Biloxi, MS – On Sunday, November 1, over 300 people from across the Black Belt South gathered in Biloxi to demand justice for Nolan Wells and all Black people who have lost their lives to racist violence. The crowd gathered beside the Golden Nugget Casino before marching across the Beach Boulevard Bridge to Ocean Springs, where Nolan Wells was born and raised.

The crowd chanted a call and response: “Nolan Wells,” “Did not drown!” as well as “No water!” with the response, “In his lungs!”

Nolan Wells was an 18-year-old Black youth who went missing after going on a July 4 trip with a group of young white men. He was later found on the shoreline of Horn Island and investigators concluded that there were no signs of foul play and that Nolan Wells simply drowned. An independent autopsy showed no sign of water in his lungs, which has provoked outrage across the country.

Several impacted Black families spoke about the loss they have endured due to racist violence, police brutality, and police corruption. Family members of Tasia Fortune, Glenn Foster Jr., Kohen Wiley and others were in attendance. Nolan Wells’ mother, Christine Wells-Wonsley, spoke about the blunt force trauma to the back of her son’s head that the autopsy revealed.

“What I gathered was that the blow to the back of his head affected his brain to where he couldn’t have swam if he wanted to. It disabled the rest of his body when that blow hit him right there,” said Wells-Wonsley. She went on to demand District Attorney McIlrath investigate who caused this blunt force trauma to her son’s head.

The crowd chanted “Damn it Bart!” in reference to one of the boys suspected of foul play who was with Wells on July 4.

The program also talked about the death of one-year-old Kohen Wiley, who was shot by Mississippi police after they wrongly accused his mother of shoplifting. November 1 would have been Kohen Wiley’s second birthday. The crowd sang Happy Birthday to him to honor his memory.

#BiloxiMS #MS #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican

New York, NY – On Sunday, November 1, over 200 community members gathered for a rally and march for Nolan Wells and all Black lives taken by racist violence around the country. Nolan Wells was just 18 years old when he went missing during a trip with a group of friends, all of whom were white.

Since then, the family has had to fight the Jackson County, Mississippi, sheriff's office and district attorney’s office to push every step of the investigation forward. In September, a grand jury declined to bring criminal charges in his case, despite medical evidence directly contradicting the narrative that Wells died by accidental drowning.

New York’s protest was one of many across the country to demand justice for Nolan Wells and all stolen lives. Organizations including We the People NYC and the New York Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression gathered in Foley Square before marching to Washington Square Park to join protesters from across the city.

Sheina Banatte of the Justice for Eudes Pierre Coalition connected the fight for Nolan Wells to the fight for Eudes Pierre. In both cases, the family struggles to fight for justice against a system that lies about their loved ones, obstructs the investigation, and continues to dehumanize them.

Banatte stated, “We have to keep fighting! The more they try to silence us, the louder we’ll be!”

November 1 would have also been the second birthday of Kohen Wiley, a one-year-old murdered by Sargeant Hunter Foster of the Senatobia, Mississippi Police Department in June. Protesters alternated between chants of “Justice for Nolan Wells,” “Justice for Kohen Wiley,” and “Justice for Javits Frimpong,” a fifteen-year-old killed in the Bronx on October 29.

Dozens of NYPD officers surrounded and followed the march on foot, on bikes, and in vans and buses. Despite the heavy police presence, protesters continued to chant and march from Washington Square Park, taking the streets, blocking traffic and inviting passersby to join.

Daniel Koh, NYAARPR’s outreach chair, stated, “Police inflict racist violence in many forms, from gunning down people like Eudes Pierre to refusing to investigate de facto lynchings, from Jackson, Mississippi to Albany. The whole racist system has got to go. That’s why we fight for community control of the police, to take back the power to win justice for all stolen lives!”

We the People, the New York Alliance, the Justice for Eudes Pierre Coalition, and other community organizations present vowed to continue the fight for justice for all families impacted by police violence.

#NewYorkNY #NY #InJusticeSystem #KillerCops

Cass Green of TNT highlighted the life of Walter Wallace and the impact he had on those around him, including his family, friends and other loved ones.

PAARPR member Olujimi Alade then spoke about Aaron Rainey and how his murder connects to Walter Wallace's. Olujimi finished his speech with a call for all members of the community to unite in order to fight for justice and to support the families.

Nikki Grant and Julia Lyon from TNT spoke to the necessity of alternatives to police interaction for people experiencing mental health crisis, such as mobile response teams. Tonya Kersey, the mother of Aaron Rainey, gave an impassioned plea for justice for her son and for District Attorney Larry Krasner to try the two police officers for murder. Her resiliency served as an inspiration for all who attended.

The vigil ended with Pastor Chris Kimminez from Healing Communities praying for the families off all victims of police crimes to find renewed strength and for the memory of all the victims to live on forever. The vigil is an important part of the joint campaign organized by PAARPR and TNT to get cops out of mental health.

R.I.P Walter Wallace Jr., Aaron Rainey, Victoria Lee, Jamir Cave, Joseph Smithers and all other victims of police crimes.

Justice for all victims of police crimes!

#PhiladelphiaPA #PA #InJusticeSystem #PAARPR #NAARPR #KillerCops

Chicago, IL – The Leighton Courthouse in Chicago, known by most people as simply “26th and California,” is the court that handles most of Cook County’s felony cases. On October 29, a dramatic hearing took place in Courtroom 304, involving a 35-year-old case of a man tortured into a confession by a police detective from the Jon Burge gang of cops.

In 1991, 15-year-old Johnny Plummer was picked up as a suspect in a murder, taken to the Chicago Police Area Three Detective Division, and questioned for a day and a half without being allowed to see his mother. Beaten around the face and stomach, he confessed to a crime he didn’t commit. He is now 50 years old, having spent 35 years behind bars.

Plummer has always maintained he was tortured by Detectives Kenneth Boudreau and Michael Kill. For many years, he has spoken about a doctor who did an intake interview with him when he was brought to the Audy Juvenile home. The doctor then wrote Johnny’s report in his notes.

The Chicago police and the state’s attorney’s office had claimed for 35 years that no such notes existed. Plummer’s legal team, including Karl Leonard of the Exoneration Project, now have reason for optimism. In April, those medical examiner’s notes were sent to the Exoneration Project lawyers from the State’s Attorney’s Office.

Judge Tyria Walton deemed the evidence significant enough to grant a post-conviction evidentiary hearing. 

Where were those intake notes?

October 29 was the fourth hearing, and the main witness was attorney Joey Mogul. Mogul represented Plummer from 2012 to 2021. She is well known as a relentless fighter for the torture survivors from the era of the Jon Burge ring of racist CPD detectives.

Attorney Leonard questioned Mogul on the stand about her extensive experience with the materials in Plummer’s case. He asked her about files gained in the ten years she represented Plummer.

Mogul testified that when she started to represent Plummer, the presiding judge, Vincent Gaughan, had granted a petition to provide materials from the public defender’s office; from the first special prosecutors, Egan and Boyle; and the common law documents or transcripts from any proceedings Plummer had been in.

The medical notes weren’t to be found in any of those files. She never saw those notes until April 2026.

How significant are the medical records?

Mogul explained that, as a result, for years it was just Plummer’s word against the police.

Leonard asked about the significance that 15-year-old Johnny was interrogated on August 18 and 19 and then spoke to the doctor on August 22. 

Mogul replied, “Johnny was interrogated August 18 and 19, and then he was interviewed by the physician on August 22 , only three days later. This was prompt outcry evidence! This would have been huge had it been available.”

Leonard said, “If you had it?” And Mogul replied, “We would have cited it and attached it in a post-conviction appeal.”

Prompt outcry evidence refers to the first report made by a victim to another person shortly after the incident occurred.

Prosecution’s fear of a Brady Ruling

Special Prosecutor Myles O’Rourke then spent an equal amount of time asking questions about the proceedings in which Mogul defended Plummer, as well as those before Mogul became Plummer’s attorney. 

Attorney Leonard objected repeatedly to the questioning, for example when O’Rourke asked Mogul for her recollection of an 89-page document on torture that had been submitted almost a decade ago.

The judge overruled Leonard multiple times, finally remarking to the court, “We know it’s because of the potential Brady ruling that the state is using this line of questioning.”

A Brady violation is when prosecutors fail to disclose impeaching evidence to the defense. If the court finds there was a Brady violation, it could result in awarding Plummer a new trial, or even the overturning of his conviction.

Defenders of torture cops facing multiple defeats

Seeing Johnny Plummer walk free would be a blow to Boudreau and the other Burge-era torturers, but there’s a broader crisis for the criminals in the Chicago Police Department.

Under the leadership of Mayor Brandon Johnson, on October 14, the Chicago City Council unanimously approved a $260 million settlement for 17 men who were wrongfully convicted by former Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara. Many of these cases have been covered for decades in the pages of Fight Back!, including Johnny Flores, Juan and Rosendo Hernandez, and Edwin Ortiz.

There has been a wave of protests led by the Immigrant Rights Working Committee of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) to end the practice of CPD collaboration with ICE agents since Trump launched his Midway Blitz in 2025.

Most recently, CAARPR’s Labor Committee has said that the Cook County Board of Commissioners should stop payment for special prosecutor O’Rourke’s firm for defending the Burge-era torture cops. Research by attorneys from the Exoneration Project has found that over $11 million has been paid to O’Rourke’s firm in the past 17 years to defend the likes of Boudreau.

Finally, Jasmine Smith, head of CAARPR’s Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Police Torture (CFIST), said, “We are also continuing our fight to get Governor Pritzker to grant clemency to the hundreds of proven survivors of police torture and wrongful conviction who are still incarcerated in Illinois.”

“We want justice for all the wrongfully convicted!”

#ChicagoIL #IL #JohnnyPlummer #InjusticeSystem #WrongfulConviction #PoliceTorture #CFIST #CAARPR #Featured

Santa Ana, CA – On October 28, Santa Ana City Manager Alvaro Nunez announced that Officers Luis Casillas and Marco Benavides have been put on administrative leave. This was an important victory for Community Service Organization, Orange County (CSO OC) and the result of nearly two years of grassroots organizing with impacted families.

Since December 2024, CSO OC has fought alongside Erika Armenta to demand justice for her late husband, unarmed 31-year-old Chicano Noe Rodriguez. Chief among her demands were that the cops who killed Rodriguez during his mental health crisis, Officers Luis Casillas and Isaac Ibarra, be fired. Both men were involved in violent incidents just one month after the killing. However, neither officer was placed on leave; instead, both were allowed to continue working.

CSO OC started working with the family of Florentino Lopez this month to demand justice after he was brutalized by SAPD in a viral video. They learned the officers responsible were Casillas and Officer Marco Benavides, who beat 15-year-old Mario Diaz in June 2025. CSO OC buckled down to hold these criminal cops accountable and to stop them from further violence against Santa Ana residents. They confronted the city council on October 6, protested at Santa Ana PD with members of the Lopez family on October 14, and returned with them to the city council on October 20, demanding Casillas and Benavides be held accountable.

As a result of the blatant police brutality against Florentino Lopez, CSO’s pressure on the city and its work since 2024, and the vulnerability of politicians during election season, the administrative leave of Officers Luis Casillas and Marco Benavides was won. This was something the city was unwilling to do with Casillas and Isaac Ibarra last year despite their multiple crimes, and therefore it was something that the people earned through struggle.

CSO OC continues to demand that Noe Rodriguez’s killers, Officers Luis Casillas and Isaac Ibarra, be fired and jailed. It also demands that Officer Marco Benavides be fired and jailed for brutalizing Mario Diaz and helping Casillas brutalize Florentino Lopez.

If you are interested in fighting alongside families impacted by police violence and in building community control of the police, reach out to CSO OC on Facebook, Instagram, or email at orangecountycso@gmail.com

#SantaAnaCA #CA #InjusticeSystem #KillerCop #NoeRodriguez

Aurora, CO – On the evening of October 26, a caravan of a dozen cars, adorned with signs and hand-written slogans, slowly wound through the heart of Aurora. Demonstrators in the caravan honked, played music, and spoke to the community via loudspeaker to draw attention to the growing momentum around a community campaign to fire Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain. In addition to firing Chamberlain, protesters also demanded that Aurora City Council create a democratic, community-led process for selecting his replacement.

Chamberlain was appointed a little over two years ago by an unelected city manager with no community input whatsoever. Community groups like the Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee (DACAC) have been consistently pushing for his removal since January, when several new members were sworn in to the city council. Though many of those new councilors ran on explicit platforms of police reform, none have put forward a plan to fire Chamberlain or to create community control over any aspect of Aurora Police Department (APD).

“The community would have never chosen Todd Chamberlain if we had a say,” said Miles Thompson, chair of DACAC. DACAC is a chapter of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and architect of the “Time’s up, Todd” campaign that is now uniting residents and community organizations around the fight against Chamberlain and for community control of the police.

“Todd Chamberlain being gone won’t solve everything, though. We have to have community control in order to solve this,” Thompson stated.

Chamberlain’s career before arriving in Aurora was littered with documented racism and other misconduct, including allowing racist harassment against officers in his charge. Since landing the job at APD, Chamberlain has lied numerous times to cover up police murders and even set up an APD recruitment table at a Trump rally, despite the department being under a consent decree for racism. Just three weeks ago, he lied again about Kilyn Lewis in a town hall meeting where Lewis’ family was present.

Lewis was murdered by Aurora SWAT in 2024 after complying with officer commands to put his hands up. He was holding a cell phone but was not armed. Chamberlain, not then chief of police during the time of Lewis’ killing, repeated falsehoods about the case at the town hall in an attempt to justify Lewis’ killing, as well as to discredit his family and their ongoing fight for justice.

Chamberlain’s history of racism has many community organizations joining forces to push for his immediate removal. One organization, Aurora Unidos CSO, spoke at the car rally. “Rather than funding schools, housing and universal healthcare, our elected officials offered $182 million to APD just this year to terrorize us and our neighbors,” said Yoselin Corrales, a member of Aurora Unidos CSO. “In the immigrants’ rights struggle, we know all too well what it’s like when state-sanctioned violence runs rampant with no enforceable measures of accountability. That’s why we support DACAC’s demands.”

After driving from the rally’s starting point at the Aurora Mall, through central Aurora, and past the site where Rajon Belt-Stubblefield was murdered by APD last fall, the group arrived at the Aurora Municipal Center to confront the city council directly.

The chambers were packed with nearly 200 members of the public looking to address the council. Even people who came to speak about data center moratoriums or mismanagement of homeless shelters often used some of their public comment time to demand that the council listen to the growing community calls for Todd Chamberlain’s termination. Applause erupted across the entire crowd every time the demand was mentioned throughout the evening.

While many expressed hope that their words would move city council to act, some made it clear that they were under no illusion that it would happen that night.

“We’re not going to convince these people, it’s not going to happen,” stated DACAC member Nels Pine in his public comment. “What we need to do is build a big mass movement like we’ve seen in history – like we saw in the 1960s, like we saw against nuclear weapons in the ‘80s, like we saw a few summers ago with the students against this genocide in Palestine – we’re not going to let anybody stand in our way.”

An official resolution to fire Todd Chamberlain has been drafted by DACAC and sent to city council members and, for almost a month, it went ignored. After Monday night’s show of force, however, two council members have agreed to meet with the group to discuss the possibility of moving forward with the resolution.

#AuroraCO #CO #InjusticeSystem #ToddChamberlain #RacistCops

Santa Ana, CA – On October 8, roughly 25 community members held a protest demanding justice for two young Chicanos, 15-year-old Jaden Michaca and 18-year-old Victor Lopez. Both Michaca and Lopez were shot by officers in the Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) within five months of each other, continuing a pattern of police oppression towards Chicanos in the city.

The city and police department have refused to share information relevant to the cases, including the names of officers involved and the full unedited body camera footage. Community Service Organization Orange County (CSO OC) is pressuring the city of Santa Ana with a lawsuit for failing to release public records related to deaths at the hands of police.

“My brother was killed by SAPD. He was shot three times just feet away from his one-year-old son and his partner, after following orders to get on the ground,” shared Emily Lopez, the older sister of Victor Lopez. He was only ten days away from his 19th birthday, and Emily Lopez highlighted the fact that he posed no threat to police.

Attendees heard from Maribel Michaca, mother of Jaden Michaca, who stated, “We’re here to demand all the uncut video from Jaden’s death. I want justice for my son; I want the cops who killed my son to be in jail!”

Despite previous calls for mental health crisis response teams, SAPD failed to provide Jaden Michaca the help that he needed. The two officers dispatched that day would shoot Michaca nine times in less than 30 seconds after making contact at his home; a stray bullet hit his mother in the hand.

Rosie Camacho, whose son Albert Arzola was killed by Anaheim PD, commented, “I’m here for my son and the rest of the victims of police officers who believe that just because they have a badge and a gun, they can brutalize our kids. We want transparency and accountability!”

Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) member Abe Quintana added, “Police violence against Chicanos is used to keep our working-class communities living in fear and criminalize them. Chicanos must fight for self-determination to bring an end to our national oppression!”

The crowd marched along Civic Center Drive, where passersby honked in support, and they gathered at the front doors of the SAPD building chanting, “Jail killer cops!” They held signs with pictures of the victims, as well as the officers in the department who have killed Chicanos and other oppressed nationalities. The event was organized by CSO OC with the family members of victims who have been killed by police.

#SantaAnaCA #CA #InJusticeSystem #KillerCops #CSO #CSOOC #FRSO

New Orleans, LA – On Saturday, October 24, a crowd of about 30 people rallied in front of the Hale Boggs Federal Building and marched against police brutality and prison torture.

The action included many family members impacted by police brutality and horrible prison conditions, along with community members supporting them. Shanta Scott, Sabrina Foster and Lakeba Griffith spoke on their families’ cases of police and prison cover-ups. As they recounted their struggles, attendees stood united against the oppressive, racist injustice system that has wrecked their lives and others’.

“My son was tortured. He was tased several times, they choked him. He could not breathe,” said Sabrina Foster, mother of Glenn Foster Junior. Glenn Jr. was slain by police in Pickens County, Alabama in December 2021 after a routine traffic violation. “Police give the media their narrative as the ‘truth.’ But we need to speak up and speak out, tell the truth. Those motherfuckers are always lying and they get their point across first.” Her determination inspired cheers and applause from the crowd.

“It’s a new era in New Orleans, Louisiana. We have to stop these people. We have to stop the [NOPD] because people are afraid to step up to them. The devil is on a rampage and it’s coming from the police officers, the city officials, the people who are supposed to be the servants of us,” said Shanta Scott, mother of Jace Lee Scott. Jace was killed in November 2019 by Andrew Gant, the son of NOPD officer Victor Gant Jr., who aided in a subsequent cover-up.

The family of Dwerinn Alexander also came to speak on the inhumane treatment of prisoners in the Louisiana correctional system. Their family member, Dwerinn, was murdered while under the watch of Raymond Laborde Correctional Facility (RLCF) located in Cottonport, Louisiana earlier this year. Lakeba Griffith, the cousin of Dwerrin, spoke of taking the fight to the courts, wardens, and operators of RLCF, who are attempting to shut his case away and not give the family a full explanation of what occurred during the night of his murder.

After rallying, the crowd marched to the New Orleans Police Department headquarters located within the DXC Technologies building on Poydras Street. The chants of “Victor Gant is a crooked cop! We want justice, lock him up!” sounded through the busy streets around Poydras and sent shockwaves through the nearby police precinct. The march concluded around 1 p.m.

#NewOrleansLA #LA #InJusticeSystem

Minneapolis, MN – On October 24, more than 60 protesters lined Lake Street to demand an end to ICE and police terror. The protest was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee and co-hosted by the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice to connect the violence inflicted on the community by both the police and ICE.

As threats of a second ICE surge loom, with the beginnings of increased ICE sightings reported from community rapid response groups, the people of Minnesota show that they will fight back harder – they have fought militantly against ICE before and will do so again.

The protest was held on Lake Street in the heart of South Minneapolis’ immigrant community. Up and down lake street supportive honks were heard from passing cars as protesters chanted, “When immigrants are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

Jana Williams spoke about a recent win in the fight for justice for her niece Allison Lussier. Allison Lussier was murdered two years ago, and her case was neglected by the Minneapolis Police Department. Only two days before the protest, and after years of her family and community members fighting for justice, a murder charge was finally filed in her case.

Williams stated, “The other day when I sat across from the six women from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. They sat across the table from me, telling me that we were finally getting Chuck Foss charged. And I had a sigh of relief; I can maybe exhale. And I said, ‘Do you know what MPD did? They surrounded me and us with armored vehicles.’ They said yes, we did know that. Shame on you! You were willing to harm us, arrest us, tear gas us, put us behind bars, but you were not willing to do this with violent criminals!”

Williams urged the crowd to continue to put pressure on Mayor Frey to hold all the officers involved accountable.

Alissa Washington, representing the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice, told protesters, “My fiancé, Cornelius Jackson, has been incarcerated for 20 years. My family is fighting for answers about Stephen Washington’s death in prison while also living with my uncle’s deportation. These struggles meet in my family and in so many others. That is why our solidarity reaches across prison walls and borders, including to Palestine and people resisting war and occupation. Every family deserves safety, dignity, and a future together.”

Greg King, representing the North STAR Alliance said: “Nobody in our community, regardless of their immigration status, should be hunted down and assaulted or shot in the street for their perceived immigration status. There is no reason on earth that we should not be giving immigration agents guns to enforce civil immigration law. And by the same token, we should not be giving law enforcement officers in our state, who have guns and a history of racial profiling ending in fatal encounters in our streets, permission to start asking people for their papers.”

The protest ended with a speech from Aizar Cabrera of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee.

“We immigrants know about scary times. We are living in exile,” said Cabrera, “but make no mistake, it did not start in January of 2025, and it has not ended yet. We are living in a state of terror. The immigration enforcement machine has been grinding through our communities for decades, across every administration.” The speech ended with a call to Governor Walz to make Minnesota a sanctuary state.

MIRAC will continue to pressure Governor Walz to take executive action and ensure that Minnesota is prepared for another onslaught of federal terror. MIRAC demands that Walz issue a sanctuary state executive order that would ban 287(g) agreements and any type of collaboration between local law enforcement and ICE, keep ICE out of sensitive locations and off state property, outlaw secret police, and more. MIRAC will also continue to support the fight for community control of the police in Minneapolis.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #ImmigrantRights #InJusticeSystem #MIRAC #TCC4J

Tumwater, WA – Members of the Tacoma Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression held a press conference outside the Washington State Office of Independent Investigation (WA OII) on Friday, October 23, to urge the WA OII to investigate the death of Ronald Amir Harris.

TacAARPR members delivered a petition with over with over 450 signatures to the office, as well as new evidence obtained by Ronald Amir Harris’s family.

“The county didn't do an investigation that produced really any type of evidence that could conclusively concur with a suicide,” said Christian Tullar. “And that's why petitioning the state is so important here.”

Ronald Harris was found dead in his Pierce County jail cell before his trial on May 2, 2022. The county’s sheriff’s office ruled it a suicide, but refused to release key evidence to Ronald’s father, Ray Charles Harris. Concerned community members wrote in over 60 letters to the WA OII urging them to open an investigation into this death. When TacAARPR members met with WA OII on Oct 8, the office would not take up the investigation unless Ronald’s family and community were able to provide new evidence.

“My son did not commit suicide,” stated Ray Harris, “My son told me three days before his death, he said, Dad, if something happens to me, I did not kill myself.”

The petition’s two main demands were for Pierce County to release key evidence to Ronald Harris’s family, and for WA OII to do a full, transparent investigation into the death. The first demand was met earlier this week, when Harris’s family obtained new evidence by appealing directly to the county medical examiner’s office. This came after almost a year of denials by the sheriff’s office and the family’s FOIA requests. According to documents available on the TacAARPR website, the toxicology report, autopsy report and autopsy photos were never entered as evidence in the original suicide investigation.

“The WA OII gets 14 million tax dollars a year to investigate deaths like Ronald’s, yet the onus is put on us to find new evidence,” said TacAARPR member Moon Gosserand. “And when we do present new evidence, they have the power to just dismiss it, like they’ve done on other cases. But we won’t let them dismiss Ronald’s case without a fight!”

Gosserand was referring to the cases of Jason Hale and Andrea Churna, where new evidence, including new video and testimony, was dismissed by the WA OII. Since forming in 2021, the WA OII has never completed a “prior investigation.” According to their website, all eight existing prior investigation cases were either denied, passed to another body, or still in progress. TacAARPR members affirmed that despite this track record, they would continue the community investigation to obtain even more new evidence.

“One of the pieces of evidence that really worried us was in what’s called a CAD log,” Tullar continued, referring to the computer-aided dispatch log, which was released to TacAARPR via a FOIA request earlier this month. “In the CAD log we had seen the term hanging, and, when you're Black in America, especially when you're a Black man, the term hanging has a very particular racialized connotation. It instantly makes us think of the type of political and racial repression against Black people. And Pierce County has a long history of oppression and neglect and violence and brutality against Black men and Black people and people who are in the prison and jail system here.”

“My son's going to get justice,” Ray Harris re-stated. TacAARPR and the Harris family confirmed they will not back down until a full, transparent investigation has been completed.

#TacomaWA #WA #InJusticeSystem #KillerCops #NAARPR

Dallas, TX – On October 14, organizers with the Dallas chapter of the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (NAARPR Dallas) spoke at Dallas City Hall to call for the city council to move forward a resolution denouncing the crimes of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and demanding for an independent investigation into ICE violence.

Lili Delgado, an organizer with NAARPR Dallas, said at the open mic period, “Dallas City Council has a responsibility towards its residents, be they documented or undocumented. We demand the city of Dallas issue an official statement denouncing ICE shootings and killings and also pledges to use all its available powers to investigate directly or fund an independent investigation in the event of an ICE shooting or killing here in Dallas.”

Delgado continued, “This is about actions and not just words and we have to ensure that there are independent investigations into these shootings; it is our duty to our community to ensure there is justice for the actual events.”

ICE has shot at least 24 people since last year, including Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was killed by ICE in Houston earlier this year, and Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, who was shot and is being held captive by ICE in Austin.

#DallasTX #TX #InJusticeSystem #NAARPR #ImmigrantRights #ICE #KillerCops #KillerICE

Bozeman, MT – On Thursday, October 15, the Bozeman chapter of Montana for Palestine (MT4P) learned that the newly-published agenda for the upcoming October 20 City Commission meeting contained a vote to approve a five-year, $2.4 million contract with Axon Enterprise Inc.

Despite Axon's collaboration with the terrorist Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they were selected to replace the Bozeman Police Department's aging body cameras, in-car camera systems, and tasers. Over the next five days, MT4P both reached out to commissioners, providing them with recommendations for alternatives and highlighting issues with Axon, and organized a public comment campaign against the item.

Despite the limited forewarning, the vote October 20 saw around 25 community members come to give public comment. In the over 60 minutes of concern and opposition, community members were clear with their statements against the brutalization of immigrants, the surveillance of their community, and their distrust in the commission.

Riley Ophus, a Montana State University student, stated, “This company is actively involved in escalating mass surveillance, and also enabling ICE's abuse of immigrants. Over the summer, Axon sold $220 million worth of tasers to ICE, following a multi-million dollar investment in the company by Donald Trump. No company which sells tasers to ICE, or accepts major investments from Donald Trump, should receive even a dime of Bozeman's money.”

Natsuki Nakamura said, “We've been told that BPD [Bozeman Police Department] will not use facial recognition and automatic license plate readers because 'Montana law generally prohibits it.' While we know Montana law has exceptions for law enforcement to use it, we also know state laws can change, and we also know that Bozeman had fully intended to put up red light cameras until the state preempted cities from doing so.”

The commissioners provided lip service to the comments but unanimously voted the contract through anyway.

Resident Homa Masood responded, “There is nobody forcing you to take on this contract – you already made the decision, before you came here, that you were going to pass it. And if that's the case I don't know why we even bother with having public comment! You have people coming in and telling you that the Israeli military, police, navy, and prison services are deploying Axon manufactured tasers – and you're just shrugging and saying, 'Yeah, sorry, that sucks.'”

The commission's blatant disrespect for the public's opinions on the city's actions are not a deterrent. Public comment campaigns in Bozeman are far from over, because, even if Mayor Joey Morrison believes that “[this] isn't how things get done – you can't just cajole people into doing what you want,” the Bozeman community is losing trust in the commissioners' ability to meaningfully affect city processes in a way that benefits them. Bozemanites want a city commission that will fight for them – the hardworking people of Bozeman – and are prepared to continue the fight!

#BozemanMT #MT #InjusticeSystem #Police #Axon #Surveillance #ICE

Anaheim, CA – On Tuesday, October 13, the Community Service Organization, Orange County (CSO OC) alongside the family of Albert Arzola protested outside an Anaheim City Council meeting. Matthew Compton, a member of CSO OC’s Police Accountability Committee, told the crowd, “We stand here today to demand justice for Albert Arzola. It has been 10 months, and killer cop Nathan Garcia is still on the force!”

Anaheim Officer Nathan Garcia is the officer responsible for killing 19-year-old Albert Arzola outside his mother’s home.

Compton continued, “Officer Garcia still being on the force is why we fight for community control of the police. Community control will give us, the working-class residents of Anaheim, direct authority over how we are policed, decide punishments for cops who kill or violate policy.”

After Compton’s comment, chants were hurled at the council chamber