Atlanta, GA – Since 2024, Charles Brown has been bounced around the Georgia state incarceration system, from facility to facility. He has spent the last two years trying to figure out why he’s sitting behind bars and trying to obtain the documentation that can help him get out.

To better understand Charles Brown’s struggle, you’ll have to start in Crisp County, Georgia in 2014. Charles Brown was one of 300 plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit filed against the state of Georgia by the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR).

The SCHR argued that, from 2012 to 2014, low-income adults and juveniles were denied legal representation, appeared without lawyers at trial and were pressured into guilty plea deals. The core argument was that these individuals had their Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights violated. The result was “assembly line justice,” where 300 individuals were pressured to take guilty plea deals and wrongful convictions.

After some time being incarcerated and experiencing mental health battles, Charles Brown was put on parole. During his time on parole, Charles Brown routinely dealt with faulty ankle monitoring equipment. The equipment would malfunction, leading to routine check-ins by his parole officer. “I just wanted to be given a fair chance to prove that I wouldn’t violate my parole,” Brown said, describing the situation.

He told his PO about the faulty equipment, but his PO would not listen nor care. Left without much option, he reported his parole officer to the Board of Paroles and Pardons on multiple occasions. Rather than investigate the multiple reports of faulty equipment, his parole officer told him, “If you don’t bother me, I won’t bother you,” and went radio silent on him for a year.

A year went by and Brown had no contact with his parole officer with no check-ins or updates on the status, conditions or circumstances of his parole term. Then, in an act of retaliation, 72 hours before his parole officer transferred, he put out an arrest warrant for Brown.

In November 2024, Charles Brown was then arrested during a routine traffic stop. He’s since then been moved between different facilities throughout the state facing inhumane conditions.

For him, the question remains the same: “What legal instrument is being used to keep me locked up?”

No one from the state has given him a clear answer. He and his family have filed multiple open records requests in the hopes of proving his wrongful incarceration, and the state has refused to release the documents every single time. These records will clarify if there is a present legal instrument that is keeping Charles Brown incarcerated, and may be the key to his freedom.

Charles is currently seeking legal counsel so he can get this information to the right people in power in order to secure his release.

Before he was arrested, Brown was deeply involved in the community and was known for organizing with GSU students around Palestine, Haiti, and the movement for justice for Sonya Massey.

When asked about his demands, Brown stated, “Immediate release, accountability, transparency.”

#AtlantaGA #GA #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican

Santa Ana, CA – All eyes are on Santa Ana and the police brutality against 28-year-old Chicano Florentino Lopez, which was captured on video by his family.

On October 1, police pinned Florentino’s hands behind his back and pressed him against their vehicle. Without warning, one officer violently wrestled him to the ground, punching and kneeing him in the face while the other officer also struck and pinned him to the ground. The first officer turned out to be killer cop Luis Casillas. In December 2024, Casillas killed two Chicanos in one month's time: Noe Rodriguez and Henry Gonzalez Junior, and he allegedly beat 15-year-old Mario Diaz last June.

The video went viral, so Santa Ana residents and multiple news stations packed the city council chamber. The council delayed public comment for two hours, forcing many working-class residents to leave without speaking, but some refused to be turned away.

Mayor Valerie Amezcua, who receives huge campaign contributions from the Police Officers Association and is facing re-election, made a big show about the council deciding to have an independent investigation into the beating, but she was interrupted by audience boos. They saw the police brutality for what it was, and wanted the officers to be held accountable immediately.

Community Service Organization Orange County (CSO OC) member David Pulido said, “We are here to demand justice for Florentino Lopez. We demand that Police Chief Robert Rodriguez and City Manager Alvaro Nunez immediately fire the officers responsible.”

Pulido continued, “We warned you that if these police harmed anyone again, the blood would be on your hands. The blood is on your hands! Your cowardice and corruption meant that someone was harmed again!”

Next to speak was Maribel, who said, “My son, Jayden, was murdered by two cops June 14 of this year. Today I’m here to please ask for your help to release all of the uncut body camera video. I am also requesting justice for my son. He was suffering from mental health for almost two years. I was trying to get him all the help I could. I had proof that it was not the first time that Santa Ana police had come to my home.”

Despite knowing Jaden Michaca’s history of mental illness and psychiatric interventions, SAPD sent officers Steven Gonzalez and Charles Ruelas to his home, and, within 30 seconds of breaking down his door, they shot him to death. At the hearing, Michaca wore a shirt with pictures of her son throughout his childhood. As she spoke and wept, many in the audience cried with her.

Michaca said, “I close my eyes and I see my son on the floor, and there’s nothing I could’ve done to save him. Even though I was screaming for help. In my mind, I never called 911 for them to come and kill my son.”

As the evening continued, CSO OC’s immigration committee member Rain Mendoza took the stand to talk about the harassment the residents of the Coach Royal Mobile Home Park are receiving from the multi-million Kingsley Corporation and its management team. Residents of Coach Royal mobile home park have endured years of abuse, threats and eviction by Kingsley and park managers.

Mendoza stated, “Some updates for you all on the illegal actions by Kingsley Corporation, forcing the working-class immigrant residents to tear down their fences, which is extremely costly and stress-inducing. They're at the beginning stages of resizing their property without resident consent, which is illegal under federal law. If these residents try to push back or do not comply, they are met with harsh retaliation, including the most egregious crime of them all, which is the eviction of immigrant families and then stealing their homes!”

Mendoza then singled out Mayor Valerie Amezcua, stating, “You have a whole trailer park full of immigrant families that are being exploited by an out-of-state multi-million dollar corporation! They're breaking state and federal laws, mayor? This city council can't do a thing? They're breaking California law, they're breaking HUD codes, and breaking federal law.”

Karla Alvarado, a former resident who knows firsthand about the oppression residents are facing and who had her home stolen, addressed the council, “Families are living in fear of losing everything they have. How many more families have to suffer before you guys actually do something? Make some calls. Do something. It's something that is happening to thousands of people.”

Angered by the delay of the city meeting, Alvarado continued, “I took four hours away from my children, and they're hungry. They're having headaches, and I'm here to make sure that you guys do something to represent the very people that you go and knock on doors to promise them that you're going to be changers in the state, in the assembly, everywhere that you guys want to go, you guys want votes. But when we ask you guys to meet with residents, you guys failed to even send an email back and sit down and act like you guys care for us. It's disgusting.”

Griselda Ruiz, a lifelong resident of Santa Ana and CSO OC member, talked about one of the many shocking management edicts, “One of these insidious demands is the removal of air conditioning from their homes. We've been experiencing an extreme heat wave over 100 degrees, and Coach Royal residents are receiving notices demanding they remove their air conditioning.”

“Kingsley Corporation and management are targeting and embedding fear in their residents. Most of these residents are immigrants who break their backs to feed their families. But the manager at the mobile home park uses their immigration status against them by threatening to call ICE on them if they complain, if they go to a lawyer, if they stand up and fight back. Shame. And shame on you for allowing this to continue,” Ruiz added.

CSO OC Immigration committee member Diana Tererros spoke on the connection between the abuse these residents have been experiencing and their immigration status, “Sometimes they ask the residents to sign papers that they can't understand because of a language barrier. They don’t provide translation or anything, and that's very exploitative towards the residents.”

Tererros went on to say, “When they attended a hearing with the city regarding the issues at the park, there was an immigration vehicle outside the building. These are all Immigration issues. They should not have to live with the fear of immigration enforcement for simply trying to improve the place where they live.”

Terreros continued, “We are helping the residents fight back despite their immigration status, and they're being very brave and speaking up against this corporation. We're helping them with getting petition signatures from other residents to stop these actions from management and Kingsley. We want to meet with the park manager, Olivia Garcia, to talk to her about the demands of the residents.”

Despite lengthy delays, Santa Ana residents stood united against police brutality and predatory landlords. With the upcoming elections forcing a choice, residents have made it clear that accountability is non-negotiable.

If you are interested in joining CSO OC in this campaign, you can contact them at orangecountycso@gmail.com or on Instagram at @CSO.OC.

#SantaAnaCA #CA #InJusticeSystem #KillerCops #PeoplesStruggles #Housing #CSOOC

Washington, D.C. – On the evening of Tuesday, October 6, over 100 community members, organizers, as well as friends and family of Tawfiq Abdul Haqq, who had recently changed his name from Bernard Gibson III, gathered outside the Branch Avenue Metro Station to demand that Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown arrest and charge Corbin Davis, the Prince George’s County cop who murdered Haqq.

Bernard Gibson Jr., Haqq’s father, spoke on behalf of the family. “I thank everyone for coming out because we have to show solidarity, and we have to support these things, because if not, they are gonna do what they do. We have to find a way to change the whole system!”

On August 21, Officer Davis followed Haqq’s car into a cul-de-sac for an unknown reason. Within minutes, Davis shot four bullets into the car, killing Haqq. “He was driving his car in a cul-de-sac where he had a home,” said attorney Billy Murphy Jr., who is representing the family. “The police thought he was a criminal suspect, and the police officer who shot him ran up to his car and fired four shots through the driver's side window!”

While initial reports stated that Davis feared for his life because Haqq was trying to hit him with his car, recently released body camera footage shows Haqq attempting to drive around Davis slowly and carefully, before Davis fires directly into the driver’s side window. Two minutes passed before any attempt was made to administer medical aid to Haqq.

Haqq’s murder bears chilling similarities to the murders of Renee Good in Minneapolis and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, and the attempted murders of Phillip Brown and Justin Nelson in Washington, D.C. In each case, law enforcement falsely claimed the victim’s vehicle was being used as a weapon, to justify the use of deadly force.

Civil rights attorney E. Paige White, representing the family of Phillip Brown, spoke to the crowd at Tuesday’s rally. “A Homeland Security Investigations officer took out his gun and fired four shots into the driver-side window of Mr. Brown’s car. A bullet went through the collar of his jacket and nearly killed him.”

He continued, “My client could have been Tawfiq. Every single one of us standing in this audience right now could have been Tawfiq. The boys in blue are here for themselves, and they see every single one of us as a danger and threat. What do we do when we are constantly being treated as dangers and threats? We get organized.”

Haqq was a father of two children, a rapper, lyricist and entrepreneur who was deeply beloved by his family and community and brought joy to everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him. His funeral was attended by over 500 people. Yesterday’s action began with several of Haqq’s songs before chants of “We want justice, you say how! Justice for Tawfiq right now!” and “Hey hey! Ho ho! Corbin Davis got to go!” rang out across the metro station.

“We believe that the people who suffer at the hands of the police must have the power to hold the police accountable!” said DC Alliance member Merawi Gerima. “In order to get justice for our loved ones, we have to do it together. From DC to Maryland to Virginia. I live in DC, but I’m here in Prince George’s County with ya’ll right now because I believe in justice.”

The attendees of the rally committed to continue building pressure on Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, who has the power to hold the officer accountable. He is currently investigating the case, but history shows that Maryland, and especially Prince George’s County, do not have a strong record of holding killer cops accountable. None of the six officers who murdered Freddie Gray in 2015 were convicted, and five of them still work for the Baltimore Police Department.

Despite that history, Haqq’s family remained committed to holding Davis accountable. “Tawfiq was loved,” said one family member after the rally ended, “and as you can see, he has a huge family and community. So we gonna keep it going for him till we get justice.”

#WashingtonDC #DC #InjusticeSystem #KillerCop #TawfiqHaqq #PrinceGeorgesCounty

Anaheim, CA – On September 29, the Arzola family, alongside Community Service Organization Orange County (CSO OC) attended Anaheim City Council to demand justice for Albert Arzola. Albert was killed by Anaheim PD officer Nathan Garcia on December 6, 2025.

Garcia chased Albert Arzola down the street to his home where he shot him in the back of his head. Arzola had his hands raised and was surrendering to police. His family was present at the home and watched Arzola die. For months leading up to the killing of Arzola, Officer Nathan Garcia harassed Albert and his family.

After public comments were made, Rosie Camacho, the mother of Albert Arzola, stopped and yelled at Anaheim Police Chief Manuel Cid. Camacho said, “We want everything, we want all the cameras! That wasn’t the first time he went to my house! Wasn’t the first time he showed up and called my son by his name!”

Earlier in the meeting, Councilwoman Natalie Rubulcava had this to say, “I have to mention there was a loaded tech 9, a gun banned by name under California Law, which was at the scene that created a serious threat for the officers.” This statement has been used as a justification for the killing of Arzola, despite him being unarmed and giving himself up. This enraged the Arzola family, which led to justified angry comments being hurled at Rubulcava.

During the confrontation,family members continued to yell at the chief and city council. Screams of “Justice for Albert Arzola!” and “Shame!” rang through the council chambers. The meeting was brought to a halt, with the mayor trying desperately to calm things down. She even threatened to stop the meeting, saying, “I understand, thank you. I don’t want to have to recess the meeting.”

The chief had nothing to say. He simply stood off to the side, trying his best to seem unbothered by the confrontation. His silence spoke volumes. He couldn’t look in the family's direction as more and more officers came and stood by him. The family, along with CSO OC, will continue to confront the chief and demand that killer cop Nathan Garcia be fired.

#AnaheimCA #CA #OrangeCounty #AlbertArzola #InjusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities

Minneapolis, MN – On the afternoon of Saturday, October 3, hundreds of community members rallied in downtown Minneapolis to demand justice for all victims of ICE violence and to drop the charges against anti-ICE protesters.

This action was endorsed by labor unions such as the MN AFL-CIO, SEIU local 26, MFE local 59, SPFE local 28, MNA, and MAPE, among others. This outpouring of support from the labor movement is of the spirit of class struggle in the Twin Cities, and that most of the Minnesota 15 are union members.

The Minnesota 15 are anti-ICE protesters who were arrested and had their homes raided in June of 2026. The federal indictment alleges that the 15 were involved in “conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer,” and other bogus charges. Despite public outrage in response to the repression of activists, the MN 15 and many others in the state are still facing charges related to community rapid response and constitutional observation practices they undertook during Operation Metro Surge.

There have not been major developments in the case of the MN 15 since their indictment. The indictees have all been limited in communicating with one another, making it difficult to use collective defense strategies often used by groups of people facing political repression at once.

As the rally prepared to march down the Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis Federation of Educators President Marcia Howard pointed out that the MN 15 are far from the only people who stood against ICE during Operation Metro Surge. Howard stated, “They could have got me. Did I stand up for my constitutional rights? Did I observe? Did I stand up for my neighbors? Yes I did and I would do it again.”

Other union and community leaders echoed the importance of solidarity between all people’s movements in the face of repression. Attendees of the protest expressed their intent to continue taking the streets to demand justice for all victims of ICE terror and political repression.

Updates about the case and actions in support of the Minnesota 15 can be found on Instagram @minnesota.15.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #InJusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression #MN15 #Labor #ImmigrantRights #AFLCIO #SEIU #MFE

Aurora, CO – On Thursday, September 24, Terry Burnsed, Arnie Carter, Yoselin Corrales, and El Moss were notified that the Arapahoe County District Attorney’s Office would be filing a motion to dismiss all charges against them stemming from a protest at the Denver Field Office in Centennial, Colorado on July 20.

All four protesters were charged with obstructing a passageway, while Yoselin and El were also charged with obstructing a police officer. After their arrests, the Centennial protesters quickly gained legal representation from the Protest Defense Coalition, committed to solidarity, and vowed to fight against these charges together.

The first stage of the defense campaign required raising public awareness, so the Centennial protesters immediately issued a joint statement to share their perspective on what occurred and set up a page to raise funds for possible legal fees. Next, they hosted a nationwide call-in to the district attorney’s office to reiterate that the protesting is not a crime, that the people stand with the protesters, and to demand that the charges be dropped. While the community overwhelmingly supported the Centennial protesters, a month after their arrest, there had been no noticeable change on the legal front, so they knew they needed to increase public pressure.

In August, the Centennial protesters united to host the recurring weekly vigil at the Aurora GEO Detention Facility that honors all those detained inside and those lost to ICE violence. At this event, the protesters spoke about how there has been an increase in political repression while actively letting ICE get away with murder.

Anti-ICE sentiment has been growing across the country When the public could hear from the protesters themselves, it humanized the injustice and brought more people into the fight.

On September 9, the over 40 people show up to offer court support as the Centennial protesters held a press conference and faced their initial hearings, which resulted in arraignments for two of the protesters. Because the DA’s office was overbooked with four hearings, two protesters walked away without completing the first step in the process and were rescheduled.

At the press conference, Corrales’ attorney Victoria Dorn said, “It’s incredibly disappointing that Amy Padden, who ran as a progressive prosecutor, is choosing to file charges against individuals who are trying to protect some of the most vulnerable members of our community, instead of going after ICE agents who day after day violate state and federal laws, not just here in Denver but across the country.”

All four of the protesters were in the process of working with their lawyers and preparing for their next court date on October 20 when they received the good news.

“This is not just a victory for the Centennial protesters; this is a victory for organizers everywhere. It shows that when we come together and fight back, we can win! It also proves that developing connections and solidarity across movements, fighting back publicly, and strengthening people power is vital to building a successful defense campaign,” said Yoselin Corrales

Burnsed, Carter, Corrales, and Moss are still facing federal charges and will be returning to court on October 8 at the Alfred A. Arraj U.S. Courthouse in Denver for their first federal hearings and are inviting the public to attend.

#AuroraCO #CO #ImmigrantRights #InJusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression #

Tacoma, WA – On September 28, 30 people held a vigil for those killed by Tacoma police. This vigil was held in response to a recent killing on September 27. Tacoma police have not released the identity of the man they killed. Attendees were concerned that this would become another cover-up, so they demanded the release of the bodycam footage and officers' accountability if unnecessary force was used.

The event was hosted by the Tacoma Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (TacAARPR). At the beginning of the event, members of the community spoke about other police killings around the area. Jem Trumbly stated, “this is part of a pattern that we know very well. The police kill someone. The investigations into the killing are inadequate. The facts are covered up. The evidence goes missing. Trials drag on for years, and justice is never served.”

Many people in attendance carried signs demanding an end to police killings and accountability for police violence. While information about the most recent killing is still not released, people are worried that whatever evidence is released will be in Tacoma PD’s best interest. Another speaker, Ray Harris, told a similar story, about when his son, Ronald Amir Harris, was murdered in his jail cell before his trial. Ronald’s father was not given access to any of the evidence surrounding Ronald’s murder. Tacoma PD claimed that Ronald’s death was a “suicide.”

During the vigil, Harris told the crowd, “If you want change, you gotta make it happen. I lost my son. But I got no fear. I got none. I got nothing to lose, but I got a lot to gain. I want to make sure what they done to my boy, they do it to no one else, ever again!” Ray continued to speak about how difficult it was to get the evidence that Tacoma PD used in their suicide claims. The true source of Ronald’s death remains hidden from his closest family.

The TacAARPR is helping to build a public pressure campaign to open an investigation into Ronald Harris’s death. You can sign the petition to demand an open investigation into Ronald’s death here: tinyurl.com/justiceforronald

#TacomaWA #WA #InjusticeSystem #PoliceKillings #NAARPR