New Orleans, LA – On the afternoon of June 18, New Orleans for Community Oversight of the Police (NOCOP) and about 15 community members from Orleans and Jefferson Parish held a rally in solidarity with the youth imprisoned at Bridge City Center. For over an hour, the group held signs and banners and led chants in a loud show of support for the youth.

Movement for civilian oversight of LASD grows

Los Angeles, CA – On the two-year anniversary of the murder of Andres Guardado, June 17, UNITE HERE Local 11 and the Check the Sheriff Coalition held a press conference to call for a Los Angeles County Charter Amendment. This amendment will establish a new law with stronger civilian oversight of the LA Sheriffs.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the National Committee to Free Simon Trinidad. Simon Trinidad is a Colombian revolutionary illegally captured and extradited to the U.S. on bogus charges that required four separate trials to lock him up in solitary confinement in the Florence, Colorado supermax prison. The Special Court guaranteed in the 2016 Peace Accords is requesting his presence in order to move the country toward a peace with justice.

Grand Rapids, MI – Christopher Schurr, the Grand Rapids cop who executed Patrick Lyoya, has been charged with second-degree murder by Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker. Charges were announced at a June 9 press conference. The decision comes nine weeks after Lyoya was gunned down at a traffic stop on April 4. The family, along with local activist groups, have called for Schurr to be fired and charged with murder. Schurr turned himself in to officials in Calhoun County, and termination from Grand Rapids Police Department is now proceeding, according to Chief of Police Eric Winstrom.

Milwaukee, WI – On June 6, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression facilitated a meeting between the Fire and Police Commission (FPC) and families who have lost loved ones to police violence. Present at the meeting were the families of Samuel Rodriguez (murdered 2002), Larry Jenkins (murdered 2002), Jay Anderson Jr. (murdered 2016) and Alvin Cole (murdered 2020).

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR).

Los Angeles, CA – In a historic move, the Civilian Oversight Commission voted in favor of a resolution to support a charter amendment giving the LA Board of Supervisors, the Civilian Oversight Commission (COC) and Office of Inspector General stronger oversight of the LA County Sheriff's Department. The vote also included the ability of the Board of Supervisors to remove a Sheriff for misconduct. Members of Centro CSO, impacted families of police killings, Black Lives Matter-LA, the ACLU, and Check the Sheriffs Coalition joined the meeting and spoke in favor of the Board of Supervisors placing a November 2022 ballot measure to win community control over the LA County Sheriff's Department and Sheriff Villanueva.

Los Angeles, CA – On May 21, over 50 people gathered in the city of Bellflower, in the southeastern region of LA county, to demand justice for Edgar Ortiz. Oritz, who was 32 years old, was shot and killed by a member of the LA County Lakewood Sheriff's Station on March 3, in front of his family, during a mental health crisis.

Appleton, WI – On Saturday, May 21, the family of Jimmie Sanders – a man murdered by Appleton police in May 2017 – alongside Fox Valley Food Not Bombs, Appleton SDS, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and United Action Oshkosh organized a rally and march to bring attention to the case, and to crowdfund for the Jimmie Sanders legal team.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following May 20 statement from Frank Chapman, Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.