound cannons. Several of the 31 people who were unjustly arrested on that night [Dec 5] also sustained injuries from being thrown to the ground, kicked, pinned-down, and otherwise roughed-up.”

Standing outside the police station, protesters formed a line around both sides of the building and shined lights on the windows to show that Durham citizens are watching police and will not tolerate police violence.

The protest came one day after about 50 people interrupted a city council meeting, denouncing the police attacks on protesters and demanding that city council take action.

Some city council members have criticized protesters for violating city ordinances and protest rules. In a call and response at the city council meeting, protesters called out “Which side are you on?”, then named civil rights icons and revolutionaries – such as Rosa Parks, Assata Shakur, Bayard Rustin and Martin Luther King Jr. – and detailed their ‘crimes’ of blocking traffic, disrupting business as usual and breaking laws.

The message was to point out, as Martin Luther King Jr. did, that “an unjust law is no law at all” and the real issue is not whether protesters block streets or highways, but that people want justice for Eric Garner and Michael Brown, and an end to police brutality, racist policing and political repression.

#DurhamNC #PoliceBrutality #PoliticalRepression #EricGarner #MichaelBrown #BlackLivesMatter

Bloomington, MN – Thousands of protesters shut down large sections of the biggest shopping mall in the U.S., the Mall of America (MOA), in the early afternoon of Dec. 20, demanding an end to police brutality. The mall rotunda was filled demonstrators with raised arms, chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot!”

Above the protesters in the rotunda, and alongside a giant artificial silver Christmas tree, a huge electronic billboard warned, “Those who continue to demonstrate will be subject to arrest.” More than 1000 protesters filled the store-lined corridors that radiate out from the mall’s rotunda. Some pressed through lines of mall security, with their hands raised and chanting. Many MOA stores closed up and riot-clad police could be seen marching up corridors. The protest continued until late afternoon.

A statement from demonstration organizers, Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, said, “Our basic demands are: an immediate end to the unjust police murders of unarmed Black people, including Black children and teens, and for Minnesota to take measures to eliminate the worst racial disparities in policing in the country.” The statement also called for a number of policy changes including, “adoption of legislation to end racial profiling, including an end to MOA’s illegal racial profiling.”

The protest was joined by many progressive Twin Cites organizations including the Anti-War Committee and the Welfare Rights Committee.

The protest at the Mall of America was one of the many that have taken place in recent months after the uprisings in Ferguson, Missouri in response to the police murder of Mike Brown, and the recent decision of a grand jury to let the New York cop who killed Eric Garner escape justice.

#BloomingtonMinnesota #BloomingtonMN #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #EricGarner #Ferguson #BlackLivesMatter #MallOfAmerica

Jacksonville, FL – On Dec. 15, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office returned some of the phones they seized from the 19 protesters who shut down the Hart Bridge last week.

The protesters, dubbed the Jacksonville 19 by local activists and media, stopped traffic on the bridge on Dec. 8 to demand justice for Eric Garner. Garner was the African American man who the NYPD choked, leading to his death. A New York grand jury refused to indict the white police officer Daniel Pantaleo, adding fuel to the flames of a nationwide protest movement against racism and police brutality.

Sheriff’s office staff called several protesters to let them know that they could pick up their phones from evidence. As of Dec. 15, police were still holding cameras belonging to protesters, and many phones and electronic storage devices remained in custody.

Police seized every phone, camera and other storage device from protesters after arresting them for obstructing traffic. Officers claimed they were seizing these personal belongings to use as evidence against the protesters and to identify the people who attended another protest earlier on the same day.

The Jacksonville Sheriff Office sergeant at the scene originally told protesters that they would receive verbal warnings and written citations for the offense, which is a misdemeanor in Florida. Activists say that the protesters were arrested after a communication from Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford, who gave the order to arrest everyone.

Immediately after the arrests on Dec. 8, the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition called an emergency jailhouse protest outside the John E. Goode Pre-trial Detention Facility, where police held the protesters for several hours. More than 30 people assembled outside chanting “Jail killer cops, not justice protesters!” and “Free the Jax justice fighters!”

With support from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, all 19 protesters were released or bonded out on Dec. 9.

One of the 19, Siddie Friar, was charged with two felonies. Police claim that Friar resisted arrest with violence and assaulted an officer. At a separate bond hearing for Friar on Dec. 9, State Attorney Angela Corey's office asked the judge to raise Friar's bond, using Facebook posts as evidence of her political activity. According to activists present at the bond hearing, some of the Facebook posts presented by prosecutors were obtained through Friar's phone. Friar was eventually released with the same bond as the others.

Police are still holding Friar's phone, along with many other devices.

The court appearance dates for the Jacksonville 19 are set for late December and early January. The Jacksonville Progressive Coalition, along with several other organizations, is calling on State Attorney Angela Corey to return all seized belongings to the protesters immediately and to drop all charges on the Jacksonville 19.

#JacksonvilleFl #PeoplesStruggles #NewYork #Florida #EricGarner #Ferguson #MikeBrown

Gainesville, FL – On Dec. 12, students and community members blocked the entrances to a basketball game between the University of Florida (UF) and Texas Southern University. The action was called as part of a growing movement to protest police killings of African Americans and Latinos in the U.S. This follows the failures to indict police officer Darren Wilson, who shot Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, as well as NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, who choked Eric Garner to death.

Around 130 people gathered at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center before the basketball game and held a die-in at the entrance as the doors opened. Then, the group moved to the student gate, blocking the entrance doors and the sidewalks leading to the other doors. Despite university personnel opening and closing certain entrances based on the location of the protesters, the group was able to finalize its position at the student entrance.

Trenton Brooks of the UF Dream Defenders explained, “Our action today was to show that people cannot just go about their lives as if it's simply business as usual. There are systemic problems in this country and ignoring them just isn't an option.”

Chants included “No justice! No peace! No racist police!” and one specifically for the occasion “You only care about us when we are in jerseys!”

Farah Khan, of UF Students for a Democratic Society, talked about the impact the protest had on the game, “It definitely shook people up and left both attendants of the game and administration completely disoriented. Not a single person at that game could ignore us.”

#GainesvilleFl #PeoplesStruggles #UniversityOfFlorida #Antiracism #UF #EricGarner #Ferguson #MikeBrown #BlackLivesMatter

The protesters, dubbed the 'Jacksonville 19' by local activists and media, stopped traffic on the bridge on Dec. 8 to demand justice for Eric Garner. Garner was the African-American man who NYPD choked, leading to his death. A New York grand jury refused to indict the white police officer Daniel Pantaleo, continuing a nationwide protest movement against racism and police brutality.

On the morning of Dec. 8, about a dozen protesters parked cars and blocked traffic on I-95 northbound. Carrying signs that read, “Black lives matter” and “I can't breathe,” the group halted traffic until police arrived and forced them onto a nearby overpass.

Then in the afternoon, 19 protesters blocked traffic on the Hart Bridge. The protesters slowed their cars to a crawl on the two-lane highway and many walked between the cars holding signs. Police eventually led the protesters off the bridge to a parking garage near EverBank Field, where they detained the entire crowd.

According to several activists, police informed the crowd they would be receiving verbal warnings and written citations for obstructing traffic. However, activists say, the police sergeant then received an order from Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford to arrest all 19 protesters.

The protesters were held in a parking garage near the John E. Goode Pre-trial Detention Facility for several hours. Police seized everyone's phones, cameras and other media storage devices, claiming them as evidence to identify the activists who attended the morning traffic shutdown. No cell phones or other seized devices are yet returned to protesters as of Dec. 12.

Most of the protesters were charged with obstructing traffic, a misdemeanor in Florida. They were given court dates and released in the middle of the night, after a jailhouse solidarity protest called by the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition (JPC).

However one protester, Siddie Friar, was charged with two felonies – one for resisting arrest with violence and the other for assaulting an officer. Friar was held longer, and State Attorney Angela Corey pushed the judge to raise her bond. Corey's office sent several attorneys who presented printouts of Friar's Facebook posts to argue for raising her bond. The judge kept her bond the same, and later that night, activists from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the JPC bonded her out.

Most of the protesters, the Jacksonville 19, are scheduled for court appearances in late December. The Jacksonville Progressive Coalition and other groups are calling on State Attorney Angela Corey to drop all charges against the protesters and return all seized items immediately.

#JacksonvilleFL #PoliceBrutality #JacksonvilleProgressiveCoalition #EricGarner #BlackLivesMatter #Jacksonville19

Gainesville, FL- 350 people, mostly students, marched from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in downtown Gainesville to the intersection of University Avenue and 13th Street. In a dramatic action on Dec. 8, they marched through busy streets and then shut down the important intersection for 11 minutes in solidarity with Eric Garner.

Protesters began gathering at 4:00 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial statue near City Hall. People were asked to show up wearing black and to bring black signs. Nailah Summers, coordinator of the Civic Media Center, began the event by inspiring the crowd with a variation of an Assata Shakur quote, “We have a duty to fight. We have a duty to win. We have the duty to love each other and protect each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains!” The crowds repeated after her as they filed into the heavy traffic of University Avenue.

The march took up two lanes, completely blocking the cars on one side of the road, while protesters chanted, “Black lives matter!” and “If we don’t get no justice, then you don’t get no peace!” Three police cars tailed the protesters closely. Onlookers took pictures, put their fists up in solidarity and a couple even joined the march.

The protesters arrived at University and 13th, one of the busiest intersections in Gainesville, at the height of rush hour. The crowds formed a giant circle, ensuring that no cars could get past them. At the center of the circle two protesters held a silver coffin while a Dream Defender activist gave a eulogy and spoke, “You tell us to fear ISIS, and yet every time I pass the police, I hold my breath!”

Protesters stood in the intersection for 11 minutes. This symbolized the 11 times Eric Garner said, “I can’t breathe”, as NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo strangled him. At the end of the 11 minutes, everyone turned to face the cars and yelled, “What side are you on?”

Eric Brown, with Students for a Democratic Society, said “I think we're at a tipping point where people are tired of the status quo and are willing to literally put their bodies on the line to ensure that the systematic killings of Black bodies in America stops. The number of people who came out today is promising for future organizing around issues of national oppression. Ferguson is everywhere, and we have an obligation to use the air that Eric Garner can no longer inhale to fight for liberation.”

Brittany King, an organizer with University of Florida Dream Defenders, spoke about future plans in Gainesville, “We want Gainesville to wake up and realize that just because it doesn’t happen in Gainesville, it doesn’t mean it’s not happening everywhere else. While people are sleeping, more people are dying. Today was a testament that Gainesville is prepared to wake up and prepared to join the movement!”

People left the intersection and gathered into an empty lot where the event ended on a high note with plans for future action and chants of “I believe that we will win!”

#GainesvilleFl #GainesvilleFL #NewYork #Florida #EricGarner #Ferguson #MikeBrown #ShutItDown #BlackLivesMatter

Jacksonville, FL – Nearly 20 protesters were arrested by Jacksonville police for blocking afternoon traffic on the Hart Bridge on Dec. 8. The protesters staged the demonstration in response to the recent decision by a New York grand jury to not indict white police officer Daniel Pantaleo whose choking of Eric Garner, an African American man, led to his to death.

Jacksonville police gave citations to several protesters who were not directly in the street. According to protesters at the bridge, police gave no warning before making arrests. Those who were arrested were taken immediately to holding at the John E. Goode Pre-Trial Detention Facility downtown.

When news broke of the arrests, several community organizations rallied people outside of the Pre-Trial Detention Facility, demanding the immediate release of all protesters and that all charges be dropped. Members of the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition, the Black Lawyers for Justice, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the New Jim Crow Movement and the 904 Activist Alliance chanted and held signs outside. Many passing jailhouse visitors expressed their support. The crowd chanted, “Free the Jax justice protesters” and “Jail killer cops, not justice protesters” as the demonstration continued into the night.

Most of the protesters were charged with obstructing traffic, while several were charged with violations of probation. Police also charged one protester with “resisting arrest with violence” under questionable circumstances. At around 11:40 p.m. on Dec. 8, the arrested protesters posted bond and were expecting to be released early on Dec. 9.

The Hart Bridge shutdown was not the only protest of the day. Early on the morning of Dec. 8, about a dozen Jacksonville protesters parked cars and blocked traffic on I-95 northbound. Carrying signs that read “Black lives matter” and “I can't breathe,” the group halted traffic until police arrived and forced them onto a nearby overpass. From the overpass, they continued holding signs and chanting.

Supporters of the Jax Justice Fighters met at the Jacksonville Pre-trial Detention Facility at 8:00 a.m. on Dec. 9 to demand that authorities drop all charges against the protesters.

#JacksonvilleFL #PoliceBrutality #EricGarner

Gainesville, FL – 150 students participated in a die-in, called for by the University of Florida’s chapter of Dream Defenders, Dec. 5, to protest ongoing police brutality in the U.S. After the decision to not indict the NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo who murdered Eric Garner, protests gained speed all over the U.S.

The Gainesville action demanded an end to racist police violence and justice for Eric Garner, Mike Brown, and other African American people killed and brutalized by the police.

Protesters wore all black and met in the campus’s busiest area, Turlington Plaza, at 12:35 p.m. on Dec. 5 to stage a die-in during class change. Two Dream Defenders shouted out in unison, “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” before dropping to the ground, with everyone else falling down around them. It was a powerful visual that caused everyone to stop and stare, blocking off Turlington plaza.

After four and a half minutes, Trenton Brooks from Dream Defenders gave an emotional speech, standing up and addressing the gathering crowd, “We can’t breathe like we’re in the eye of a hurricane, but we know FEMA isn’t coming…We can’t breathe, because we can’t stand the injustice…bodies are falling day after day, night after night. Every 28 hours a Black human being is killed by the police. If you’re still breathing, you better hold your breath.”

After all the participants in the die-in stood up, Azaari Mason of UF Dream Defenders urged protesters, “Keep the fight up! The struggle is not over. It is just beginning.”

#GainesvilleFL #PoliceBrutality #UniversityOfFlorida #EricGarner #DieIn

Minneapolis, MN – Over 200 high school students from Patrick Henry, Hopkins and South High Schools came together here, Dec. 7, to protest racist police killings and the failure to indict the cops who killed Mike Brown and Eric Gardner. The students started at the steps of the Minneapolis Public Library with speeches and spoken word.

One woman's spoken word performance really resonated with the crowd, “The trust has been crushed...the fabric of a just society was has been shredded. This government that claims it respects me, claims to protect me, claims accepts me, claims to defend me. These claims are pretend and when will it end? This government is but a husk that contains the dreams of power hungry rich whites...founded by an obsession for oppression. Justice is prolong and a lot has gone wrong...but the youth is still here...we will always fight because this is our future and these our lives.”

After the speeches, the students took to the streets for a spirited march through downtown's business sections, chanting, “Black lives matter!” and “No justice, no peace! Prosecute the police!” The march continued across the Hennepin Avenue bridge over the Mississippi River and back, then on to City hall where protesters held a die-in to honor Mike Brown.

Larry Whiten, 16, South High School student stated, “It is important for the youth in our community to come together. To create awareness about the unjust crimes that is happening to youth just like us. We need to spread the awareness because incidents, such as the one in Ferguson, are no longer isolated.”

Maeve Handley, 16, also from South High school added, “It shows that we, the next generation, know and care about what is going on. We are standing up and speaking out because we don't like the government's responses to these killings. We know they are lying to us. We aren't going to take it.”

#MinneapolisMN #PoliceBrutality #EricGarner #highSchool

The protest snowballed as it moved across campus, attracting more students with shouts of “Black lives matter!” and “Indict, convict, send those killers cops to jail!” The large group disrupted lunchtime in the student union building with a mass die-in. They then showed that even in the quietest library, the people would not be silenced. Chanting students occupied a bridge between academic buildings and the campus mall, attracting the attention of everyone on campus.

Similar to actions across the U.S., the Truman State protest voiced student outrage at recent grand jury decisions. The failure to indict the police officers that murdered Michael Brown and Eric Garner denies justice, with police seldom standing trial for their crimes. Much of the TSU student body comes from the Saint Louis area and several Truman students demonstrated in Ferguson during the semester. Earlier this fall in Saint Louis, two students participating in a QuikTrip sit-in were beaten, arrested and charged with unlawful assembly. Organizers were excited by the overwhelming turnout of students opposing the racist state violence targeting African American people, just as it has throughout U.S. history.

#KirksvilleMO #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #PoliceBrutality #EricGarner #MichaelBrown #Ferguson #TrumanStateUniversity

Miami, FL- Over 500 people marched through the streets of Miami on Dec. 5 in response to a grand jury’s refusal to indict New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo who killed Eric Garner. The protest called for an end to police violence against African Americans, Latinos and other oppressed people in the U.S.

What began as a vigil for victims of police brutality quickly turned into a militant mass march. The protesters chanted, “No justice, no peace! No racist police!” as they bravely took to the streets. Before long, the demonstrators marched out onto one of Miami’s largest and busiest highways chanting, “Whose streets? Our streets!” Interstate 195 came to a halt for 30 minutes. One driver attempted to push through the crowd, revving his engine aggressively. Not to be intimidated, the group of protesters locked arms, preventing him from getting through.

The large crowd then walked against oncoming traffic, shouting, “If we don’t get it, shut it down!” They walked for over a mile along the highway before exiting on Biscayne Boulevard. Many of the drivers left their cars to take pictures and chant in solidarity with the protesters, others honked their horns in support. The next stop was Miami’s Wynwood art district, where all roads leading to and from the Art Basel, an international art festival, were shut down.

At this point the protest surged, as more and more people left the sidewalks and joined the march. It culminated in a huge die-in that covered an entire intersection of downtown Miami. The silent die-in lasted four minutes and thirty seconds to commemorate the police killing of Mike Brown, whose body was left lying in the road by Ferguson police for four hours and 30 minutes.

The protest, organized by the Miami Committee on State Violence, was part of the recent wave of protests taking place nationally.

#MiamiFL #PoliceBrutality #EricGarner #I195

Salt Lake City, UT – Hundreds of people rallied at the Wallace Bennett Federal Building the night of Dec. 6, the latest in an ongoing string of protests organized by Utah Against Police Brutality. After the failure to indict Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, a grand jury in Staten Island let NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo walk away without charges. Officer Pantaleo used an illegal chokehold on Eric Garner, resulting in what the coroner ruled a homicide.

In the state of Utah, police are reportedly killing people at a higher rate than drug dealers, gang members and child abusers are. The large crowd remembered local victims of police violence such as Dillon Taylor, Danielle Willard and Darrien Hunt. The recently formed Utah Against Police Brutality is working with the families of police murder victims in an effort to jail killer cops and end the violence.

The rally started with Chris Manor speaking the final words of Eric Garner, and the group echoing, “I can't breathe!” Manor, an organizer with Utah Against Police Brutality said, “It's not just that racism is institutional or systemic, racism is the institutions and racism is the system. It's the courts and Congress, the jails and the schools, it is the police and the military.”

Lex Scott of the United Front Party spoke about the recent string of murders targeting unarmed African Americans including Tamir Rice, Akai Gurley and Mike Brown. “The police are killing us.”

Gregory Lucero, of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, called the murder of Eric Garner a lynching. “As a Chicano man in occupied Aztlán, I could be the next person with six bullets in my back.” Lucero continued, “This isn't about hating white folks, this is about respecting our right to self-determination.”

Jessica Arter encouraged people to get involved with Utah Against Police Brutality to organize better and make demands. Arter, who teaches preschool, said “I want all the children in my preschool to grow up and have a future.”

Palestinian American woman Muna Omar talked about the outrageous collaboration between the NYPD and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) who share training and tactics. Omar also pointed out that as a Palestinian, she knows what oppression is and that she recognizes it in America.

DaKishia Reid of the Cedar City Peace and Justice Coalition recognized the youth in the crowd and how important it was for them to be involved in the struggle. Reid, quoting Angela Davis, lead people in a chant, “I'm no longer accepting the things I cannot change... I'm changing the things I cannot accept.”

Hundreds of protesters then took the streets. They attempted to march through the Mormon Church-owned City Creek mall to take their message to the people, but were blocked off by police. Protesters then marched up Main Street where they held a die-in on the street, blocking off Salt Lake City’s light-rail train.

The mass of protesters next marched through Temple Square at the very heart of Salt Lake City. Many were out to see the holiday lighting and were surprised when protesters marched through the Latter Day Saints temple area and held another die-in.

Locking arms and chanting slogans such as “Black lives matter” and “Shut it down!” the march continued down State Street, blocking motor traffic with police scrambling on the scene. At major intersections protesters staged die-ins. The group went to another public holiday site, Gallivan Plaza, where ice skaters stood gaping at another die-in in front of a large Christmas tree. One protester remarked, “This will the first Christmas where many families are going to be missing their loved ones who were stolen by police violence.”

The march ended up back at the Federal Building where protesters locked arms and held the perimeter of an intersection, as police watched. The group forced any motorists that attempted to get through to turn back. One motorist attempted to drive through protesters, but the group immediately stopped the driver and recorded the license plate.

As the rally closed out, Gregory Lucero reminded protesters of the importance of security culture. “We don't talk to law enforcement.” Lucero emphasized that law enforcement will look for any opportunity to divide a movement.

Utah Against Police Brutality will hold an organizing meeting on Dec. 17 at the Salt Lake City Public Library. For more info: https://www.facebook.com/utahagainstpolicybrutality

#SaltLakeCityUT #PoliceBrutality #EricGarner #UtahAgainstPoliceBrutality

Minneapolis, MN – The Twin Cities-based Anti-War Committee marked the upcoming International Human Rights Day on Dec. 6 with a community march to highlight the U.S. government’s abysmal human rights record. Chants and speakers addressed the recent grand jury decisions in Ferguson and New York, the U.S. role in funding war and destruction abroad and the consequences of these policies here at home on social spending. Protesters rallied at Bryant Square Park, marched on Lake Street and then had a concluding rally at Karmel West.

Meredith Aby-Keirstead, an organizer with the Anti-War Committee, explained the importance of this year’s rally, “It’s important to talk about the U.S.’s horrible human rights record every year, but this year we have seen thousands of people in Minnesota take to the streets demanding an end to U.S.-sponsored human rights abuses in Palestine and to demand an end to police murders of African Americans in the U.S. There is a relationship between the warfare the U.S. sponsors abroad and what is happening in communities of color throughout this country and people want to take to the streets to demand social justice and real change.”

Laye Kwamina, a Minneapolis Southwest High School student, read an original poem which moved audience members to tears about the realities for African American men in the U.S. Kwamina is one of the organizers for the Dec. 8 student rally at the downtown Minneapolis Library against police brutality and he encouraged participants to continue protesting against police brutality.

Karmel Sabri, a Palestinian American activist with the Anti-War Committee explained at the closing rally how U.S. tax dollars sponsor Israeli military human rights abuses.

Jim Dimock, an anti-war activist and professor at Minnesota State University Mankato, spoke about human rights conditions in Colombia and the disastrous role that U.S. economic and military aid play in fanning the flames of Colombia’s civil war. The Anti-War Committee will be holding a more in-depth report-back with Dimock in January.

Mary Beaudoin, editor of the Women Against Military Madness newsletter, attended the recent trial of Rasmea Odeh and spoke out against the countless injustices visited on Odeh in her trial. Beaudoin called on the protesters to continue to demand #justice4Rasmea.

The protest was organized by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee and was endorsed by the Coalition for Palestinian Rights, the MN Immigrant Rights Action Coalition, the MN Peace Action Coalition, U of M Students for a Democratic Society, U of M Students for Justice in Palestine, Women Against Military Madness and the Welfare Rights Committee.

#MinneapolisMN #PoliceBrutality #TwinCitiesAntiWarCommittee #EricGarner #Ferguson #InternationalHumanRightsDay

Chicago, IL – Over 100 people rallied and marched here to demand justice for Eric Garner, Michael Brown and all police crime victims. The demonstration was called by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

Speakers included Emmett Farmer, whose son Flint was gunned down and killed by a Chicago police officer in 2011 while he was lying on his stomach. Bertha Escamilla spoke about her son, Nick, a victim of the infamous torturer, police officer Jon Burge. Joyce Brown demanded answers surrounding the death of her son Charles. In April, 20-year-old Charles Brown was shot and killed by the police in the suburb of Harvey.

The protest then marched to the police station at 71st and Cottage Grove Streets. The march was led by community members and Mark Clement, an activist with the Alliance and another victim of Jon Burge. Clement spent 27 years in prison after having been tortured into confessing to crimes he didn’t commit. The 3rd District station had been under the command of Glenn Evans, the cop who was indicted for shoving his pistol down an unarmed man's throat, pressing a Taser against his groin and threatening to kill him. In front of the police station the crowd held die-ins, blocking traffic. The march continued, eventually covering seven miles, and blocking Lake Shore Drive.

The Alliance has a campaign to bring an end to police control of the African American and Latino communities. They have gathered over 10,000 signatures for an elected Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC), to hold the police accountable for their crimes.

#ChicagoIL #PoliceBrutality #EricGarner #ICantBreathe

Tampa, FL – Over 250 protesters gathered on Dec. 5 to protest police terror and to end the killing of African American men by the police. Protesters demanded “Jail killer cops” – like police officer Darren Wilson who shot Mike Brown to death in Ferguson, Missouri, and officer Daniel Pantaleo who killed Eric Garner in New York.

The nationwide protests follow the grand jury decision not to indict the NYPD’s Daniel Pantaleo, observed on video choke-holding Eric Garner who died saying, “I can’t breathe.” This failure to indict follows the Ferguson grand jury failure just two weeks earlier.

100 protesters initially gathered at Lykes Gaslight Park in downtown Tampa for the march. After several rounds of chanting and fiery speeches, protesters took the streets in an unpermitted march. The protest quickly grew in number, more than doubling to 250 people.

Protesters marched up Kennedy Boulevard, halting traffic across two intersections, before stopping on the Lafayette Street Bridge over the Hillsborough River. Protesters continued across the bridge, then turned around and headed back over the bridge. They then marched towards Curtis Hixon Park where Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn was hosting a tree lighting ceremony. Protesters filed into the ceremony and drowned out a Christmas themed concert, chanting, “I can’t breathe!” and “No justice, no peace. No killer police!” The band finished their song and quickly filed off stage. Afterwards, protesters once again marched back to Lykes Gaslight Park, where they finished with more speeches.

Crystal Wilson of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee said, “It's obvious that people are angry and tired of this system of police violence, and if this continues the people will only get more sick and more tired. The only thing we want is an end to the violence against our communities.”

Reign Hervey, a student at the University of South Florida had to say, “If we all don't get together we won't see any change. If the people want change, we're going to have fight for it here in the streets.”

Protests are planned for both Sarasota and Saint Petersburg, Florida over next few days.

#TampaFL #PoliceBrutality #EricGarner #ICantBreathe

Asheville, NC – Over 100 people marched to protest the police murder of Eric Garner, an African American man killed by a white cop in New York. A grand jury failed to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, despite a graphic video showing the police officer choke-holding Garner from behind. The large crowd in Asheville marched from the Buncombe County Courthouse to the center of downtown to rally and stage a die in against police brutality on Dec. 6. Despite the rain, protesters, led by students, chanted, “Hands up, don’t shoot!” and “We are unstoppable, another world is possible!”

Social Work students from Western Carolina University in conjunction with Political Science students from the University of North Carolina-Asheville will host a candle light vigil to remember Eric Garner and other victims of state-sanctioned violence. The vigil will be in downtown Asheville on Dec. 7, from 5:30 -7:30 p.m.

The event is at https://www.facebook.com/events/1515007828783170/

#AshevilleNC #PoliceBrutality #EricGarner

Jacksonville, FL – On Dec. 5, nearly 100 protesters gathered in downtown Jacksonville to demand justice for Eric Garner, the New York African American man who was choked to death by police. The protest was called in response to the decision by a New York grand jury earlier in the week to not indict the police officer who killed Garner.

Activists from Jacksonville's Black community, along with groups like the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, organized the event. The Jacksonville protest happened simultaneously with other demonstrations across the state of Florida and the entire country against racism and police brutality.

Just after sunset, people began assembling at the entrance of Hemming Plaza in downtown with homemade rally signs that read “We the people indict this racist system,” and “Justice for Eric Garner.” Some protesters placed masking tape over their mouths and wrote the words, “I can't breathe” across it, which Garner said 11 times before dying from the police officer's chokehold.

As the crowd grew larger, they broke into chants of “Justice for Eric Garner” and “Black lives matter,” which became a rallying cry for protesters after the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri this summer. Like Garner's case, a majority-white grand jury declined to indict the white police officer who killed Brown in late November.

Several speakers from social justice and civil rights organizations addressed the crowd. Bobby Worthy, a member of the Jacksonville branch of the New Black Panther Party, spoke out against Florida State Attorney Angela Corey and her persecution of Black youth in north Florida. Worthy pointed out that Corey's office never charges police officers after shooting Black men, but she ruthlessly prosecuted Marissa Alexander, the 33-year old African-American mother who recently took a plea deal after defending herself from domestic abuse.

After hearing from the speakers, protesters broke into thunderous chants of “I can't breathe!” and prepared to march through the plaza. Just 30 yards away from the protest, another crowd had assembled for Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown's annual holiday tree-lighting ceremony. The protesters continued chanting as they marched through the seating aisles and around the stage of the ceremony. At one point, the volume of chanting overpowered the band.

As the protest continued, the staff for the holiday ceremony cranked the amplifier volume to high levels in order to drown out the chanting. This caused many in the audience to leave the event early. Some joined the protesters.

When the protesters arrived back at the entrance of the plaza, they held a die-in for four-and-a-half minutes, which symbolizes the four-and-a-half hours that Michael Brown's body was left in the hot noonday sun after he was killed by Ferguson police. Everyone laid down on the ground and began chanting, “Hands up, don't shoot.”

The atmosphere was energetic and lively as several speakers closed out the event.

“They kill our people every 28 hours,” said Estefania Galvis of the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition. Galvis' statement references a study by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement from 2013, which found that police or vigilantes kill a Black man every 28 hours. “The last thing I heard two weeks ago was that there was a police incident in our community and I got a text from a friend saying was someone close to us,” said Galvis at the end of the event. “I don't want anyone here to be the next victim of police killings.”

#JacksonvilleFL #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #JacksonvilleProgressiveCoalition #EricGarner

Durham, NC – About 500 people took to the streets of Durham on Dec. 5 to protest police brutality and the criminal injustice system. Hundreds gathered in Durham's downtown CCB Plaza and rallied for an hour, where mainly African American speakers relayed story after story of police abuse and racist discrimination.

After the rally, a powerful Black and Brown-led march kicked off from the square down to the city jail, where protesters formed a human bridge across multiple lanes of traffic, while several others held a die-in. Hundreds chanted, “No justice, no peace, no racist police!” Dozens of prisoners in the jail banged on windows in support of the protest.

The protest then marched down to the Durham freeway and blocked both directions of traffic for nearly an hour before returning back to the jail. Riot police and SWAT team were on hand. The Durham police tried to use an LRAD sound cannon in a failed attempt to disperse the protest.

After hours of marching, the police arrested 31 protesters. Despite the arrests and police repression, and the heartache felt by so many who have been directly affected by police brutality, the overall mood was one of anger, courage and willingness to struggle to get justice for Eric Garner, Mike Brown and all those who have been killed by racist cops.

#DurhamNC #PoliceBrutality #EricGarner #MichaelBrown #LRAD