Chicago, IL – “This is only a pinch of what we're going to do in August,” Merawi Gerima said to 150 people who rallied outside the 18th District police station on the Near Northside of Chicago, May 19.

Gerima is one of the co-chairs of the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Torture (CFIST), a campaign of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR). The main target of CFIST is the governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, who has the power to grant clemency to every one of the hundreds of people who are still incarcerated despite their convictions being the proven result of torture by police.

“What’s going on in these prisons is horrendous. People are treated like animals. People like Rico Clark and Lester Owens are locked up by corrupt cops like Brian Forberg for crimes they didn't commit,” said Darien Harris, who spent over 12 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted, describing how the entire legal system, from police and prosecutors to judges and politicians, is guilty of mass torture and false imprisonment.

Protesters later heard a recorded message from Rico Clark, who is currently incarcerated. Clark explained the continuity between chattel slavery and today's prison system.

Protesters also admonished Pritzker and other politicians for their support of the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

“Pritzker has the power to grant clemency today. Pritzker has the power to stop funding Israel today. We are here to demand he uses that power for real justice,” Akiesha Lee, a member of Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL) said after police barricaded protesters several blocks from Pritzker's house.

“Palestinians understand all too well the dehumanization and brutality that Black and brown people in this country face, as our people in Palestine also face the same kind of dehumanization and violence from the U.S.-backed, white supremacist, illegal Zionist occupation,” Nick Sous, a leading member of the Chicago chapter of US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) explained. USPCN is also a leading organization in the Coalition to March on the DNC.

“Black people and other oppressed people stand in solidarity with Palestine because we have mutual pain and suffering caused by the same enemy, so we have to unite and fight against that,” CAARPR Field Organizer Frank Chapman said at the end of the rally program.

“To these Democrats and Republicans, I want to say your time is up! We're going to fight and we're going to get justice from Chicago to Palestine,” April Ward declared. Ward is the mother of Mickeail Ward, whose conviction was recently overturned after ten years of fighting a wrongful murder conviction sensationalized in part by the Obamas.

The Sunday, May 19 protest was also the first of four consecutive actions organized by the Coalition to March on the DNC, of which CAARPR is a leading member. On Monday, May 13, coalition members met at Pritzker’s downtown office to demand that he grant clemency to torture survivors and end Illinois support for Israel.

On Tuesday evening, the coalition gathered 200 people at the Garfield Park Conservatory on Chicago's West Side to protest a DNC reception. Protesters aimed chants at Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, JB Pritzker, Sean Casten, Dick Durbin and Jan Schakowsky among others for the two hour duration as event attendees filed in and out of the Conservatory.

On Wednesday morning, the coalition met at the United Center while press outlets were conducting a walkthrough of the site where the DNC will take place between August 19 and 22.

“Wherever Genocide Joe and Killer Kamala show up there will be protests,” Hatem Abudayyeh, national chair of USPCN said at a press conference outside the United Center.

Abudayyeh continued, “There will be no business as usual as long as our tax dollars are funding the genocide and occupation of Palestine. That's why tens of thousands of people will be here on August 19.”

#ChicagoIL #FreePalestine #MarchOnTheDNC #FreeRicoClark #USPCN #NAARPR #CAARPR #CFIST #SOUL #DNC #BDS #FreeThemAll

Tallahassee, FL – Coinciding with a National Day of Protest initiated by the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (NAARPR), independently-organized actions took place on Saturday, July 18 in Quincy, Crawfordville and Tallahassee, Florida, representing Gadsden, Wakulla and Leon counties respectively.

In Quincy, which recently saw the removal of a Confederate monument, around 30 people attended a “Peace and Prayer for our Community” march in response to recent local gun violence, with the heading, “Black Lives Matter To Us.”

In Crawfordville, Kendra Smith was the lead organizer of a 100-plus person “Let Your Voice Be Heard” consciousness raising march and rally, marking the first-ever BLM action in Wakulla County. “I felt we needed a peaceful protest in Wakulla because racism and discrimination is very much alive here and has been for a while from what I’ve been told by residents who’ve lived here their whole lives. My goal of the protest was to bring awareness to this and to take action and show our community we can protest and stay peaceful despite people saying we won’t.”

Upon announcing the event, Smith received many death threats and threats of violence against the protesters. Attendees from the Tallahassee Community Action Committee provided amplified sound, medics, a lead truck and a relief car, and donated water, masks and hand sanitizer.

At least 100 counter-protesters were present, jeering at the Black Live Matter permitted start point in a Winn Dixie parking lot; then lining the march route with a taunting gauntlet; and finally filling most of the open space in a public park – where the BLM rally had permit access to the central pavilion. Counter-protesters had planted Confederate flags and Trump 2020 flags in the bushes. Within the first few minutes of the peaceful march, sheriffs made an unlawful arrest of attendee Adam Ferguson, who was released soon after law enforcement learned they were being filmed and that Ferguson had already handed his phone off to another attendee. After the event, Ferguson said, “I think it’s important for us to be in Wakulla County because that’s a place where these racial tensions exist but have always been hidden. Being in their face about it for the first time ever is a step in the direction of acknowledging and healing.”

In Tallahassee, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) led a march and car caravan to the Leon County Sheriff’s Office to somberly acknowledge a recent local victory – incarcerated people are now permitted to wear masks in their pods and living spaces – and to demand anew that Sheriff Walt McNiel free all people who are eligible for bail or bond to save lives and slow the spread of COVID-19, which is rising locally among civilians of all ages, corrections officers and incarcerated people.

Protesters marching on foot took and held the streets from a nearby community college parking lot to the sheriff’s office. The march was led by longtime activist Trish Brown’s familiar red truck and a giant hand-painted banner depicting the demand, “Free them all,” and followed closely by a protective barricade of car caravan vehicles adorned with handmade signs and window paint.

People marching chanted, “Black lives matter,” “No justice, no peace” and “Free them all!” Honks from the car caravan filled the pauses between the chants as the march arrived at its destination. Attendees spaced out to hear speeches criticizing policing and the criminal justice system, and in favor of community control of police and an urgent, science-based COVID-19 response. Most car caravaners joined the on-foot protesters at the sheriff’s office, while some remained in cars nearby, with AC on in case of heat-related health emergencies.

Tallahassee Community Action Committee President Regina Joseph concluded the action by leading the crowd in a call-and-response recitation of an increasingly well-known quote by Assata Shakur, “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains!”

Satya Stark-Bejnar (they/he pronouns) is an activist in Tallahassee.

#TallahasseeFL #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee #FreeThemAll #Quincy #Crawfordville

Jacksonville, FL – Wrapping up an entire month of action, on June 27, over 400 people gathered in front of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the Duval County Jail. Over a month ago, in the wake of COVID-19, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee led a car caravan around the Duval County Jail demanding the mass release of inmates, especially those over 65 years of age and those who are immunocompromised. Those demands were ignored and now 178 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19. This rally and march occurred under a backdrop of rising COVID infection rates in the city of Jacksonville as well as recording-setting heat.

The Duval County Jail is already overpopulated by over 800 inmates, and there have been firsthand accounts, including those of protesters who were recently arrested, attesting to the filth and inhumane conditions of the jail.

The mother of a 16-year-old minor who was arrested and is awaiting trial addressed the crowd. She explained how she has received no information regarding the release of her son, that when he calls, he is covering his face with a t-shirt as those incarcerated were not given masks. The Jacksonville Community Action Committee has handed out free masks at every march and rally, while the jail has yet to issue masks to inmates. Family members and loved ones of those incarcerated are left feeling hopeless as they hear that there is no social distancing, no appropriate protective gear, and that inmates are forced to share cells with those infected.

The crowd marched around the jail and chanted “Free my brother! Free my sister!” The inmates pounding on the windows and walls could be heard throughout the crowd.

“There is no excuse for what is happening in this jail and in prisons around the country,” said Rachel Duff, an organizer with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee. “We warned that this would happen and now that it has begun to spread, there must be a swift response by our elected officials, and we will hold them accountable for anything that happens to those incarcerated and exposed to COVID-19.”

As of June 29, JSO Sheriff Mike Williams indicated 50 inmates who had tested positive for COVID-19 had been released over the weekend, after the protests.

Protesters also raised the demand for community control of the police through a Jacksonville Police Accountability Council, as a means to hold JSO accountable through indicting killer cops, overseeing policy and amongst other things, having the ability to defund the police.

Earlier that week, Sheriff Mike Williams asked for a $6 million budget increase, for a department that already makes up over 40% of the city’s total budget. The Jacksonville Community Action Committee is also demanding a People’s Budget, calling for slashing half of JSO’s budget and reinvesting those hundreds of millions back in the Black community.

#JacksonvilleFL #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommittee #JacksonvillePoliceAccountabilityCouncil #FreeThemAll #PeoplesBudget

Chicago, IL – Protesters demand the mass exoneration of everyone tortured and framed by Chicago cop Reynaldo Guevara. It was one of the three demonstrations that took place in Chicago, June 13. Cites across the U.S. participated in the National Day of Action to Stop Police Crimes called by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #WomensMovement #LGBTQ #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #HousingStruggles #PoliceBrutality #EnvironmentalJustice #Antiracism #Antifascism #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #FreeThemAll

Chicago, IL – More than 20,000 people, including a 4000-car caravan, joined a massive protest in Chicago, today, May 30. Organized by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the demonstration was one of many that took place across the country.

According to statement from the Alliance, “In solidarity with the uprising in Minneapolis and the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and Finan Berhe, the Chicago Alliance, Black Lives Matter and Familia Unida Latina will participate in the National Day of Action and Protest on May 30. Floyd, Arbery, Taylor and Berhe were all murdered in May by racist cops or vigilantes, and all during a pandemic that has ravaged Black, Latinx and indigenous communities, and turned prisons and detention centers into death traps.”

#ChicagoIL #ChicagoFL #ImmigrantRights #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #ChicagoAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #FreeThemAll #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following call from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

The recently re founded National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression calls upon all its members, comrades, friends and allies to join in a national day of protest on May 30th, 2020 at 3:00 PM EST.

We as a movement have been agitated into taking mass, united action not by the pandemic alone but even more significantly by the Federal Government and the financial lords and barons of Wall Street who, driven by their own greed and lust for political power, are willing to sacrifice the lives, health, safety and wellbeing of the people; who deem their profits and their continuing plunder of the national treasury of our nation more important than the lives of the people.

We will be protesting to stop the racist murder and violence that this administration has willfully unleashed. Not only is the government standing by as COVID-19 ravages African American, Latinx and Indigenous communities—inciting mass Black death with their calls to reopen the economy, but the police and racist vigilantes continue to brazenly hunt and kill Black folks while they sleep in their beds and on open roads in broad daylight. We are protesting the murders of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia and Breonna Taylor in Louisville because they are outrages that demand justice. This lynch style, racist terrorism must stop, and perpetrators must be punished.

We are calling for this united action to protest genocidal policies of government that have allowed city and county jails, federal and state prisons, juvenile detention jails, and Immigrant detention centers to become hot beds for COVID-19 infections and death camps for millions. Who are the human beings incarcerated in these so-called correctional facilities?

They are overwhelmingly oppressed Black and Brown people, LGBTQ and Trans people and poor white, working class people. They come to jails and prisons in large part from the 140 million poor people living in America. They cannot voluntarily social distance themselves. Their confinement prevents them from taking action to protect themselves from death-causing infections. Their continued imprisonment under these circumstances is an act of genocide

We must help them. The prisoners of Cook County jail in Chicago managed to write on one of the windows of the jail: HELP WE MATTER 2.

We are calling this united action to help protect all prisoners from COVID infections and death by demanding that all prisoners be liberated from the death camps that U.S. prisons have become. We demand that the President, Governors and Mayors, Prosecutors and Judges take immediate steps to depopulate jails, prisons and Immigrant detention centers and juvenile facilities.

We are calling this united action to demand the immediate release of all political prisoners and the wrongfully convicted survivors of torture immediately. These prisoners can be released by pardons, commutation of sentences, paroles, furloughs, signature bonds and prosecutors dropping charges and judges granting probations. The federal and state governments have plenty of means for meeting our demands and no reason to deny them other than greed and profiteering off of private prisons and prison labor, the still legal form of slavery under the 13th Amendment.

We will mobilize for car caravan protests and social distancing protests throughout the country. In united action we will standup, fightback and resist to exist. We will not now or ever stand in silence in the face of the crimes of government perpetrated against oppressed peoples and the working class. We must make certain that there is resistance throughout the land in order to have a new and better world after we overcome this pandemic.

#UnitedStates #OppressedNationalities #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #NAARPR #FreeThemAll #NationalDayOfProtest

Minneapolis, MN – After dark on Monday, May 11, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) held a candlelight vigil at the Minneapolis Federal Courthouse to remember Carlos Ernesto Escobar-Mejia. He is the first person reported to die of COVID-19 while in jail detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The speakers at the vigil called on people to remember Carlos and called on government officials to free all ICE detainees.

Because of COVID-19, all vigil participants wore a mask and maintained social distance.

During the vigil, Escobar-Mejia’s name was also projected on a large wall of the Federal Courthouse. Escobar-Mejia was a 57-year-old man from El Salvador held in ICE custody who died May 6 after testing positive for COVID-19 six weeks ago.

He was imprisoned at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, California, an immigration jail run by the private prison company CoreCivic, which is notorious for poor conditions as they profit off of incarcerating immigrants. Otay has the highest number of COVID-19 cases of any detention center in the country.

Escobar-Mejia was on a list of medically vulnerable detainees who had been mandated for review by a federal judge when he died, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.

Daniel Romero of MIRAC and the Interfaith Coalition on Immigration led vigil participants in repeating Carlos’s name so he would not be forgotten, saying “¡Carlos Ernesto Escobar-Mejia presente!” A woman who could not attend because she works in a nursing home and was working an extra shift sent her speech which was read at the vigil. Her brother was detained by ICE last year and she spoke of the terrible conditions faced by ICE detainees and the impossibility of practicing proper social distancing and hygiene in jail, making larger COVID-19 outbreaks and deaths practically inevitable if people are not released from detention.

Loretta Van Pelt of the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar also spoke at the vigil, making connections to the plight of all prisoners, not just ICE detainees, and the fact that like the criminal justice system, COVID-19 is hitting Black and brown communities hardest.

Protesters called on county jails, state officials, and the ICE to release all ICE detainees immediately to avoid more preventable deaths from COVID-19 in jails. ICE detainees are civil detainees and ICE has broad authority to release them. Protesters repeated the demand that they #FreeThemAll.

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #MIRAc #COVID19 #CarlosErnestoEscobarMejia

Chicago, IL – 500 cars from around Chicago converged on the State of Illinois Building as Governor J.B. Pritzker held his daily COVID-19 press briefing May 7. The horns could be heard clearly from inside the building.

The Right to Recovery coalition was organized by United Working Families and includes 50 organizations such as the Chicago Teachers Union and Black Lives Matter-Chicago, as well as 13 elected officials.

The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) organized 20 cars to parade from the Pilsen Neighborhood, where they met up with the Jane Addams Senior Caucus (JASC). The Chicago Alliance and JASC contingent drove in front of Cook County Jail with signs taped to their cars.

Troi Valles of the Alliance read the following CAARPR statement written by Kobi Guillory to drivers gathered before the caravan:

“The people of Chicago have gotten next to none of what they need to recover from this pandemic while trillions of dollars are given to corporations. We are mobilizing to demand real recovery for the people!

“Real recovery means having the right to liberty. Prisons, jails, and detention centers are still holding thousands of people in a situation where they are completely unable to maintain social distance. Access to healthcare, cleaning supplies and PPE is either lacking or nonexistent in these places, which were notorious for inhumane healthcare and living conditions even before the COVID-19 crisis. People have been dying in these places for weeks and we still do not know how many are infected because Illinois has not done mass testing of incarcerated people.

“We demand bold action from the governor, the mayor and other public officials to release everyone who is in jail on a money bond. No one should be at risk of dying of COVID-19 because they can’t afford a cash payment. We demand the immediate release of all prisoners who are vulnerable to COVID-19. In particular we demand the release of Gerald Reed and all survivors of police torture because they should have all been free a very long time ago. Upon release, every prisoner must be given adequate housing, healthcare and provisions. Prisons, jails, and detention centers need to test everyone inside and provide adequate healthcare to those who test positive.

“No one deserves to die in a cage. The governor and other elected officials are not doing enough for the thousands of people who are at risk of meeting that fate, which is why we are taking this action to demand the right to recovery for incarcerated people and their communities.

“We also fully support the demands of other organizations in the coalition. The people of Chicago, regardless of employment or immigration status, need resources and assistance to recover from this pandemic. We need rent cancellation. We need free testing and treatment. We need to be protected from evictions and utility shutoffs. Essential workers need PPE, hazard pay and paid days off. Immigrants need to be protected from ICE check ins and detention centers must be closed. Families need income to support themselves.

“These needs and other demands of the coalition are far more important than the right-wing desire to open up the government so corporations can make money while workers keep dying. We demand that JB Pritzker, Lori Lightfoot, and other elected officials put people over profit and take action to ensure that communities can survive and recover from this pandemic.”

#ChicagoIL #PoorPeoplesMovements #OppressedNationalities #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #COVID19 #FreeThemAll #carCaravan

Jacksonville, FL – Around three dozen cars joined a Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) protest on Friday evening, April 24, calling for a mass release of Duval County inmates in the overpopulated Duval County jail. Along with the JCAC, the New Florida Majority, Dignity Florida, Northside Coalition of Jacksonville along with other organizations and community supporters came out Friday evening for a caravan protest to demand that Melissa Nelson and Sheriff Mike Williams #FreeThemAll. The protesters taped signs to their vehicles that demanded the release of prisoners, to avoid the Duval County Jail becoming a death trap during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The protesters demanded: release all nonviolent offenders and the wrongfully incarcerated; constant testing of inmates and staff in the Duval County Jail; release of all inmates with compromised immune systems and those over the age of 60; release of the steps taken by Jacksonville Sheriff's Office to make sure sanitation of facilities is constantly taking place.

Protesters honked their horns and played protest tunes such as Fight the Power as the cars circled around Duval County Jail numerous times.

“Those locked up are subject to the most inhumane conditions and its impossible for them to practice safe social distancing incarcerated,” said Neal Jefferson, activist with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee. “The state attorney and Sheriff Williams should hear our demands and free them all.”

#JacksonvilleFL #OppressedNationalities #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #JacksonvilleSheriffsOffice #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #COVID19

Chicago, IL – 100 cars surrounded the Thompson Center in Chicago’s Loop, April 20, during Governor J.B. Pritzker’s daily press briefing on COVID-19. The caravan protest was held to demand Pritzker free police torture survivor Gerald Reed and all vulnerable prisoners at Cook County Jail, Illinois Department of Corrections prisons and ICE detention centers in Illinois – especially those over 60, those with medical conditions, and those who the governor’s own Torture Commission has already confirmed are victims of police torture and therefore wrongfully convicted.

In the lead car of the caravan, Frank Chapman of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, stated, “We're here because Governor Pritzker is moving too slow. Prisons and jails are death traps and we are demanding that the governor free them all and free Gerald Reed cause he never should have been in there.”

This action was organized by the Chicago Alliance, Black Lives Matter-Chicago, the Chicago Torture Justice Center, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL), and the families of police torture survivors and prisoners at Cook County Jail, juvenile detention, Illinois Department of Corrections prisons, and ICE detention centers in Illinois.

Aislinn Pulley of BLM-Chicago explained, “Gerald Reed is the face of thousands of other vulnerable prisoners and ICE detainees in Illinois who need to be released, including the immune-compromised, the elderly and the many others whose torture and wrongful convictions the governor’s own Torture Commission has confirmed.”

Kobi Guillory of the Chicago Alliance said, “Maybe Governor Pritzker thought he could ignore the cries of incarcerated people who are afraid for their lives in the death traps of prisons and jails, but he must hear the horns and chants and calls of the hundreds of people surrounding the Thompson Center right now!”

#ChicagoIL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #PoliticalPrisoners #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #CAARPR #GeraldReed #FreeThemAll

Minneapolis, MN – In a press conference held by video on April 14, several immigrant rights organizations announced a week of action happening this week to demand that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and elected officials at the state and county level take action now to free all immigrants held in ICE detention in the state.

Immigration detainees are detained on civil charges and ICE has broad leeway to release people. In the current situation with the rapid spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus, the conditions in Minnesota jails are ripe for the infection and death to spread quickly. Speakers at the press event pointed out the impossibility for people in detention to follow Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines to socially distance, wash hands frequently and wear masks. They also spoke about the inadequate health care available to inmates and the lack of testing for people detained who have shown symptoms of COVID-19.

Speakers included Daniel Romero of the Interfaith Coalition on Immigration, Nuria Arias of Pueblos de Lucha y Esperanza, Sam Crossly of Minnesota Educators Against ICE, Brad Sigal of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Nekessa Opoti of the Black Immigrant Collective, Nicole Richards of Sanctuary and Resistance Against Injustice, and immigration lawyer Kim Hunter, whose law firm represents two of the 62 immigrant detainees in Sherburne County Jail who filed an emergency petition for release due to the danger of COVID-19.

All speakers echoed the main demand of the week of action: that all immigration detainees be freed now to avoid a catastrophic spread of sickness and death in the jails.

The week of action includes a daily fast by Antonia Alvarez of Pueblos de Lucha y Esperanza in front of Governor Tim Walz’s mansion in Saint Paul, as well as call-in days to Governor Walz, to Minnesota Commissioner of Corrections Paul Schnell and to county sheriffs and commissioners in counties that hold ICE detainees.

Additionally, Daniel Romero of the Interfaith Coalition on Immigration (ICOM) announced that the week of action will culminate on Friday with a car caravan and honk-in outside the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, Minnesota. That jail, about an hour outside of the Twin Cities, holds many immigrants in detention. 62 immigrants detained there have filed an emergency legal appeal for release due to the danger of COVID-19 in the jail.

#MinneapolisMN #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #US #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #ImmigrationAndCustomEnforcementICE #Antiracism #DonaldTrump #COVID19 #FreeThemAll