Fort Worth, TX – Over 800 community members gathered on Saturday, January 10 for an ICE Out of Fort Worth protest at General Worth Square. The protest was announced shortly after the murder of Renee Nicole Good at the hands of ICE in Minneapolis.

Attendees carried signs reading, “Justice for Keith Porter & Renee Good” and “Arrest Jonathan Ross for murder now,” among many others.

After the speeches, community members marched around downtown Fort Worth calling out Fort Worth’s cooperation with immigration enforcement. Attendees chanted “No ICE, no KKK, no racist USA,” “ICE out now, and “Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here.”

Martin Ramirez with the Dallas Chapter of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR Dallas) said, “NAARPR’s attendance at the Fort Worth protest was an act of solidarity in response to the ongoing national crisis of state repression carried out by ICE and the lives lost to state violence over the past year. NAARPR is organizing locally to confront these harms directly, including ICE raids, kidnappings and broader patterns of state abuse and neglect affecting our community members across the North Texas metroplex.”

Andy Ayala, giving a speech for NAARPR Dallas, closed with, “We are not scared. We will not back down. You have started something here, and we will continue to act in solidarity with Renee Nicole Good. We will carry her in our minds, in our hearts, and in our fiery spirits in all the work we do to bring an end to the very injustices Renee Nicole Good fought against.”

#FortWorthTX #ImmigrantRights #ReneeGood

CYBERQUEST is a security competition and STEM event for high school students created by the weapons manufacturer. These competitions are held around the U.S to recruit students in major cities; some on this year's list including Denver and Orlando. The previous competition, Code Quest, was held in Grand Prairie, Texas earlier this month.

Josh Rudd from the Dallas Fort Worth Anti-War Committee said, “This CYBERQUEST event we’re here protesting is trying to recruit high school students to work for genocidal war profiteer Lockheed Martin. We condemn our tax dollars, our labor, our natural resources, and our students’ futures being churned up into the war machine. We’re here to demand an end to CYBERQUEST, an end to Lockheed Martin, and an end to the genocide in Gaza.”

Jumana Saadeh, a local member of Code Pink, also spoke out, “Working at Lockheed Martin is not just a job, it is a choice you make to support and work for a company that is arming a state that is currently committing a genocide.”

While protesters chanted, “Stop the killings stop the crimes! Lockheed out of Palestine” and “Lockheed what do you say? How many kids have you killed today?” a Navy plane was spotted leaving the base, to which Josh Rudd brought up to the crowd how many much money was spent into the weapons plant compared to the homeless and poor people in Fort Worth.

Lockheed’s Fort Worth location is known as U.S Air Force Plant 4 and is jointly owned by the government as a key production hub for the F-35, the most expensive military project in U.S history. Annually $21 billion dollars in defense contracts are given to Lockheed's Dallas-Fort Worth facilities, most of it to the Fort Worth location. This amount is equal to a fourth of the discretionary budget of the Department of Education.

Members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, DFW Anti-War committee and the Party for Socialism and Liberation participated in the protest.

#FortWorthTX #TX #AntiWarMovement #Palestine

Fort Worth, TX – On March 17, 600 union members from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, American Postal Workers Union, National Rural Letter Carriers Association and International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, along with others rallied in support of the Molson Coors Teamsters of Local 997, who are fighting for a decent.

General President of the Teamsters Sean O’Brien and General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman attended the rally.

O’Brien stated, “Today we have a great opportunity to take on corporate America, and thankfully we have the support of rank-and-file members nationwide to make certain that we hold this white collar crime syndicate – Molson Coors – accountable and make certain that they picked fight with the wrong union”

The Molson Coors Teamsters are demanding better cost of living adjustments to counteract inflation, an end to the two tier system that allows varying wages for workers, and to remove forced 12-hour shifts. The company met with the workers but did not negotiate in good faith and even tried to remove health care benefits. The company has not yet come back to the table to negotiate a new contract, which has forced the union members to go to the picket line.

Local 997 member Jeff Pruitt said, “We are out here for every plant out here, and we're out here for the American worker as everyone is struggling to pay their bills.”

The rally ended with chants such as “What do we want? Contract! If we don't get it? Shut it down!”

#FortWorthTX #TX #Labor #Teamsters #Coors #Contract #Teamsters997 #APWU #NRLCA #IATSE

The trial relates to events on October 19, 2019, when Dean fatally shot Atatiana Jefferson in her living room after being called to the house for a welfare check. Jefferson, who was 28, was caring for her eight-year-old nephew at the time, and he witnessed the killing.

The trial now moves to the sentencing phase. The same jury that convicted Dean will decide Dean’s fate. The range of punishment is from two years to 20 years in prison, or probation.

Protesters from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression were present outside the courthouse when the trial began on Monday, December 5. Other members of the Alliance were at the courthouse through the trial.

Olinka Greene, a community activist and member of NAARPR-Dallas, commented on the verdict: “He killed that girl. Manslaughter, that’s what you give this dude? And we expect justice from these people. We expect justice?”

Ammar Hussein, another member of the Alliance, added, “This is a very partial victory, but it is definitely a victory. In the entire history of Fort Worth, this is the first time that a police officer has been convicted of any crime for an on-duty killing. People need to remember why this is happening. Over and over we have been told that protesting will not change anything. But since the first outbreak of BLM protests in 2015, three Dallas County police officers have been sent to prison for murder, and now finally there is a conviction in Fort Worth, even if it is only manslaughter. This conviction is the fruit of all the protests for Black lives, in Fort Worth, Dallas, and around the country. Aaron Dean was tried and convicted of manslaughter only because the authorities are still running scared from the George Floyd uprising.”

NAARPR-Dallas has called for a protest on the day of sentencing at the 396th District Court in Fort Worth. As Hussein explained, “We got this far by pressure, and the pressure will keep up until we get justice.”

The trial of Dean comes after three years and at least six prior trial dates which were postponed. At the defense’s request, the judge originally assigned to the case was replaced with George Gallagher, a judge well known for an incident of excessive use of a shock belt on an inmate.

#FortWorthTX #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #NAARPR

Fort Worth, TX – On Saturday, December 5, over 20 protesters showed up at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in downtown Fort Worth, where Fort Work police officer Aaron Dean was on trial for the murder of Atatiana Jefferson.

Jefferson, an African-American woman was shot by Dean, who fired through her window with no warning while she was playing videogames with her nephew. The protest demanded justice for her and condemned the court for not including any African Americans on the jury. The rally was organized by the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression – Dallas.

Rick Majumdar of NAARPR Dallas called for justice for Atatiana and denounced the decision to not include any African Americans on the jury. Majumdar also state that Aaron Dean, when a student at the University of Texas at Arlington, was reprimanded for the sexual assault of another student.

Rick Majumdar stated, “Justice has been denied for three years, how many times has this trial been pushed back, how many times? Six times this case has been pushed back. That's not right!”

Majumdar continued, “We are out here today to say that justice may be delayed but it will not be denied. Aaron Dean must go to jail. We don't want killer cops on these streets.”

Dominique Jones of the Party for Socialism and Liberation condemned white supremacy and the murder of Atatiana.

Xavi Velasquez of La Frontera Nos Cruzo spoke to the connection of the Chicano struggle and the Black struggle in their opposition to racist police terror: “The same kind of racist fucking police that throw Latino and Mexican and all sorts of people from South America into cages, separate families and brutalize them, are the same people who shoot and kill Black people, and, as a Hispanic person, I feel

strongly that we stand together in solidarity.”

“The only way we are going to fix this shit is if we stand together and organize,” Velasquez declared

#FortWorthTX #PoliceBrutality #GrandJuries #DallasAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression

Fort Worth, TX – More than 40 protesters gathered at the Carswell federal prison, March 30, to demand freedom for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and the other women political prisoners held here.

Hundreds of cars slowed as they passed by, to see what the protest was about. The saw a large banner with Aafia Siddiqui’s face and the demand “Free Aafia” along with signs demanding freedom for Aafia Siddiqui and jailed activist attorney Lynne Stewart.

Jess Sundin, of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, called for the release of Siddiqui and the other political prisoners held at Carswell, including the Colombian revolutionary “Sonia,” people's attorney Lynne Stewart and environmentalist Marie Mason. Sundin was one of the anti-war activists raided by the FBI in 2010.

Mauri’ Saalakhan, of the Peace Thru Justice Foundation, told the crowd, “This demonstration is important. Our presence here two years ago broke through some of the isolation of sister Aafia. Five days after our protest, she was allowed her first phone call home to Karachi, to talk to her mother, her sister and two of her children. A couple months after that, she was allowed her first visitor, her brother Mohamed.”

The protest at Carswell is a part of a growing movement to stop political repression in the U.S.

#FortWorthTX #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #JessSundin #PoliticalPrisoners #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #DrAafiaSiddiqui #CarswellFederalPrison

Fort Worth, TX – About 60 people gathered here at the U.S. District Court building, March 29, to demand “Free Aafia Siddiqui!” Dr. Siddiqui is a Pakistani woman who was kidnapped in Pakistan and tortured. She is now a political prisoner held in a Texas prison.

Among the speakers at the protest was former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

Jess Sundin, who is one of the anti-war activist raided by the FBI in 2010, told the crowd, “It's an honor to stand with you today, to demand justice for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. Her imprisonment stands as a shameful example of the crimes carried out by the U.S. government across the globe in the interests of empire and under the banner of the so-called war on terror.”

A statement from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression notes that nearby Carswell federal prison is where the U.S. holds its women political prisoners, including for Dr. Siddiqui, activist attorney Lynn Stewart, and the Colombian rebel “Sonia” – Anayibe Rojas Valderrama.

Sundin said, “We stand with Colombian revolutionary ‘Sonia’, people's attorney Lynne Stewart, and environmentalist Marie Mason, all imprisoned right here in Carswell.”

#FortWorthTX #PoliticalPrisoner #AnayibeSoniaValderrama #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #DrAafiaSiddiqui #InjusticeSystem #Pakistan